#soulsurvivor13

[sun-sea-and-sailing]

TRACK LIST! #soulsurvivor13 #theflood

[mistermacloud]

Love this song, makes me miss worship in the Big Top so much! Momentum '14 hurry up!!

[dashesoflipstick]

One of the two photos I took at #soulsurvivor13

[katenewhook-blog]

When the things you hate meet the things you love

One of my biggest achievements this summer was going camping for 9 days.  Most people would not think anything of this but when you hate camping it's a pretty big ordeal.  Originally I had decided not to attend Soul Survivor with the youth group from my home church because I was already committed to Greenbelt, where I needed to be on the day Soul Survivor finished.  However, I changed my mind, knowing that it would be important for me to get the teaching I needed at Soul Survivor as well as being a female youth leader. 

This decision then lead to a whole other list of unanswered questions; how would I have enough clothes? What time would I leave Soul Survivor? How far away are the two festivals? How would I arrange meeting up with people at the other end?

Overall I knew that these were just minor arrangements in the grand scheme of things and that my hatred of camping was far stronger than the need for answers to these questions.  One of the reasons I dislike camping so much is my need for cleanliness and hygiene.  I hate the thought and/or feeling of being dirty or not having showered everyday, the swamp state of Greenbelt last year was my worst nightmare!  I am also one of these people who hates being cold and I feel the cold far too easily, one of the worst things about camping is that it always feels like, once you're cold, it's impossible to warm up. 

Regardless of all of this, I still went.  Excitement was the first feeling I had that day when the memories of previous Soul Survivors were on my mind.  However, this quickly changed when we arrived and were presented with torrential rain in which we had to pitch the tents in.  At this point, I actually wanted to cry, I was struggling with my tent, it was raining, my feet were getting muddy and I realised that this tent was to be my home for the next 9 days.  Even though we were greeted by our village host who immediately offered us a cup of tea and continued to be an absolute legend throughout the week.

That night was possibly one of the worst camping experiences of my life.  It took me ages to get to sleep, I woke up in the middle of the night with a deflated airbed, needing the toilet and it was freezing cold!  On my return from the toilet I managed to pump up my airbed a bit in the dark and eventually got back to sleep.  However, when I woke up at 6am, with the sound of rain on the tent, an even more deflated airbed and still cold, I was quite possibly the grumpiest person on the campsite! 

My mood quickly changed when I got out of my tent and saw the most beautiful rainbow over the whole campsite.  This is when I remembered how blessed I truly am, to have the opportunity to go camping (regardless of how much I hate it), to spend time with my friends and to be so open about my belief in God. 

  Having invested in a new airbed quite quickly that morning (and still making it to the 9:30 seminar!), I tried to have a more positive outlook for the next 8 days because I knew that if I didn't, I would be miserable!  Something that I didn't want to wish upon my companions. 

Soul Survivor was wonderful, I was able to spend time in worship, I was fed through teaching, I saw so many people from different walks of my life and made some new friends too.  There were of course the odd camping mishaps like the gas running out when trying to make a cup of tea, getting the tent zip stuck in the dark and having to precariously step in the showers because you're not sure what's on the floor though.

I then went onto Greenbelt, tired from Soul Survivor but full of excitement for my eighth year at, and the 40th Birthday of, a place that feels like home.  This time there was no rain when pitching the tents, just glorious sunshine and some extremely high winds (I almost went paragliding with a tent at one point!). 

Greenbelt is where the things that I love became more evident to me, and allowed me to reflect on how blessed I was at Soul Survivor to have the opportunities.  Greenbelt is always full of my friends, some of whom are my very best friends.  There is time for socialising and laughter but serious conversations too.  These opportunities would never come about when sat in the pub at home or at a community group.  At one point over the weekend I thought that I perhaps hadn't made the most out of my time and gone to as many items off of the programme that I maybe should have but then I remembered that the opportunities to spend this precious time with the people I love, doing the things that I love are few and far between.

So what happens when the hatred of camping comes together with amazing things (friends, fellowship, food, wine)? It is a truly wonderful occasion that should be treasured rather than wasted by moaning about how much I hate camping!  And next year, I'll try even harder to moan even less. 

Reflecting now, I can see the all of the blessings that God provided me with throughout.  Particularly that cup of tea from the village host!  I have got so much more than so many other people around the world, and even in this country, but I still manage to find the negative in it all.  My challenge to myself for this next month is to find a positive everyday, to write this down and then when I'm feelings pants I can look at this list and realise how stupid I am being and see how blessed I truly am.

[gabbyhunter109]

Bit of a change in a year! #weird #guvnab #soulsurvivor13

[findbeautyinthebroken]

@stevenjturner 's infamous jellyfish moment... #soulsurvivor13

[foamia]

Thought I'd do a nifty mp3/lyric post for anyone who'd like it before the album comes out in October.

Lyrics:

Who can wash away my sin? Redeem my past and bring me back to life again? Only You our God are strong to save, only You our God can save. Who can tell the dead to rise? Say the word and call the lame to walk again? Only You Our God are strong to save, only You Our God can save. So rejoice, rejoice the King He is alive. Rejoice, rejoice He is alive. Lift your voice, your voice and join the angels song. Our God He is alive, oh oh oh. He is alive, oh oh oh. You have overcome the grave, As You promise we know You will come again. Only You our God are strong to save, only You our God can save. So rejoice, rejoice the King He is alive, Rejoice, rejoice He is alive. Lift your voice, your voice and join the angels song, Our God He is alive, oh oh oh. He is alive, oh oh oh. So have no fear, He's alive, He is with us Our God is near, He's alive, living in us. (x3) So rejoice, rejoice the King He is alive. Rejoice, rejoice He is alive. Lift your voice, your voice and join the angels song. Our God He is alive, oh oh oh. He is alive, oh oh oh.

[vanilla-lau-tte]

During my time at Soul Survivor, each day, i felt god slowly healing me of depression, each day i felt myself getting slightly better… On the final night of soul survivor, I was prayed for, for healing of depression. I felt a huge pressure on my head and then pulling up on my head, I collapsed and couldn’t stop laughing. It felt like depression had been lifted, like after all this time the weight of the world had been taken off my shoulders. I ran to find Ben to tell him what had happened and his wonderful youth leader got this picture of me telling him. He laughed solidly for about 2 hours after, we were so full of joy! (Either that or he drunk too much communion wine;-)) Lets just hope this feeling stays and depression doesn’t return! Praise God! #soulsurvivor13 #MOM13

[m-usingz]

Finally back from my 10 day camping trip. It was incredible! I'll be blogging a lot more

[weareopeningdoors]

Soul Survivor

For the past 6 days the blog has been pretty quiet, for the reason that instead of passively trying to change the world through my screen (and prayer, obviously!), I have been raising awareness face to face, quite literally using (and losing) my voice to stand up for Christians in Syria through working with Open Doors Youth on a stand at Soul Survivor. Indeed, to stir up others to do the same! 

The shifts were long, and often wearisome. Sometimes an hour would pass and the main meeting would still be going on, with the only people passing through being freebie/sweet hunters who had sneaked out early. Often, the afternoon was quiet at lunchtimes and midweek, the whole place had a lull which was very draining, emotionally and physically - my back pain from camping just worsened throughout the week. However, there were little rays of joy throughout the week which culminated in 665 more signatures being added to the Save Syria campaign. That figure is overwhelming for a team of 4 people, with only 2 on a stand at any given time.

We absolutely filled our image of a lightswitch with signatures - how can the government "switch off" to that many people?

What was even better was, among those people, there were golden conversations. I spoke to a lady whose husband was working in Syria and was touched to see young people striving to help the situation there through their voice, prayer and money. I spoke to three girls who spontaneously prayed for Syria with their arms open in the middle of the Toolshed (which was full of people at the time and had a band singing 'Treasure' by Bruno Mars just metres away). I spoke to people who had never heard of Christian persecution, many who had questions about the church in Britain and the challenges it faces in the future, and saw smiles of a freebie sweet get wiped off the faces of those who suddenly felt heartbroken for their Christian family in Syria. Yes, there were those that signed and moved on and didn't want to know much more, or bought a T-shirt more for the design than the purpose, but I know that we also gave people hope, stirred up hearts, and contributed much to the campaign. 

Actually, I say "we", but really, it was God working through us. Today, after a 5 hour journey home I am full of exhaustion. God preserved me through that week wonderfully: he gave me confidence to approach strangers, the words to convict hearts to prayer, the strength to press on through tiredness. 

I also attended a seminar which had a turnout of 104 for Syria. That's 104 holding hands in a barn and praying for the leaders of the army, the president, the rebel forces in Syria. 104 people praying for a Syrian who works for Open Doors, arms outstretched for his family who he cannot return to and who were recently under an 8-9 day siege, at risk of famine. It was powerful, to say the least. I didn't get to attend the prayer and worship evening for Syria and Egypt, but someone came up to me and said that it was one of the most powerful things he had experienced, and thanked me for my work.

So basically. Soul Survivor was fantastic. God broke people's hearts for the plight of the persecuted, stirred mouths to pray, arms to be lifted high in the name of their brothers and sisters who are stuck in lands of suffering, fear, oppression where they are double vulnerable because they believe in Jesus Christ. And I was there to witness it. 

I am grateful.

[jacobaco]

You may or may not be able to see this list of URLs, they are the blogs of some of the tumblr users who attended Soul Survivor Week C this year:

ad-ventura

rhegium

lemarshmallow

moonlightlovesong

bricksatmy--window

rainbow-bug

rredvelvet

loisdidntdoit

some-uninventive-url

Check them out!

[obnoxiouspotato]

Had an awesome five days #soulsurvivor13 #gohardorgohome #summer

[masterpiecethroughgrace]

Waiting for my brother @waggersxd to come home from @soulsurvivor2013 #Midnight #Moon #EverydayBeautiful #NoFilter #soulsurvivor13

[gabbyhunter109]

Missing soul survivor! Such an incredible week with incredible people! #soulsurvivor13

[findbeautyinthebroken]

Field times. #momentum #mom13 #soulsurvivor13 #summer

[wildunicorn14]

#soulsurvivor13 last night!! Party!! #neon #paint #onesies