"God is greater than..."Sitting in a sea of 2,000 college students from around the Midwest, 19-year-old Jackie had no idea how these four words would be the theme not only of her first Cru Indianapolis Winter Conference...but her life as well. Each year, Cru puts on Winter Conferences around the nation during college students' Christmas breaks. It is 4 full days of learning God's Word, worshipping and praying in fellowship, and sharing the Gospel in the community! I attended my first Winter Conference 7 years ago. It changed my life, and I have loved being a part of seeing God impact students year after year through the teaching and life change that happens there. As I sat among those 2,000 college students seven years ago, I felt broken: emotionally broken as my heart ached from a recent breakup (spoiler alert it was Jake...we reconciled and married 4 years later) and physically broken from an injury that would eventually require surgery (long story short...I played a [very] competitive game of musical chairs and dislocated my kneecap). Nursing school was more stressful and challenging than I could have imagined and I began experiencing intense anxiety. Life was challenging and I wasn't sure if God was even listening. Then the conference speakers began teaching. Throughout those four days God used them to teach me about the peace we have in Christ, the infallibility of His Word, and the fierceness in which He keeps His promises. I learned that peace is not a feeling. Peace is a Man, and His name is Jesus. I learned that I will never be able to do enough good things to earn favor from God or earn my way into Heaven, but I am called righteous only through Jesus dying for my sin on the cross. I saw throughout Scripture where the Father keeps His promises time after time after time (my favorite example being Genesis 15). It was at that conference I realized that God is greater than my brokenness, my hopes for a husband and marriage, my anxiety, my grades, my dislocated kneecap, my future, my image in what others think of me, my sin. He is greater than everything. He has my good in mind (even when my definition of good isn't what is actually good for me). He is greater than all of the sin, pain, and brokenness in this world and, during those 4 days, I knew that I wanted to follow Him (through the power of the Holy Spirit) no matter where He may lead me and what others may think. I knew that, from that point on, I wanted to live a life characterized by obedience to the Lord and bold steps of faith. It hasn't been easy, but it has been sweet. And my story is only one out of 2,000 from that year. Attending Winter Conference as 26-year-old Jackie certainly looks different. I'm now on staff and working the conference instead of just attending. I'm married and coming alongside students with my husband. I have a baby in tow (which means I get as little sleep during those 4 days as 19-year-old Jackie did). But despite the ways my life looks different, the impact God has on students' lives does not change. He is still working in mighty ways. He is still changing the trajectories of students' futures. He is still calling people into obedience and love for Him. This year our campus brought nearly 80 students to Cru's Indianapolis Winter Conference. It was a joy to talk with them as God stirred within them a desire to read and know His Word. "I never knew that was even in the Bible!" is a sentence I heard more than once! My heart was full as I had the privilege of listening and processing with them as students prayed about steps of faith God might be asking them to take in their lives. Upperclassmen were able to teach younger students how to have spiritual conversations, and some students even shared the Gospel for the very first time! There were students who accepted Christ into their lives and students who deepened their relationship with God in incredible ways. What a privilege to be a part of this week that was so influential in my own life seven years ago, and to watch as God faithfully impacts lives year after year after year! In Christ, Jake, Jackie, and Elaina Photos by Cru Winter Conference and Noe Vazquez
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