Atlanta Bethel Community Church

> Kiara’s Testimony: First Summer Retreat

Kiara’s Testimony: First Summer Retreat

This was my very first time and experience of going to a summer retreat ever in my life. And truthfully I plan to be able to go to many more in the future. During this retreat I truly got a better understanding of the “Four Spiritual Laws”.

The first day we went over the creation of man we talked about the 6 days it took for God to create us, we also talked about how God created everything just for us and gave us everything we needed. God loved us and created us in his image. I believe this to be true 100% because we all came from somewhere we all started from something, and nothing else makes sense other than the fact that God created us.

The second day we talked about the fall of man, during this time we talked about Satan and how he used his abilities to tempt Eve to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He lured her in with his words to disobey Gods orders which were to not eat from the tree as instructed, but Adam and Eve falling into the temptation for the things that Satan said was the fall of man. Then we went on to talk about the root of sin which is arrogance we are all sinners and all have arrogance within us. the story of Adam and Eve and the story of Cain are also our stories as well. We also spoke about needing to be cleaned spiritually the importance of reading the bible and to go before God and confess our sins because although we are dirty confessing our sin is the only way for us to be forgiven before God. Without confessing our sins to God we will then become depressed and angry, this is what sin does to you.

I believe this to also be 100% true because before I started coming to church I always felt sad, depressed and sometimes angry and alone but once I started coming to church and learned about sin and started confessing my sins to God and reading the bible I started to become a much happier person overall. and remembering to follow God’s words to the very end, The wisdom beyond wisdom is the word of God.

Then we went on to the next law which is salvation we spoke about Jesus and his sacrifice for us being the reason behind us receiving salvation and that truly believing with our hearts and saying with our mouths we then receive salvation, for me personally this message really made me think a lot about the fact that God loved us so much to give us his only son and then his son dying on the cross and repaying God for our sins and then us then being able to receive salvation. this message truly makes me want to work harder and grow more spiritually with God and lead a life following God’s words to the very end always remembering that I am indeed worthy enough to him and that he loves me. Also always keeping in mind that although we came from a bad fruit when we are one with God we can bear better fruit and also knowing through this salvation we are connected with Jesus.

The last law we talked about is the kingdom of God. We know that the kingdom of God is salvation and God is the author of this salvation. Overall this message really spoke to me and helped me know what God wants us to do and how to help create the kingdom God on earth and in order to do this I must know and live a saved life which is to help spread the gospel and to spread the love that God gives us to others. Also to put things into God’s hands knowing that he won’t give me an assignment without giving me the materials needed to get through and overall knowing to live a life of love and the life of the cross.