Stelzl Family

Have you ever experienced a day in the past that was really refreshing in every way, yet packed with excitement and adventure? A day spent enjoying fellowship with like-minded believers, learning new Biblical principles for everyday living, and gaining priceless treasures from Scripture? With a family of 9, it’s hard not to fill the calendar up with every kind of plan imaginable; yet you can look high and low, and never find a day labeled “refreshment and relaxation.”

We had the joy of experiencing this kind day for a whole week, beginning the last day of May! One of our highlights of the year is attending the regional ATI home-school conference that takes place in Nashville each June. As a family, we eagerly look forward to crossing paths with dear friends again, participating in exciting programs for all of our different ages, and having some time away from the busyness of normal life to simply rejoice and be inspired! Needless to say, the best part of every ATI conference is the time of growing in Christ, as new principles are brought from Scripture and stored up in our hearts for the years to come! We always come away so enlightened and exploding with rich treasures from God’s Word!

Hannah and I were blessed with the opportunity to be COMMIT leaders again, and I had the privilege of having Bethany on my team! It was her first year as a COMMIT student and God made it a very special experience for her David was also able to be a leader for the Alert Cadets, with Jonathan on his team. Josiah and Timothy enjoyed the main sessions with our parents. They were amazingly quiet and content

God really spoke to my heart in two ways this year through the conference. (1) I was able to experience the love of my Heavenly Father and His voice speaking through me, as I shared with the COMMIT girls, and with the students in afternoon sessions. Before my second Journey, I was a VERY fearful person, and God has been daily teaching me the importance of putting my eyes on Him, and allowing Him to DO all the work. (2) I watched God at work during the last COMMIT large group session, as we had a time of praying and declaring freedom on the  girls present. I was so touched by the lines of girls who came from every corner of the room to share areas that God had given them a breakthrough! During that time of prayer and silence, God stretched my love for others to a whole new level! I felt His leading to lay hands on and pray for several of the girls there, and as a result, He gave me joy in watching them experience breakthroughs as well!   It was so special to hear various ones praying in the name of Jesus for freedom for all the girls!

I wouldn’t trade the experience we had at Nashville for anything in the world! The “little” things God taught me are in fact huge things that will change my perspective from day to day life! As evangelist Paul Washer points out, “you can’t have an encounter with God (no matter how big or small) and not be significantly changed for life! The week was refreshing! Relaxing? Not exactly, but amazing!!! There is something about looking back over your life and seeing how God literally transformed you from one day to the next. It is awesome when you consider the person you used to be before you experienced His powerful presence and love! This is something that can never be accurately described with words in a book, or written with a pen, or even to some extent spoken with the mouth. For each person, the encounters they have with God and His Word, are testimonies of His love that can only be understood by experience.

Tags: ATI, Bill Gothard, IBLP, Regional ATI Conference

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 10th, 2010 at 4:33 pm and is filed under Exhortation & Encouragement, Family Fun, Friends & Fellowship, Timeless Reminders, Trips & Travels. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.