"God, give me a life changing experience!" My desperate plea to God consisted of those very words for several months preceding the take-off flight to Rugby, England. All the years of my life I had always known about God, but never had I experienced Him. I'd stand on the prayer lines, holding my hands out expectantly in wait of an encounter with God. People all around me would be shaking, crying, and falling under the presence of God. Every time, I wouldn't feel a thing. I knew God was out there, I knew that I was on the brink of finding my encounter, but I just couldn't find it. I was tired of living the everyday normal Christian life. I wanted to give everything I had to God and live my life 100% for Him.



When the England trip came around, I was ecstatic. This could be the life-changing experience that I'd dreamed of for so long! I could meet God face to face! So there I went, me and twenty other young people from Bethel, each on our way, knowingly or unknowingly, to a mission trip that would never be forgotten. I found myself at every conference meeting crying out to God and giving everything I had during worship. I danced like a madman. I was so desperate for God in my life that I would have done anything to get Him.



Then it happened. I stood at the prayer line, but this time I was not receiving prayer, I was giving it. We youth members who had attended the prayer meeting with Linda one of the first nights were praying for healings that night. Many people experienced the touch of God. I remember praying for a man's injured back and he was totally healed right on the spot! I couldn't believe it. I looked all around me at the people in the room. Everyone was getting healed and blown away by the presence of God in the room. Then I started laughing a happy sort of giggle. I had no idea what was happening. I finally realized that God was there, right with me, encountering me. I had never been so happy in my entire life. God was rocking all of our worlds, and mine was sure rocked that night.



I left that meeting a different person. I truly found that God exists just like any other person, and that He loves me more than I'll ever know. My cry for the England Jesus Culture conference to give me a life changing experience sure got answered. I've encountered God, I've seen Him, I've felt Him; I never want to go back to my old life.



Now I know what it means to be a Christian: a passionate lover of Christ who's willing to do the crazy things in life that need done to bring revival to the nations.