Local Update: UCO Belfast, UCO Derry & UCO Dublin Witness Weekend

A few weeks ago UCO Dublin, UCO Derry, and UCO Belfast came together for a weekend retreat in Armagh, Northern Ireland. It was absolutely amazing to see how God has been at work on the different college campuses and within each one of those groups.

Before this weekend I was definitely feeling God calling me on, and asking me to step further into life in him, but I was doing my best to ignore it because of my own desires for myself. I wasn’t allowing God to push me in my faith very much because I was comfortable where I was and didn’t want to let go of that. I knew however, going into this weekend, that the Holy Spirt was going to have a huge presence and that God had great things in store.

The theme of the weekend was “Witness” and the attendees were blessed and encouraged in a series of sessions about being a witness for God.

I personally felt the Holy Spirit’s presence very strongly on this retreat and I am sure that anyone who attended would agree that God was at work and still is as we head back home. I am coming back feeling so inspired and encouraged by the holy and committed young Christians who are following God’s call for them with such joy and such a drive for evangelism.

Something that really struck me this weekend was in a talk given by Tony Sarkis, who is a man from Lebonan currently serving with UCO belfast. A common used line that went along with the theme of the weekend was “a cloud of witnesses” and Tony posed the question: “How are we a cloud of witness?”

This to me was such a powerful question. It made me ponder on what I had seen and heard in these past months of serving and being challenged in my faith, and it made me see the ways God has changed me and blessed me through it all already. I am so blessed to be completely immersed in God’s plan and to be able to see Him at work so clearly in my day to day life. The realization for me was that I have such a responsibility to be a witness of this to others, maybe even more so than some people because of where God has me right now. I feel a strong call to witness God's love and joy to others and to allow others to see the peace and contentedness that comes from a life in Christ.

This is something that I can so easily allow fear or laziness to get in the way of, but who am I to get in the way of or ignore the Lord's plan. God sees the whole battle, while I only see the small little fights that exist in it. I would be foolish if I did not trust that God is calling me on for a reason worth following.

Going back to my daily schedule and services, I am feeling so revived and open to what the Lord wants to do through me. I am so on fire for Him and his plan. I am ready to get out of my comfort zone and to bring myself further and further into a life in Christ.

Celine Murray

UCO Dublin