Recently I went on a weekend-long spiritual retreat. I've been on mission trips and been to church camp, but nothing like what I experienced at the Alpha Omega Campus Ministry Retreat. I learned about my faith and grew in my walk with God more in those three days than all my years of church camp combined.

I believe this retreat was special because everyone there was an adult who made the decision on their own to attend a retreat. No parent forced them to go, no one went because they were bored. The people there genuinely wanted to come closer to God.

The sermons and speakers were absolutely incredible and gave me new insight into the Bible. I was so inspired by the people there; everywhere I looked I saw people diving into God's word. People were either reading their Bibles, going on prayer walks, having faith discussions or singing praises. It was a truly beautiful thing and gave me the chance to spend three days with God, uninterrupted by the world.

The theme of this retreat was "Embark." We studied how God calls us to embark on the plans He has for us. We also talked about how we can embark on a new life in Christ and what it takes to do so.

This retreat was the first time I was able to sit down and evaluate my life as a Christian. It allowed me to see what things I needed to drop that are holding me back from fully following Jesus, and gave me the chance to have honest, deep conversations for the first time with other Christians about our faith.

If you've never been on a retreat, I highly recommend going. Even after leaving, my week was so much better when I applied what I learned from retreat to my everyday life.