Every knee will bow and every tongue confess and the voice of one crying in the wilderness Hallelujah.

In the last blog I wrote, I said that I thought summer madness and the formal would go briliantly. I think it's now fair to say that brilliantly was an understated term to use.

The 2008 Formal is a night that I will never forget. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved last year's formal- Sarah did, after all, dance with Miss Hayes to 'Dirrty'. That sort of thing doesn't really go out of your mind very quickly, but minus the hilarity of that situation, I can honestly say that this year's Formal kicked last years' ass.

The limo was as fun as ever, if not more so, because we played our favourite ghetto tune, 'the way i are' as we were approaching the Templeton. Unfortunately the idea that people would turn round and see us driving up to the Hotel was shattered when we discovered we were the first people to arrive. Yes, we arrived before the Teachers. Not even Mrs Gormley was as dedicated to BHS as us- we arrived practically a day beforehand. Scundering.

Because it's 11 o clock ( which, I know isn't that late, but it feels it) and because I'm feeling absolutely exhausted, I am going to try my very hardest to make a condensed account of the formal. So, maybe what I'll just do is tell you my highlight. Yes, that's what I'll do.

Well, this is going to sound rather odd on first glance, but I'll try to explain. My highlight of the formal was probably when the band sang 'superstar' by Love inc and when they sang Journey's 'don't stop believing'. I'd need more than two hands to count the times Sarah and I talked about 'superstar' making us feel nostalgic about leaving school and how much we just love the song. When I saw the band we had chosen for the formal, my heart did sink a little bit because they did not strike me as the type of band who would ever lower themselves to sing songs by 'Love inc'. But, I was wrong. As soon as I heard the words ' reach for the skyyyy', I felt like my upper 6th formal was complete. I could relax in the knowledge that the band sang a song that made me feel sad about leaving school, but in a good, memorable way. My reason for choosing 'don't stop believing' as a highlight of my formal is nothing to do with particularly loving the song, but more with the woman shouting, " Belfast High School, this is your anthem." I always did think it was a good song, but now when I listen to it, it'll always take me back to that moment of dancing with my best friends at my high school formal, when, even though I had blistered toes and a very crampy right foot, I was just so so happy to be there.

I didnt really get a chance to recover from the formal, because the next day, I headed off to Summer Madness, which, by the way, is the name of an event, as opposed to actual madness in the summertime. Just like every year, God showed me so many new things. Everytime I go away to christian events, I can't imagine finding out more about God- it's as if, in my mind, there are limits to his character. But then, in a sort of 'you can't be further from the truth' fashion, God always lets me see more of him. And I am so unbelievably glad that he does, because it just reminds me of the fact that I can become so complacent with my current state of christianity and so happy just to shine a little light, when I could be shining so much more.

Thoughout the week, as I went to seminars, morning worship, evening worship, sat about in the gazebo, got rained on a lot and ate a lot of junk food, in the midst of it all, God was so clearly with me. I realized probably for the first time what it really means to be a disciple, I saw just how powerful and awesome God is. The latter of those thing may seem like an obvious thing, but when you've been a christian for a while, your spark fades a bit and you latch onto the 'God is like a friend' idea when, in reality, he isn't like a friend. He is God, the creator of the universe, the alpha and omega...okay, so you can see what I'm getting it. He is amazing. And I think that I had forgotten that fact ever so slightly.

Since Summer Madness, a few of us have started getting together every Friday night for an all-nighter prayer thing. I cannot over emphasize the effect it has had on me. Above all, it has made me see the importance of being accountable to each other, that christians aren't in their journey alone, but together, as children of God. I think it has helped me focus on others a lot more, which is something I see as essential in the whole growing process. If anything, it has simply allowed me to see the power of prayer, which sounds quite obvious and simplistic, but that in itself is something exciting. For me, once you acknowledge how powerful prayer is, you can begin ( even if it is only slightly) to understand the mind of God more.

So, right now, I'm in a pretty great and happy state of mind. There is nothing to be particularly sad about- the sun was shining all day today, I went into Carrick with Nikki last night and saw, perhaps for the first time, how beautiful it really is and how lucky I am to live in it.

Due to the fact that my eyelids are on the verge of closing and that my head is splitting because I've been staring at a computer screen for so long, I will bid you farewell, dear blog.