Tournaments Do Weird Things To Us

Verve Tournament was last weekend!!! =D

Seriously, who doesn't love giant pieces of chocolate cake the size of your head and half-crazed line dancing to live bluegrass music and winning piles of trophies?

Okay, so I didn't win piles of trophies. Just one. (It's shiny and extremely sharp on the end. ::grin::) But other people did.

I love how speech tournaments end up being some of my best, most memorable weekends. I've only been to 2 and already I'm getting them all mixed up. But oh, I love it.....running frantically to a round, tournament pizza, meeting new people, slippers, blazers, breaks, skits, sharp trophies....

My Illustrated Oratory got 2nd place, which was extremely surprising. My dramatic only got 13th, but it was still loads of fun.

I ::cough:: will admit I memorized my speech the night before the tournament. And I was pretty nervous about it too.

So, a friend of mine and were having a conversation on gmail the other day about memorizing speeches. (this was pre-tournament as I was frantically trying to memorize)

Me: Thing is, I tend to do a good amount of forgetting when I'm extremely nervous.......
Friend: ah
hmm.
so don't get nervous! =D
Me: That's a good point.

About a day later, I sent an email to my sister and asked her to pray for my speech tournament. She wrote back and gave me this verse:

I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.

I honestly thought this was the coolest verse in the world that God could have given me. Not only did it say "I will go in the strength of the Lord" (as in, He will give me the words, strength, and calm nerves for my speech), but "I will make mention of your righteousness..."

If you've seen my speech, you know that it's on Chinese characters and their connection to the Bible - and that the climactic point (and pretty much my thesis statement) is righteousness.

Is God amazing or what?

It was absolutely amazing how peaceful I felt during the rounds. Yes, I messed up, which usually caused my heart to go ::kerthump:: and my face to turn pink and I would fumble with the boards to pass the time while I remembered what came next. But that only happened once or twice, and for some reason I could still keep going smoothly and enjoyably.

It's amazing the peace God gives you when you know you are doing it for Him, that there is nothing to be afraid of, and that His joy is your strength. =)

I'll post more pictures soon!