Welcome to Part 2 of the Training Camp Trilogy! Today we are going to attempt to highlight what God did in my heart at camp. It’s going to be hard because the 12 days I spent in Gainesville were some of the most transforming days of my life. Well, here goes nothing…
WORSHIP
The worship at Training Camp was unlike anything I have ever experienced. I was a little out of my comfort zone at the beginning, but God spoke to me in completely new ways. They asked us to worship freely and for some people that mean kneeling on the ground, some people just stood still and sang, and others danced and jumped around pouring their heart out in praise. After realizing we were all doing the same thing (worshipping Jesus), just doing it in different ways, I embraced it and encountered God in an unexplainable way.
Instead of worship always looking the same – me praising God with my singing – it became a time where I focused my heart on God and let him do the rest. Sometimes God just called me to be still. Other times I stood with my arms raised, pouring my heart out to him in worship and thanksgiving. And my favorite moments were when he chose to speak and whisper little words of encouragement and love to me.
LEARNING (POST-COLLEGE EDITION)
I learned SO MUCH. There’s no way I can even scratch the surface on this post about how much and exactly what I learned at camp. To avoid turning this blog post into novel here are some things that really hit home for me (I would LOVE to talk more about these things if you’re interested– hmu):
– worship is a huge part of my relationship with Jesus, but I learned it isn’t just singing
– God looks at ME and says “you are good”
– Every battle you fight in the darkness, you will lose. Bring it into the light
– The word “soul” in the Bible comes from the word “nephesh” which doesn’t mean the ghost-like thing I have always pictured it as (check out The Bible Project)
– Obedience leads to deliverance
– Not forgiving yourself is like God letting you out of jail only for you to go crawl back in and stay there
– The World Race isn’t a humanitarian effort
– My greatest strengths, when used for the wrong things, can become my greatest weaknesses
– Deborah (Judges 4-5) and Rahab (Joshua 2) are HARDCORE and I want to be like them
One big thing that I felt God pressing on my heart day after day was thinking about what I am desiring to get from the race. We get teams and leadership roles and adventure days to explore the countries we are in, and I started seeing a pattern in what I was desiring from each of these things. I was looking at how these things could benefit me. But sweet, sweet Jesus was like “Em, don’t you want them to be for me?” WOW. Jesus showed me that all of this is for him. Everything in my life is to bring glory to his name and further his kingdom. BUT THE BEST PART is that what is best for HIM is ultimately what is best for ME! He’s so great y’all.
LEADERSHIP
My Squad has this tricked out group of leaders who are guiding us along our journey, and I don’t think I could even try to ask for a better team (a huge answered prayer). Jeremy is our squad mentor and is a dad to an actual child, but also in so many ways to each of us (dad jokes included). I cannot wait to hear more analogies and see more of his heart for Jesus. Keith and Karen are our coaches and I cannot wait to learn from them – specifically how to live a long life dedicated to Jesus and love (they have the sweetest of loves for each other and for other people). Carson, Danny, and Hope are our squad leaders and I’m psyched to get to experience life with them on the field. Lastly we have Ana, Kourtney, Bella, Ronny, and Clay. They all work at Adventures In Mission in Gainesville and they might not be coming on the field with us, but they had (have) an extremely essential role in my race. They spoke words of encouragement and wisdom to me at Training Camp and I hope they are prepared for Facetime calls and random texts from me, because I miss them ALL already.
WHAT TEAM?!
I GOT MY TEAM! Our fearless and inspiring leaders put together this group of 6 girls to go out and be disciples of Jesus. One of my squad leaders (s/o to Carson) told me that they already see so much growth and can see things we don’t even see yet. I’m honestly so pumped. Here are my sweet gal pals:
God sure has worked in my heart and my head the past couple weeks. I can’t quite explain what it’s like to worship Jesus and be surrounded by such incredible disciples for 12 whole days. If Training Camp is anything like what I will experience on the race, I am confident this will be the best year of my life. Just like Training Camp wasn’t perfect, I know the race will have it’s mountain-highs and valley-lows. But if there is one thing I learned at Training Camp it’s that God is faithful even in the valley! Dang he is so good.
The final blog of my Training Camp Trilogy is coming soon! Thank you for taking the time to catch up on what’s happening in my life.
Love y’all,
Em
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