I am so overwhelmed…the best kind of overwhelmed I could be.
I’m overwhelmed with the graciousness of the Lord that I am in this season of life that is overflowing with good things. I am overwhelmed with the freedom and love that He revealed to me during training camp this past week. I’m overwhelmed with the generosity, support and love shown from you all. and I’m overwhelmed with the godliness, love, acceptance and friendship that I’ve found in the community of those with whom I will be spending the next year with.
God has shown me himself in new ways and called me into even more intimacy with Him. I’ve heard Him speak in new ways and felt loved by Him in ways that I haven’t before. Adventures in Missions always does an incredible job facilitating situations for those things to happen. I was able to witness physical healings, emotional wounds being repaired, and redemption of hopeless situations in the lives of those who I will be serving alongside of throughout the last week.
On the first night at camp I was asking the Lord to speak to me and make it really clear what His goal was for me for the next year. I want to go and serve Him in the exact way He wants me to and I decided the best way to ensure that happened was to ask Him what He wanted the next year to look like. When I spent time with Him the next day, my reading plan led me to Isaiah 41 and 42…I think it’s probably the best passage (and set of passages surrounding it) that I could have read for this week. Verses 6-7 of chapter 42 say, “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind.”
While the beginning of the week was hardest, I knew no one and I was still convincing myself that I made the right decision signing up for this – these verses confirmed what it was that I needed to hear. I am so grateful that Him calling me is not dependent upon how good or not good I am but rather He has called me into righteousness and it is Him who sees me as pure.
It was certainly not an easy week. We camped out all week, built fires and ate food from other countries. We went on walks with our belongings and even had our packs (tents and sleeping bags included) taken away for 24 hours. We were asked to examine our own lives and work through struggles and hurts that had been previously ignored. It was a unique and growing experience that I’m thankful for. It has made this feel so real and it’s relieving to have faces and names to put with this adventure that is really quickly approaching.
Thursday, they gave us our teams (the group of 6 people that will be ministering and living together). I am excited about the different personalities, strengths, weaknesses and opportunities to grow that we will encounter throughout the next eleven months.
As always, thank you so much for your support. I’m about halfway to my fundraising goal. I am confident in the Lord’s timing that I will receive when He sees fit. I’m getting more excited and more nervous every day and am also getting increasingly thankful for this incredible opportunity!
