Back in October, I wrote a blog titled “Under Construction: Part 1” in which I talked about my experiences at our World Race training camp in Atlanta. Since it’s been a few months, here’s a refresher of that blog:
As I was walking downtown Atlanta waiting for my plane, I saw some construction on the sidewalk. As I walked through the construction and watched cars go around the barrels I soon realized that this applies to my life. I was under construction. God had been removing the old, cracked sidewalk and replacing it with brand new cement that contains no cracks. Let me explain what happened.
While at this training camp, I was not sure what was going to happen. I knew God was going to do great things but not like this. It was like a typical training camp where you had worship and speakers talk about what we need to do to get ready for the 11 months. One thing I did not count on was the Holy Spirit doing amazing things that you would think are just not possible. I saw God remove years of hurt and pain in peoples’ lives. He poured down love and grace to all His children. Freedom was just not a word anymore. It was something you could see and feel. There was no more weight holding down everyone. I have seen hundreds of people worship but not like this. This was a unique kind of worship. It’s the kind of worship you read about in the Bible when all the angels are praising the Lord.
I personally saw the weight come off of me. I had been dragging my baggage of unworthiness, lust and self image for far too long. During worship, a gentleman placed his hand on my chest and prayed over me speaking truth into my life. Once we were done, I could not feel the weight anymore. It was like I could jump to the moon now. Later on we prayed and were prayed upon for the Holy Spirit to come into our lives. When this started, I could feel where the man prayed for me earlier just start to expand. It went throughout my body and the air was different. I mean different by it being thicker and a different taste then regular air. Look for part 2 and I will go explain more of what the Holy Spirit has done at training camp.
Now that training camp is over I now see everything in a different light. I am free from my chains and the fear is gone. Freedom is not just a word to me anymore. It is something I can feel and see. I have for once truly seen and experience God’s love and grace in my life. The old pavement has been removed and I have been replaced with a clean slate. Ready for anything. Now I am ready and nothing is going to hold me back from sharing the Gospel and Christ love to the world.
As promised, here is a closer look at some of what I witnessed the Holy Spirit doing in our midst at our training camp:
The last worship session of our training camp was like this huge celebration of God where everyone was dancing and glorifying God with their whole heart. Suddenly, a man who was working the slides started to pray, and then turned and started praying over me. He proceeded to tell me that “God does not want you to pray for simple things, but to pray for the desire of your heart. Even if it sounds crazy just ask.” I was blown away by this so I asked God to show me the inner depths of His heart, to be a light to others, and make disciples throughout the world.
After worship there was one last talk which offered a lot of insight into listening to God’s voice. During the session, everyone had an opportunity to share anything God had placed on their heart and at one point, my friend Ben told me that he felt the Lord speaking about my prayer. He said “This is just the beginning of God showing His love to you and there is more to come.” He also told me that “a bright light will be shown bringing life.” When I heard that I was shocked and speechless!
Since training camp I’ve had lots of opportunity to grow in my understanding of the power of the Holy Spirit and suffering. My grandma has had cancer for five years and may not have much longer so she wanted the whole family to see her for Christmas. When I talked to her she told me that she is so tired and has no energy to do anything but the Holy Spirit has given her joy. The Spirit has also helped her share Christ at the hospital during treatments or at appointments. It amazes me how suffering can actually be a blessing. When we look at what Christ did for us a joy overcomes us and everything seems trivial.
As I continue my study into suffering and have lots of long discussions over this topic, God continues to show up. He expands my mind and broadens my views on suffering and how the American dream is so fake. I’ve come to realize that not only am I under construction now, but always will be, until I’m called back home. I realize that living under a constant state of construction may not sound like fun, but when we keep our minds focused on all that Christ has endured for us, it seems more like a blessing because we know that we are being transformed into his image (2 Corinthians 3:18).
