This month, I spent 10 days in Gainesville Georgia at training camp. Training camp happens for many reasons from meeting your squadmates, to testing out your gear, to learning the logistics of your traveling, to being put through scenarios that might happen on the field.
Now, I could easily write about what I did at training camp.
I could fill pages on pages of port-a-potty stories, cricket eating, flooding tents, and bucket showers.
But, I am going to write about what I felt at training camp.
I felt a lot. Like I felt more in these 10 days than I have in the past 10 years. I’ve decided to wrap up my training camp experience into a handful of words that God laid on my heart in these 10 days. But as I started to write, I realized I had a lot more feelings that I initially thought and my blog was getting longer than the last novel I read. As to not write the next Harry Potter book, I have decided to split my one blog into a series of blogs, each on one of these words. So stay tuned this week to catch all of my words and thoughts!
1. Prayer.
Prayer has been something that I have always struggled with. I am such a multitasker and a go-go-goer that I feel like my mind can never sit still for long enough to pray. Morning devotionals are more dedicated to reading the bible verse than actually praying about it.
Training camp was non-stop, kind of like my life. I was half-expecting prayers to be few and far-between because there ‘just wasn’t time for them.’ Oh boy was I wrong. If anything, prayers came first. And they came BIG. Everywhere you turned, there was someone praying alone, for someone else, or with their squad. People were praying in their tents, their hammocks, on the road, at dinner – you name it.
It’s because prayer is so beautiful. It is so easy to blame the world and try to fix things yourself. But it is WAY easier to talk to Jesus and have him help you out. And these people knew that. They knew that I was trying to fix things on my own and not with His help. Numerous times at camp, people would come up to me while I was eating, walking, even smack in the middle of a sermon and say, “Hey, can I pray for you?” Because they knew. They knew I needed Him at that moment. And it didn’t matter where we were, what we were doing, who was watching. Even in the craziest moments, it was never too busy to pray.
1 Thessalonians says: “Pray without ceasing.”
Sounds a lot like “love recklessly,” huh? This feeling toward prayer can be wrapped up in one certain story from camp. One of our squadmates hurt her foot early one day so badly she couldn’t walk on it. The pain really took a toll on her and kept her from being able to do some of the activities and made it hard for her to get around our hilly campsite. That night at worship, I saw out of the corner of my eye some of our squadmates surrounding her and leaning over her. At first I thought something was wrong but as I walked over, I realized they were praying. They were praying for her foot to heal. Seconds later, in the middle of a worship song, our entire squad had our hands on her praying out loud. And it wasn’t just normal praying – it was that fired up kind-of-prayer (you know what I’m talking about). And I could feel the Holy Spirit so vividly in that moment wrapping up this group of 36 around our squadmate.
And then she stood up. SHE STOOD UP, PEOPLE!! Holy guacamole, prayer is powerful. Just 10 minutes before, she could barely stand, and now she was standing on her hurt foot.
Prayer is powerful. Could you imagine if we prayed about everything in our lives? These silly things we hold on to and try to fix ourselves would finally be healed. All of our brokenness would be glued together. All of our hurt taken away.
Because “whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24).
Although I did experience prayer chaotically and in-the-moment throughout camp, there were also moments of prayer that were brought through peace. One of the challenges our squad was given was that a handful of us had to be awake all night long and pray over the rest of our squad and our year ahead. Our first thoughts were that it was one of the last nights of camp, we were exhausted, hot, all we wanted to do was sleep, but as a squad, we agreed to spend the first hour together as a group. And that first hour turned into 2 and then 3. Next thing I know its 3:30 am. It’s crazy how God gives you energy and comfort when you take time to talk to him.
At 2:30 my team spent time praying over each other for an hour and an overwhelming sense of peace came over me. Up until this point I had felt a lot of anxiety about what this year is going to look like, and I had been praying non-stop over my safety, my team assignments, and my squad. But at this moment, peace overflowed through me and I felt like all of my anxious prayers were answered. At 3:30 in the morning in Gainesville, Georgia – prayer was powerful.Undoubtably, the Lord has his hand in waking me up at 5:00, just a short 2 hours after going to sleep so that he could continue to open doors to my thoughts and heart. I spent the morning watching the sun rise, worshiping with a few of my squamates, praying, and feeling such an overwhelming sense of peace I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.
If prayer can heal a hurt foot, bring a sense of peace, and unite a group of 37, I can’t imagine what it will do over the next 11 months. I can’t wait to see the true power of prayer.
But I still need help getting there. I have been praying non-stop that God will provide the funds and resources to get me to launch in October, and I know come September 12, he will provide.
I need to raise $4,035 by September 12 to still be able to go on this Race. That’s only TWO short weeks to keep me on this journey.
If you feel led, please join me by clicking the donate button at the top of my blog. Please send me an email or text if you want to help me financially or prayerfully in other ways. Every step counts, and gets me closer to sitting beside God’s children in these nations.
I can’t wait to share the rest of my training camp experience with you guys. Subscribe to my blog or stay tuned this week for the rest of my words.
Shoot man, prayer is powerful.
With reckless love,
Haley
