World Race Training Camp!!!!!!!
For the last 10 days, I was at training camp preparing for when I will start the World Race this January!
Described as a spiritual, physical, emotional and relational boot camp by some, the hardest thing they ever did by others or as something totally unexpected but so so good, training camp is so many things!
For me, it was all of the above!
It has been my dream to travel and to do so in a way that mattered for others. It’s beyond my wildest dreams and expectations as I could not have planned or prepared for something so wild, intense and beautiful.
Even though it was super challenging and pushed and stretched me in so many ways!
I will break it down and give you a sneak peek or some of the highlights. I will do a series of posts about my training camp experience in an attempt to give you the highlights and the most important parts, as it was packed so full of events and changes that it is hard to describe in just one post.
Entering Training Camp:
We all met at the airport and found most of our squad wearing our namesake color as new members of this years Green Squad (C squad) or more affectionately and meaningfully known as C4! This was spoken over our team, that we are FIGHTERS and WARRIORS and God will use us in a BIG way!
Day 1: Setting up camp. This is your life. How it will look on the field.
Picture credit goes to my lovely squad mate: Carolyn Gibson. Thank you Carolyn!
Learning about abandonment and what this looks like in real life for me (and YOU.)
If you were told to leave everything behind to follow Christ, would you be able to?
This first day I started to learn what this would really look like.
And then when God started to whisper to my heart to tell me what He says about me, I struggled to believe it completely. But it was so sweet. And refreshing. And it breathed life into my soul.
And now as I start to process and debrief and unpack everything (physically and emotionally and spiritually…!) it amazes me that God cares for my heart so much that He would speak such freedom and beauty to me.
How quickly we forget! When we spend time with God in the quiet and away from everyone’s (even our own) expectations it can be so freeing and refreshing.
And that was just the start of it!
This post will focus on the theme of rest. As after such an intense, packed training camp like this that prepares you for the World Race in every way, REST is a must. True rest.
Training camp left me exhausted and not quite knowing what to do next once it was over. It is a process to unpack all that I learned and experienced and it felt like longer than 10 days. I thoroughly enjoyed it even though there were challenging times. It was worth it!!!!
It was so good to get some free time during the training to debrief, rest and spend time with God. It was a must as well!
When I sat down to read the Bible outside, it spoke to me in a new way and I felt the start of refreshment. As the wind churned the pages, it was as if the Word of God was coming alive. The wind was stirring into my soul and almost made me breathless with wonder.
Hebrews 4:12- God’s word is living and active. It is sharper than any two-edged sword and cuts as deep as the place where soul and spirit meet, the place where joints and marrow meet. God’s word judges a person’s thoughts and intentions.
The Bible is God’s letter to you. He wants to share His story with you. It’s a story full of life. Real life! Full life! He breaths new life into you and refreshes your spirit.
He tells the weary person to find rest in Him. Jeremiah 31:25- “I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.”
This is almost unheard of in our culture unless you are going on a vacation once a year if you even are able to do that. But God wants you to be well rested regularly in Him. Not just when you are burnt out. He wants to make you new today!
Do you need refreshing and renewal? Pray to God today.
Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Bold print added).
God is your refresher. God is your rest.
Isaiah 30:15- This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength.”
How do you get your rest? Or how long do you try to go without it until you get burnt out?
Resting in God is our salvation. I learned this during training camp even amidst the challenges and the fullness of the time there. Even if your schedule is so busy you don’t have time to breathe, remember that God wants you to stop and rest from your jam packed schedule.
It’s in the quiet moments with no distractions that we hear Him best. That’s how he refreshes us and gives us new strength. Carve out some time today to rest in Him. It might be the most important thing you could do today and give you a new, fresh perspective.
In order to continue on this exciting whirlwind of a journey, I need your help! Please prayerfully consider giving what you are able to today! I challenge you to give in multiples of 11 in honor of just finishing training camp to get ready to go to 11 countries in 11 months!
Prayer and encouragement is also crucial and I need to hear from you! Will you join me on this journey today? I truly cannot do this without your help!
Please give as much as you are able. I appreciate your generosity and sacrifice to send me to the nations. Remember, you are not giving to me, you are giving THROUGH me to reach people in need and allow me to GO to do the work and share love in a real way!
Please give in multiples of 11: $11, $33, $55, $88, $121, or an extra generous gift of $154 or $209, or more as you are able and as you feel led. If you feel a desire in your heart to give at all, please don’t delay and give today! I need your support to make this happen.
I know someone out there (you) reading this is able to give one of these amounts or feel free to give another amount that makes sense for you.
I need every person reading this to give today or message me encouragement! I need everyone to join me on this journey! Please do this now and don’t put it off. I need you now!
(If you have already given, thank you so much! If you have not already received your thank you card, I have more going out soon, but please know I am so grateful for you and for your love and support!)
On that note, if you are able to commit to giving monthly, even though it will be challenging to make that commitment at first, please challenge yourself. I have already given to this cause as well.
If you have made a one time gift, please consider giving monthly to multiply your gift for unlimited impact for children and women and men around the world.
Or please consider giving another generous one time gift (generous meaning whatever you are able to do, that you feel led to do and that it challenges you, even just a little bit, in honor of the challenges I overcame at training camp! More to come on that too!)
God gives us strength to overcome. I experienced this firsthand!
This is what God has put on my heart.
Your support all goes to sending me on the World Race to help orphans, teach children, speak hope to widows or human trafficking victims as well as those who just need a word of encouragement or to believe that someone cares for them and sees them.
My next deadline is fast approaching and I need your help to reach it! The first 10 supporters who donate and message me to tell me how they’ve given (online donation by clicking here or on the Orange Support me tab at the top of the page or by sending a check*) will receive a fun, unique, cultural post card or note from a country of their choice from one of the 11 countries while I am on the Race, starting in January.
Deadlines:
- $10,000 – Due 12/14/2015 (Fundraising Goal 2)
- $13,000 – Due 2/29/2016 (Fundraising Goal 3)
- $16,962 – Due 4/30/2016 (Fundraising Goal 4)
*As of today’s post, I still need $6,700 by December 14th to be able to launch on the World Race this January. Please join with me to make this happen! Thank you!
*If sending a check, please make it out to Adventures in Missions, but PLEASE PLEASE be sure to put my full name, Jennifer Silverman, in the MEMO line so they know who it’s for and it can go to my account. I appreciate your support!*
Please mail your tax-deductible contribution to:
Adventures in Missions
P.O. Box 742570
Atlanta, GA 30374-2570
Remember to put my name: Jennifer Silverman in the memo line.
I want to hear from you:
How do you get your rest? Or how long do you try to go without it until you get burnt out?
Do you long for TRUE rest? Our true rest can be found in God.
Answer in the comments below. Or ask me a question about training camp or the World Race that you want me to answer in my next post!
Thank YOU!!!!!!!
