It all went down like this…
Training camp started out with so many hugs, warm smiles, learning how to put our tents… until someone stepped on my big right toe…(I’ll talk more about that later).
I honestly didn’t know what to expect. I had talked to World Race alumni and NO ONE ever said anything but “You’re going to have an amazing time”…. I never asked any questions because I really didn’t want to know. I wanted to be SURPRISED. Little did I know what God had in store for me during Training Camp.
I won’t go into many details but the first day of camp I asked the Lord to do what he had to do in me. He is so good that he answered my prayer fairly quickly. The first few days at camp the Holy Spirit washed away every doubt, disbelief, worry, anxiousness…. and gave me his peace, joy and love. One of the things I learned is that if you cling to your expectations, you will miss out on what God has for you. God has better plans for my life than what I think.
I had so many fears, fears of not being liked, of not being good enough, of not being understood…. and I hid it all behind my smile. I learned so much about myself in just a few days. I am proud of who I am and of who God is helping me become. I am a daughter of the King of Kings. I’m a princess. I am royalty. I am free.
Here is something that I wrote in my journal during training camp:
“Last night was incredible. During worship I started sobbing and I had not idea why. As I stood there He said that I had to grieve all my past hurt and bad experiences to move on to the next season of my life. I asked God to bend me and break me, that I wanted to be just like Jesus. I am learning to be a daughter and learning about my Father. He loves me and He is so proud of me. A lot of internal healing happened inside of me. God, thank you that I don’t have to do anything for you to love me, I am your daughter, you already do. Please continue to change me and let your will be done. I surrender.”
I have surrendered my plans to get His. I belong to Him. My heart belongs to Him…
Okay there is so much more I want to share but on to the toe stuff that I mentioned earlier; I know you want to hear the rest of my Toe Story:
At the end of the week, I felt like a completely new person. Except that the day before we left, I hit my right toe (same toe that got stepped on the first day of camp and half of my toe nail fell off) on one of the tent stakes and my toe got a huge cut and was gushing so much blood. I was so thankful for my First Aid Kit at that moment, I carry one everywhere I go now. If you are wondering how my toe is doing, it’s much better. I know that you want to see it, so here is a picture of it during camp.
P.S: I fell in love with these incredible people in just one week! It's an honor to serve with each an every one of them during these next 11 months. Go R squad! Go Blue!
