I’m supposed to write a blog about training camp…

How?
 
How do I write about the week that changed the way I view my life?
 
How do I explain the week that turned my faith upside-down and then right side-up again?
 
I can’t.
 
There is no way I can find the words to adequately explain this past week of my life. But I’ll try.  I was stretched to the limits. I experienced God in ways that I never have before. I was challenged emotionally, physically, spiritually, and personally.
 
And I’m exhausted, but I’m ready.
 
One major thing that I took away from this last week is this: We live lives centered on what makes us comfortable, but our comfort is not nearly as important as we esteem it to be. No wonder people have “no use” for God these days. We have been brought up to fully depend on ourselves. To provide security and comfort for ourselves. To depend on ourselves, our parents, our spouses, our money in every way: financially, socially, physically, and emotionally. And the end result is that American dream of being supremely comfortable. 
 
that is not how we are designed to live.
 
We are designed to live a life of community. To give to the poor and the needy. To care for the widows and the orphans.  To have a beautiful relationship of reliance and dependence with the God of creation. If our lives are completely comfortable, where does our faith fit in? He wants to provide for you. He wants to fulfill your needs and wants. Let him.
 
I was blessed enough to experience that sense of community this past week.  A community of pure Christ-like love, selflessness, and compassion. No judgment. No blame. Just mercy and forgiveness. It was awesome. It’s what life is supposed to look like…untainted by anger and hatred. I am so blessed to be a part of such an amazing team.

Meet my new community: Meet H Squad 
 
 
 

Our level of comfort does not discern what is right. Our comfort level shouldn't be the same as our moral compass. If something makes us uncomfortable we immediately jump to the conclusion that it’s not right or "not for me." This is something I have relied on personally. I have even molded God into a God that I’m comfortable with. I’ve put him in a box, so to speak. My logic and science have belittled my faith at times because I was uncomfortable with thinking about the unexplainable. There's nothing wrong with using your mind to discuss God or creation or why things are the way they are, but when we get to the points that we just can't explain- it makes us uncomfortable. 
 
It's taken me a long time to realize that it's ok  that I can't explain everything that God does or why he does it. God is a god of miracles, unexplainable wonder, and awe-inspiring beauty, and if it takes becoming uncomfortable to truly experience that on a deeper level–sign me up.

I can't wait to be even more uncomfortable this year. 

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."  James 1:27