Forewarning: This blog may of may not be super coherent. I am still processing a lot of what happened last week and I am also still catching up on my sleep.
Last week I flew to Georgia for training camp. It was both horrible and amazing. I’m not going to get into too many details about what I did (don’t want to spoil the surprise for any future world racers), but I will tell you what God taught me in the last week.
The first thing I learned? God can heal.
You know that blog I posted before I went to training camp? The one about being beautiful? That felt AMAZING to post. But I tricked myself into thinking that because I wrote about it, I was fine. I accepted that event as a permanent part of who I was. Really I think I just hadn’t reached the point where I was completely ready to let that part of my past go. That and I wasn’t all that convinced that God could really heal that part of me completely.
But guess what?
God brought all of those emotions to the surface again at training camp. It sucked and I hated it, but it brought me to a point where I was completely ready to let go. And with God’s help, I did. And I feel so much freer.
The second thing I learned? I am not alone.
When I landed in Atlanta, I was a little nervous about meeting my squad. A lot of times I feel like I’m the odd one out, especially with people my own age. To be completely honest, I think I resigned myself to the idea that that was most likely how training camp was going to be for me.
I was completely wrong.
Everyone felt like family. I have never felt so at peace with a group of people. It’s still blowing my mind how much love and respect we had for one another. Wow.
The third thing I learned? God’s got a plan for me beyond this mission trip.
It’s really easy to get discouraged when you feel like you don’t know exactly where you’re going with your life. I haven’t thought a lot about what I’m going to do after this mission trip. Partially because I know God could completely turn any plans I make upside-down and partially because I’m a little scared about my job options.
I really don’t like that uncertainty.
But during training camp, God (through a friend) informed me not to worry because He’s writing my story even beyond this trip. I didn’t even realize how much I needed to hear that.
And those things are only some of what God taught me at camp.
Here’s some pics!
First night at training camp, setting up all of our tents.
It poured for about half the week. Legit downpour. You could hear it coming before it hit.
Did I mention that it rained?
Yeah, still raining.
I didn’t expect Georgia to be so pretty. Wow.
After days and days and days of rain, we finally got a sunset!
Meet my team, code name Overflow. These are the people that I will be working with on the mission field for the next year!
(L-R) Brent, Andie, Me, Kourtney, Ashely, and Daniel
“Lord, strip it all away,
until only You remain”
