Training camp was one of the best weeks of my life. It was also one of the hardest. I went into it knowing nothing. I had heard random stories but training camp is always a hush hush thing. I would spend hours on world racers blogs trying to figure out what it would be like and end up so frustrated when I couldn’t find anything. I now completely understand why it’s so hard to find information about it. It’s something that is so uniquely different from person to person. Camp is not going to be the same for everyone. Some people will love it and some might hate it. It is one of those things that is just so hard to explain. I wish I could have everyone experience it because it is something that is now so special to me.
I am still processing a lot of what happened this past week but I wanted to share some of the things The Lord taught me. I went into training camp trying to have an open mind and a open heart for whatever The Lord wanted to do in me. I am so glad that I did because The Lord totally broke me free of so many things. It soon became my theme of training camp.
The most important thing God broke me free from was sin. Sins of my past and sin that I had been caring around for entirely way to long. On the second or third night of camp we were worshiping God. Then the paster said we were going to ask the Holy Spirit to come down. This was something I had never done before so I was really reluctant to try. Everyone was praying and worshipping and I could already see God at work. I was just standing there surrounded by 400 people in complete shock that this actually worked. I was reminded to have an open heart and open mind so I began to pray. When all of a sudden I just lost it. I began to weep like I never had before. I am a cryer but this was something completely new. I could just feel The Lord saying that I was free from all my sin I just needed to let it go. I have never felt such a peace before. It was the kind of peace that passed all understanding. For the first time in a really long time I felt the Lords love surrounding me. It was rushing over me and I couldn’t hold it in. I knew He loved me but I could actually feel it. In this new freedom I could finally be who God wanted me to be. I could be his daughter and be free to be myself.
God also broke me free from was myself and the restriction I had in place for myself. I always thought of myself as a shy girl who wasn’t able to step up and lead. I had all these restrictions on myself because I felt unworthy to do certain things. Training camp was a place where I felt free to just be myself. This was so new to me and something that I rarely have experienced. I didn’t have to put on a front or try to impress anyone. I felt free to just be me. The people on my squad were so excepting. I was in complete shock that people actually liked me. I went into camp thinking I was going to have a hard time making friends. Man was I wrong. They saw the things in myself that I was to scared to let most people see. I got to open up to complete strangers and in doing this they soon became family. We now have a bond that can never be broken. We all have something so special a connection that only we get. It crazy how you can go into the week being strangers and leave with life long friends. I was even encouraged to step up into a leadership role. Something I would have never wanted for myself before going into this week but something God taught me that I could do.
Something else that I was broken free of was the comforts of home. I knew that sleeping in a tent and eating foreign food was going to be rough. However, I had no idea how much I was going to learn from a one person tent and eating rice everyday. I realized that I put way to much value in stuff. Things are never going to make me as happy as God does. I had to wake up way to early, exercise daily, share my one person tent with a stranger, freeze in the pouring rain, eat food that I couldn’t even recognize, wear the same cloths over and over again, not shower for days, and was never alone. In doing all these things God taught me that I don’t need the typical comforts of home. I can find comfort in Him alone because on the race I won’t have these things and they aren’t important.
The last thing God broke me free from was my alone time. My introvert self had a hard time letting this one go. Don’t get me wrong I love people but I really love my alone time. I soon found out that camp wasn’t the place for that. I was surrounded by people all the time. This was so hard for me and took a while to get use too. I would catch myself the first couple of days going to the bathroom just to get a few minutes of alone time. While alone time is great God taught me that community is so much better. I realized living in community was not something to be afraid of but something to embrace. If I didn’t allow this to happen I know I wouldn’t have made the amazing friendships that I did. Hammock time soon became my favorite part of camp. It was a time that I really got to know people on my squad. As badly as I wanted to curl up and shut out the world God allowed this time to break me free of alone time and embrace community.
God totally shocked me this past week and taught me so much. I am free to live for Him not bound by sin or circumstances. I will walk in this freedom and take it with me on the race.
I also found out that I will be headed to launch on June 29th and headed to the first country on July 3rd. I still need $300 to reach my next deadline and another $8,500 after that. If you feel lead to give hit the support me tab on the left hand side. Thank you for all who have supported me so far.
God bless,
Taylor
