“This is real. This is me. I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.”
God played that phrase from a song in my head over and over again through out the week at training camp. When I would get discouraged or feel incapable or happy or excited He would whisper parts of that line in my head and by the end of the week, I put it all together. God spoke through the Disney movie Camp Rock.
The first couple days of training camp I stood in awe. That God would choose me. The reality of me leaving for 9 months to do something I love hit me and it didn’t seem real at all. If we’re being honest, I thought I was actually dreaming the first couple days. I thought there was no way I am about to embark on the mission trip of a life time. Of all people in the world, why would God choose me. Why would God choose me to travel the world, to go to 5 different countries and love on people. But God said, “THIS IS REAL.”
As the days went on walls began tumbling down. Breakthroughs were happening in the hearts of every person on my team. Which led to sitting around a camp fire after only knowing each other for a short couple days and sharing our stories. We shared parts of our story that had never been told before, to a group of people that just days before were strangers. In that moment God whispered, “THIS IS ME.” The feeling of trust, the feeling of comfort, and the love that I had for each of these wonderful people was incredible. Walls that had been up for years were coming down and this group of loving people were there to comfort and encourage each and every single heart. I can’t explain to you the feeling. Watching people who had been completely closed off, opening their hearts and allowing the love of Christ to flood in to all parts of their lives. One night in particular we were praying for the anointing of the Holy Spirit and we all stood to worship full of the Holy Spirit and overflowing with joy. You looked around the room and everyone was glowing with excitement. We all left that room as different people. We were a family and nothing was going to change that. We worshipped together, we sweat together, we hiked together, we stood in the middle of our campsite huddled together at 3 AM because of some “wolves” at our camp site, we laughed, we cried, but most importantly we loved. We felt so confident in ourselves and who God made us. There was no hiding who we were. “THIS IS ME”, God whispered.
The level of comfort and joy I had sitting and talking with these people and sharing stories was amazing. As I worshipped and laughed and cried and poured my heart out and experienced healing, God whispered, “THIS IS EXACTLY WHERE I’M SUPPOSED TO BE.”
So this week was crazy. From bucket showers, to eating with our hands, to adding 42 new incredible brothers and sisters into my life, I’d say it was one of the best and hardest 10 days of my life. I walked into the week with no expectations and left with so much comfort, so much joy, and so much love. And to top it off God spoke to me through a song in a disney movie.
Fundraising Update:
Thank you to all who have supported me thus far!! I am so excited to announce that I am already at my second deadline of $10,000 which means I am only $4,467 away from being fully funded!! I can’t thank everyone enough for coming out and supporting me through donations and fundraisers. I plan on doing one or two more fundraisers and I can’t wait to share those ideas with you. Thank you for your prayers and support!
