All I can say is WOW, what an experience training camp was. It is hard to put into words what happened to me. Yes, I got to meet some amazing people that I will be sharing my life with. Yes, I got to eat some new food and experience a little of what life will be like next year, but I never expected to experience God the way I did.
Some of you know that when I made the commitment to go on the World Race I started experiencing spiritual warfare like never before. It started last October when I was chaperoning for the fall retreat with the youth group. I was talking with the ladies before bed and one of the ladies started talking about how there is a demon living in her house that tortures her son. Well all of the sudden I heard whispering in my ear and my body had a rush of heat from head to toe. I woke up around 3am saying, “who is that?” It looked like someone was standing over me while I was sleeping. I can’t say for sure if there really was someone there or if was in my sleep. I wasn’t able to sleep without writing a prayer or listening to Christian music for a long time. The tormenting seized for a couple months or so, but about a month before Training Camp it started up again. I was so numb spiritually the month before Training Camp. I knew God was there, but I couldn’t feel him. I had no emotion when it came to Christ.
So here we are at training camp and we are hearing sermons on grieving, forgiveness, healing, etc. 1 night during worship I was questioning God because all those around me were feeling Jesus’s love and I wasn’t. I began to pray to not experience demons anymore and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. and I felt someone’s hand on me and I knew they were praying for me. My body started getting a little warm and I started to tear up. Then I felt our Squad Dad put his hand on my head and he said, “Fill her up Lord.” I then felt this massive rush flood into my chest and I began to cry. I prayed for the Lord to come and hug me and our Squad Mom came and hugged me tight and I knew it was from Him and she said to let it go and I was able to take a deep breath and finally feel free and a huge smile came across my face. The next morning I questioned if I was really free from demons. We had an exercise on prophecy and we had to break up into 1’s and 2’s. The 1’s were lined up along the wall with their eyes closed and the 2’s had to place their hand on the shoulder of a 1. I placed my hand on Colleen’s shoulder and she began to tell me what she saw and what Jesus said to her. She said I see a rising sun and Jesus is saying to me that you will no longer have to face the darkness and there is a new horizon for you. I started crying as soon and she started talking. Jesus then told me to share my story with my squad so I did and I was able to bond with other squad member who have been experiencing the same thing. I just have to say I am super excited to see what He is going to do in a through me this next year. This is only the beginning!! God WILL move mountains through me and my squad and I cannot wait!
My super, awesome, crazy family I will spend the next year of my life with!
