My squad is the Church.
Intimacy, community, mission- these are the 3 areas of the Church that were continuously referenced during training camp. For the next 11 months, W squad will be my church. They will encourage me to pursue intimacy and a growing relationship with God. They will be a strong community that provides love, grace, and acceptance as they gently push me to become more like Christ. They will hold dance parties with me during the good times and hug me during the tough times. All the while, they will help keep me focused on the mission we are on- sharing the name of Jesus around the world.
The Holy Spirit wants to be a resident, not a visitor.
The power of the Holy Spirit was a big topic throughout training camp. We had sessions on who He is, how He speaks to us, how He heals people, and more. One of the biggest takeaways is that the Holy Spirit wants to be a constant in our lives. He doesn’t just want to be invited into specific moments. He wants to always be helping and guiding us. Have you invited the Spirit to be a permanent resident in your heart and life?
There is power in your story.
Stories are powerful. They break down boundaries and allow other people to say “me too.” This is why we share our testimonies. This is why I’m going to blog at least once a week on the race. Stories allow us to see the transformational work of Christ. I was lucky enough to attend a breakout session on Beauty for Ashes, a women’s ministry associated with Adventures in Missions. This session helped equip us to invite women around the world to share their stories. In many areas of the world (even in our own lives), we become consumed in guilt, shame, and lies because we privately hang on to our story and everything that has happened in our lives. When we share our story, we gain power over it. There is freedom in that. It also creates an environment of vulnerability and true community (back to the first truth I listed).
Perfect love casts out fear.
I have heard this Bible verse used many times before. However, it never quite carried the same meaning as it did when referencing evangelism. We had sessions about practical evangelism tips and how to address different world religions when evangelizing. I think I speak for everyone when I say we were inspired and ready to go tell everyone we see about Jesus. Even if the person literally runs away from us, we can rest assured knowing that we were obedient to the Holy Spirit and did not let fear stop us from sharing God’s perfect love.
We can do more than we think we can.
Sleeping in tents, bucket showers, no phones, full portapotties, crickets for breakfast, 60 burpees, packing up our packs and tents in under 20 minutes — These are only a handful of the challenges faced during training camp. We were stretched out of our comfort zones and called to higher things, whether that was superficial like cleanliness, physical like our many workouts, or spiritual. Training camp invited us into a place of authentic community and complete focus on Jesus. When we thought it was too much, God always showed up. Always. I can’t wait to see how this transpires on the field. We’re off to India in 6 weeks!
