We slept under the Georgia stars in tents, showered with buckets, danced in thunderstorms, hiked in the heat of July, ate whatever was put in front of us (one morning was crickets!!!) We laughed, cried, sang, danced, learned, and became family with the new faces that we will be traveling the world with. It was exhausting- mentally and physically, yet energizing- spiritually. I left feeling like a new person— or perhaps, a person with a deeper identity of who I really am. Jesus instilled in me deep revelations of what it means to be a child of the Lord. To be fully alive in Him.
While reflecting on the experience of Training Camp, I fluctuate through paradoxical emotions- nervous yet rapturous, vulnerable yet liberated, overwhelmed yet inspired, uncomfortable yet trusting, and anxious yet daring. My mind keeps going back to a moment that changed my life:
One night during worship, I didn’t know the lyrics to a song so instead of singing, I began praying: “Father, build your Kingdom here on earth, bring your Kingdom.” It’s a prayer I pray a lot- inspired by Matthew 6:10 “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” I pray this because I see brokenness all around me. There are nearly 146 million orphans worldwide. Each year over 1 million children starve to death. As I type this, nearly 30 million people are enslaved to human-trafficking. These are people just like you and I, yet they are forgotten, looked over, and voiceless. These statistics attempt to convince us that there is no hope.
But during that night in worship, sweet Jesus convinced me otherwise. After praying “Father build your kingdom here,” He nudged me to open my eyes in that moment, and I did. Jesus spoke in a whisper, “Here it is.” My eyes filled with tears. Surrounding me was the Kingdom– hundreds of students with hearts surrendered to the Father. This community was extremely diverse- boys, girls, all different colors, from all different places, with all different backgrounds and stories- some were once addicted to drugs, some were abuse victims, some were once caught in depression and anxiety- but we all have one thing in common: when we met Jesus, he flipped the trajectory of our life and captivated our hearts. He became our life, our purpose. In this moment it wasn’t about religion, it was just about Jesus. In this room no denomination divided us, we were just brothers and sisters in love with our Savior, our King. I felt an insane sense of Home in this room; it was a glimpse of Heaven- what it will be like to worship before the throne someday. These brothers and sisters are abandoning comfort, security, family, and self to embrace Jesus as he leads us to the nations. 50 day countdown. I’M SO READY!!!
On a side note I have to reach my $10,000 goal by September, currently I am at $7,260 so if you would like to help you can click the “Donate!” button on my Home Page! I can’t believe the support I have received so far!!! How can I ever thank you guys enough?!! Love and prayers coming your way XOXOXO
