Words cant even describe what my last ten days were like. I have never felt more emotionally, physically, and spiritual exhausted, yet so full at the same time.
In short, on August 20, I arrived in Gainesville, GA to begin my intense ten day training to help prepare me for my missions trip. I met my team of twenty for the first time and I am in awe of who the Lord has placed in my life. We are the start of the fifth generation of Racers and we are also the first ever all girls squad. The Lord has BIG plans for C-Squad ya’ll, its going to be a wild year.
Throughout the course of the next ten days, we learned what it looked like to love more, share more, give more, and accept Jesus more fully into our lives. We went to about three or four sessions a day. Some sessions taught us how to get ride of the shame in our lives, how to pray the Holy Spirit into our everyday, how to be physically healthy so that we can also be spiritually and emotionally healthy, the list goes on and on. We also learned more tangible skills like how to lesson plan for teaching, how to prepare a sermon, how to interact and share the Gospel with people of other religions. We learned how to connect to God through different pathways in our lives, through art, nature, communication, meditation, music. This is just a small nugget of what I did these past ten days. All I know for sure is that God is GOOD. He is present and He is faithful and I am in awe of Him and His glory.
Im going to try to hit on some of the biggest milestones that I experienced this week and hopefully convey to you all of the things the Lord has taught/is teaching me for this upcoming year.
1. God is a yellow butterfly. This might sound weird to some of you, but to me, God is a yellow butterfly. For the past year and a half, I would feel the presence of God, be reminded of Gods beauty and grace, and feel the love that He has for me. This past week and a half, I saw a yellow butterfly every single day. Some might say “Yeah, this is Georgia in the summer, of course you saw a yellow butterfly.” To me, I am reminded of everything the Lord has done in my life.
2. I am a team leader. My squad of twenty is split up into three different groups (two groups of seven and one group of 6). I am the team leader for one group of seven. This means that I will be in contact with our ministry hosts, work directly with the treasurer and budget our money wisely, and help guide and lead my team throughout our months together. The Lord is going to use this experience to drastically change my life and I am so excited to trust in Him through this.
3. God is a raging fire. C-squad went on a camping trip which was life-changing. (I’ll make a completely separate blog for that night because the Lord was SO good). God lit a fire in my life, literally and metaphorically. He literally created a raging fire when there was only ash (again, that story is for another day.) But He also lit a fire in my soul. We let the Holy Spirit lead us in prayer and worship that night. I have never felt so spiritually connected to a group of people in my life. I am on fire for the Lord and I want the Holy Spirit to lead me throughout this next year. I want all of my worldliness to be consumed by this fire and I want the Lord to take over.
4. Daughter Zion. This is the name that my team and I chose for ourselves. To us, it means “Adored by God.” Adore literally means to love and respect someone deeply. WHAT. Guys that is crazy. This also gives me so much comfort and joy. We are adored by the Creator, the King of Kings, Abba, Father. I desire to show the rest of the world that God adores them too. Those who don’t know Him are adored by Him. Those who do know Him are adored by Him. I want the rest of the world to be able to experience the comfort and joy of being adored by the one true King. There are so many other interpretations and meanings that Zion brings. Im excited to watch the Lord reveal them to me and my team throughout the next year. The verse God placed on my heart for this team is Zephaniah 3:14-20.
“Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach. Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” says the Lord.”
I don’t know if any of this really conveyed all that I was hoping it would. There are so many things I wish I could have shared, but I don’t have the time or space (in this blog) for that. I just want you all to know that God is moving in my life. He is present, He is loving, He is faithful, and He ADORES us.
I have a little over a month before I leave on this crazy adventure and I would love your continued support. It’s going to be a wild ride but I know that God has called me to this. Thank you for taking the time to read all of this. If you want to follow me throughout this next year, subscribe to my blog and follow my instagram because those will be the two platforms that I use to share my stories!
