//“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Acts 1:8//
//“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is FREEDOM.” 2 Corinthians 3:17//
Here I was, a few months before training camp having a good ole’ Jesus chat with a friend of mine (shout out to Katie G!!!) about the Holy Spirit. At the time I was sharing with her how I really felt like the Holy Spirit was calling me to experience Him more and expressing my feelings on how as Christians some of us fail to realize that we hold the power of the Holy Spirit within us. Sadly, I fell in that category, but I knew in my heart I was more than ready to change.
Little did I know that the Lord would soon answer my prayers and that I’d experience Him like never before.
Coming into training camp, I had no idea what it would be like and was actually extremely nervous. So many doubts and questions popped in my head like “What if I don’t like my squad?” or “What if I fail at the fitness hike?” Looking back I just laugh, because I couldn’t tell you one bad thing about training camp. Well… besides the porta pottie’s and the bucket showers. Hehe.
I’m pretty positive that I’ve never laughed or cried so much in my life! So much joy filled my two weeks being away at camp. I got to meet 34 beautiful human beings who each love the Lord and it showed, boy did it show. In a span of two weeks these beautiful Jesus loving people became my family and somehow managed to make a tent in the middle of the woods feel like home.
These people loved on me, prayed over me, and encouraged me to grow closer to our Heavenly Father. When my arm got attacked by a herd of fire ants, they were there to laugh with me in my pain and pray over me. When I couldn’t keep my eyes open during service, they nudged me awake. And when I needed someone to speak life into me, they were there showing me Jesus.
While my two weeks of camp was full of an immense amount of joy, it was also extremely hard at times. When I asked for the Holy Spirit to come in and invade, He did just that. Which meant current and past struggles that I had been dealing with and relationships that I was still holding on to had to come to light and be dealt with right then and there in order to make room for the Holy Spirit. And man, that was hard.
But through the toughness of it and through the heartache I experienced so much freedom! I experienced the Lord move in ways I had never experienced before. I was finally able to experience the power of the Holy Spirit and I prayed that He would stay and continue to wreck me. So many chains were broken and I was finally able to let go of all that was holding me back. The shame that I held from my mistakes? Gone. The person I was struggling to forgive? Forgiven. And the love that Jesus showed for me all along, though I struggled to receive it? STILL THERE! Praise Jesus!
And you know what’s exciting? Training camp is only a glimpse of what’s ahead! Holy moly I can’t wait. January, I’m ready for ya!
