Here a little bit about what I learned at training camp 🙂
So leading up to training camp I thought the purpose was to meet my teammates, learning more about the countries we’ll be going to, and preparing for the worst by eating different food while not have running water. While all those things were true, this camp became much more than I had expected.
After day one I started to compare myself to all the amazing people around which is something I haven’t really dealt with or struggled with in the past. And that was hard, so I started to pray that the comparison and negative thoughts would change and go away or for God to verify or deny the thoughts that were going through my mind. I prayed that prayer for about two days. And those two days were difficult, I struggled to feel joy and all the goodness I was given. I then became so frustrated that He was not answering my prayers that they were not important enough for Him to talk back to me. I felt Jesus didn’t see the urgency in answers that I needed. I know understand that He knew what I wanted was for an answered prayer to happen but in that moment that was not what he wanted to teach me. If he would have I wouldn’t have learned anything.
From this experience the first two days I learned to wait, be patient, and trust more than anything. I really put God in a box and expected him to work. I wanted God to follow my time limit and when He didn’t I disregard everything I ever knew or learned about how He honestly knew and heard me. Then I was reminded of all his promises and how true they are even if I couldn’t “feel” them. This truly was a learning moment for me to be as faithful as God expected me to be. And to rely on Him and His timeline it is better that way. This is something I have always known in my head. I have always known that prayers can be answered in moments or years and that God’s way IS always better than our own. For the longest time I have known these truths in my head, but not in my heart. Now I believe I understand them in a new way and I can’t wait to understand different ideas in new ways.
“But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently” Romans 8:25
This verse explains very well what I have learned. This verse was given to me by a stranger I met on the airplane. This stranger, who only spoke spanish, soon became my friend. Even though we did not speak the same language It didn’t stop from talking for a few hours and imapcking eachothers lives (thank you Google translate). Just another small amazing miracle by God answering my prayers through someone else pointing back to Him. Oh in what wonderful ways he works.
God Bless, Abby 🙂
