Hey friends! A lot has happened since my last blog post- I left home for training camp AND for Medellin, Colombia! Yes, it’s actually happening!!!!! After months of preparation, prayer, and stalking my teammates on social media I am finally here! Though there is lots to discuss in terms of our travel day and first official day in Colombia, this blog post is going to be solely about one experience at training camp because WOW the Lord spoke to me more than He ever has before.
Before I begin, I just want to acknowledge my poor punctuation and grammar. I really do need to go back to grade school for a couple days and relearn some things but at the moment, we are just gonna have to make it work. So please bear with me and just giggle when I misspell words or put semicolons where they are not needed. 🙂
Shameful is the word I am choosing to use to describe my feelings going into training camp. I was consumed with shame regarding sins from my past, challenges I have had to deal with and overcome with my family, how I chose to overcome those challenges, my loss of self- identity, and the devil’s whisper in my ear that I am not good enough for my one true King. This was all incredibly heavy stuff that I had never deeply shared with anybody until training camp. However, before I decided to share all of this with my squad, I had an experience with the Holy Spirit that literally changed me forever. I know you all may be thinking I am saying that for emphasis or to catch y’alls attention but no I say that because it is the 100% TRUTH. Having never had a physical act of surrender or encounter with the Holy Spirit, I can say with full honesty that I was left in full on tear mode.
After the first full day of training camp our camp director, Jeremy, had his friend who is also named Jeremy come and speak to all of us racers. Well, Jeremy is a supernatural healer through Christ. Very intense, unfamiliar stuff to me. But wow did that man change my life through the words he spoke. I had never been exposed to supernatural healing, the Holy Trinity, or speaking to the Holy Spirit before. Then Jeremy comes along and tells us about how he can heal people through prayer, whether that is a physical healing, spiritual healing, or mental healing. He can do all of it. I immediately believed him because the minute he began speaking I was intrigued, amazed, and in awe of the overwhelming presence of the Lord that I felt through him. He began talking about healing and I wish I could remember all of the details but to be honest, that whole night is a little bit of a blur. Anyways, before I knew it I was bent over in tears as he preached. Crying in front of people is not something I typically do, but I truly felt the Holy Spirit was the only one who had control over my body. As I sat there and prayed, asking the Lord why I was crying uncontrollably, I immediately felt all of the shame I had been carrying with me lifted off of my shoulders. Just like that. The Lord used tears and crying as a way of lifting all of my burdens off my shoulders. Let me tell you, it worked. Not once since my encounter with the Holy Spirit have I felt an ounce of shame or unworthiness. I haven’t thought about any negative people from my past or experiences that used to bring me discomfort. My past is behind me and I feel more confident in building a more fruitful relationship with the Lord. Another cool thing- after my encounter with the Holy Spirit, I went up to my leader, Nat Nat, and asked her to pray for me. Just to be clear: she had zero knowledge about any of the shame I had been feeling about my past or inability to let go of my traumatic experiences. But, she immediately began the prayer by saying that my past does not define me and that I am released from all the shame I carry along with it. IM NOT MAKING THIS UP Y’ALL. The Lord is seriously so magnificent and I cannot even put into words how amazed I still am by that whole entire experience.
Anyways, that was my main takeaway from training camp. Be on the lookout for one or two more blogs from me throughout the rest of this weekI may write another blog later today or tomorrow on some of the other teachings that stood out to me during training camp, but I wanted to get this one finished and uploaded quickly since it was so remarkable. Colombia is wonderful, the people are wonderful, my team is wonderful, and God is wonderful. I am thinking about all of you and praying for you all constantly.
All my love,
Patti
