Last week I spent a week of training in Gainesville, Georgia. It was a week of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual prep to serve the nations starting in September. I slept in a school bus, in a tent, amongst bugs, used only port-a-potties, ate all kinds of international food (sometimes with no utensils), took bucket showers, and lived in community with the other 40 people on my squad (s/o 3rd gen L squad!).
This past week was so many things, and trying to put in words my answer to “how was training camp?” is just not easy. It was one of the most challenging but amazing weeks of my life.
SO, to sum it up- here is a list of 9 things I learned this past week:
- Community is a beautiful thing. Living in community 24/7 (literally) on the race won’t always be easy. But God uses others to grow us into the people he wants us to be. We can learn so much by being surrounded, supported, and challenged by other Christians. (I am so excited for this on the race!)
- Fear and anxiety are not of the Lord. The fears and anxieties that sometimes consume our thought are not from Jesus. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).
- Surrender isn’t easy, but it’s worth it. This word- surrender was something the Lord continually put on my heart this past week. God asks us to fully let go of certain things so that we can bless others. He asks us to surrender our own plans to Him. The most fruit comes when we die to ourselves! (Luke 9:23; Mark 8:35)
- Trying to get through life relying on your own strength is exhausting and impossible. Phillippians 4:13 says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”, Not- I can do anything all by myself. It is when we truly give Him control that we can be strengthened. One of my favorite worship songs says, “my flesh may fail, but my God you never will”…I am learning that this is such truth!
- Getting your strength from God feels like a ton of bricks being lifted from your shoulders. Relying fully on him is so sweet!The first few days of training for me were so hard. I felt like I wasn’t equipped for this next year- and guess what, I’m not! (not even close), but I am learning to rely on God instead of myself…I’m learning that it’s not all up to me. He is glorified when we depend on him.
- Trusting God isn’t always easy, but he is always faithful. 2 Timonthy 2:13 reminds us that- If we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.
- The plans God has for us really are so much bigger than anything we can ever imagine. A year or two ago, I would have never thought I’d be going on an 11 month long mission trip. But our God is an extravagant God. He gives us big dreams and big strength to serve his people!
- Being a Christian is becoming more like Jesus. It’s that simple.
- Intimacy with the Father is the start. Listening to God, spending time with him, reading his word…this is where we should be rooted. Everything else is an overflow from spending time with him.
Support status- my next financial deadline is coming up! By August 19th, I need to have $7,500 in my support account to be funded for launch in September! Would you consider partnering with me in this? Any financial/prayer support would be so appreciated!
Also, a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who has supported me in this so far! To everyone who has prayed, sent in a donation, an encouraging text- I am SO thankful for you! This is an intimidating upcoming 11 months, and your support truly means more than you could ever know! THANK YOU!
