With arms stretched high as a sign of dependence, and with a burning passion, we sang “Holy Spirit, you are welcome here. Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere.” The air was filled with love and we could feel His presence in the room. “Let us become more aware of your presence, let us experience the glory of your goodness.” At the time, I was unaware of the plans the Holy Spirit had for us this week at training camp. But it didn’t take long for me to realize.
1.) Some of my sweet iSquad members met a few of us at the airport to take us to training camp on Saturday, July 12, 2014. We arrived with as little expectations as possible, as hard as that is, (but totally worth it). Immediately, we set up our tents and started putting faces to Facebook pictures. We sat in the grass on the sides of the road just yearning to get to know each other. We have about 40 squad-mates and 3 squad leaders (really 4, holla Erica!). Before long, we were all in the training center, singing praise, with 2 other squads. Here is where the Holy Spirit first wanted to get my attention. Are you ready? I surely wasn’t.
Toward the end of worship, my squad leader Erica, found me and embraced me.
“The Father has a message for you..” she said. “He is so proud of you. You are exactly where you need to be right now. You are so strong and he loves you. He put this squad together exactly for you. Do not be afraid. ‘He loves you, because he loves you, because he loves you, because he loves you, because he loves you…'”
What?! Okay, I’ll admit it. I was not completely convinced that this was the Holy Spirit. For sure, this was just something the leaders do. I looked around, who is she going to approach next? I didn’t see anyone. I thought, “Well, maybe tomorrow she’ll approach someone else..” “or maybe this really was who she said it was…”
2.) This brings me to the next time this week that the Holy Spirit approached me, the second night of training camp. Most nights of training camp ended with a worship session, and this night was no different. The very last thing we did was a more personal intimate prayer, which lasted probably 15-20 minutes. Toward the end, I was approached by someone in a green shirt, “Does the name ****** mean anything to you?” I was skeptical, but wanted to scream, “Yes! That’s my best friend! How does this girl know my best friend? Is she okay?” I wondered. She wanted to pray with me. The Holy Spirit gave the message to find me and to pray with me about my best friend. She led the most beautiful prayer for healing for my best friend. This girl does not know me, or my best friend, or that my best friend just went through a pretty bad break up and that she needs healing. But God does. He knew that I was battling him about the first night really being Him, so what better way to show me, than by using my best friend? Ask my squad-mates, I was in awe after this one… and overwhelmed..
3.) Night 3 came rolling around, and I couldn’t help but wonder what God had in store for me. To no surprise, he showed up. My sweet squadmate, Ashley, and I were talking after worship. She let me know that on the first night of worship (we were sitting next to each other), right before Erica came up to me, God told her to start praying for me! Not only that, but she then shared Hosea 2:14-16, 19-20 with me.
“But then I will win her back once again. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there. I will return vineyards to her and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope, she will give herself to me there, as she did long ago when she was young, when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt. When that day comes,” says the Lord, “You will call me ‘my husband’ instead of ‘my master’ I will make you my wife forever, showing you righteousness and justice, unfailing love, and compassion. I will be faithful to you and make you mine, and you will finally know me as the Lord.”
This might not mean anything to anyone else. But if you know my story, it means everything.
4.) So by the 4th day, I was praying for God to show up and open my eyes to everything He wanted to show me. This year, I decided to read the Bible from beginning to end because I have never done this. This was a fairly recent decision, and I’m only currently in Numbers, but whenever I have quiet time I just continue where I left off. Tuesday morning was different. I can’t quite explain this, but I felt led to Ecclesiastes. So I opened up and started reading, unaware that its only about 7 pages. Here’s what I found..
“..to accept his lot, and rejoice in his toil- this is the gift of God..” Ecclesiastes 5:19
&
“And I commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 8:15
My Father has blessed me with the ability to be joyful, especially in times of toil. He has given me this gift. He is the reason that I smile so often. This was always a concept that I believed in, but to actually read it in the Bible and have it confirmed with me is a totally different story. An amazing story.
5.) Finally, I leave you with this last way the Holy Spirit approached me during training camp. During the day on Tuesday, we learned of the various ways we may connect with God (Activist, Contemplative, Naturalist, Relational, Serving, etc.) For me, I’m a Naturalist. I love soaking up what our Creator has made for us. There is so much beauty and complexity that He has given us for our enjoyment. I was then talking to one of my squad-mates about this, Josh, who mentioned he wanted to learn more about the Naturalist Pathway..
That night, we took camping to a new level. iSquad went to another camp site and we set up camp under a tarp, cooked our own food over a fire we prepared, and just enjoyed each others company. As a Naturalist, I was really hoping those stars would be shining bright for us during this camping adventure. Unfortunately, they were hidden behind the clouds, and it was a lot of clouds. It started raining before we headed over to the new campground, and it remained overcast for the next few hours into the night. My squad was gathered around a camp fire, singing songs of worship and prayer late at night. Between songs someone would pray or just speak out what they were feeling. At some point, someone just mentioned to do your own individual prayer. I prayed for the stars to come out. I wanted to be able to share the stars with my squad-mates and try to teach Josh about the Naturalist Pathway. Within 2 minutes, and I’m not even exaggerating this, the clouds were gone. Completely gone. You guys, I immediately jumped up so I could share this. I was flooded with joy. You see, not only do we connect with God in these individual ways, but God wants us to share this with each other.
Our Father is persistent and consistent. And that, I am thankful for. He wanted to meet with me, not only for this week, but for the rest of my life. My life was rocked, but I know that I have a Father that loves me and wants me to be with Him. I am about to embark on the most extravagant journey of my life with Him leading me and my squad the entire way, and I could not be more thrilled for this. He gave me the most loving, supportive and compassionate squad and team. I am so in awe over this, over all of this.
Update: I want to give a HUGE shout out to everyone supporting me on this journey! I have been overwhelmed and flooded with support and could not be more thankful for this. I love you all so much! As an update, I am currently 40% funded (a little over $6,500!) I have about 4 more weeks until my next deadline, which is $7,500. I would love if you would continue to pray for me, my squad and my team of women that I will be living with this next year! If you are feeling led to a monetary donation, please click on the Support Me link to the left hand side, or visit this link:
https://www.adventures.org/give/donate.asp?giveto=worldrace&desc=For%20Andrea%20Dunn
