Life is a journey and God refines us along the way. On this part of my journey, I got to experience training camp for the World Race. Let me tell you it was not what I expected at all. The only thing I researched about camp was how to pack for it. I definitely got the unexpected. Here’s a brief break down of how our days went: wake up at 6am, workout , quiet times, breakfast, session, lunch, maybe an activity/session, personal time, dinner, a night session, then off do a sleeping scenario(airport, sleeping outside, sharing tents, etc). Our days were jammed packed.
Heading into training camp, the idea of trying to meet & get to know 36 people on my squad overwhelmed me. With lots of prayer for peace & for God to calm my anxious heart, I started to feel ready! Once I got to the airport and met up with a majority of my squad and actually starting talking to them in person, I knew everything was going to be great:) My squad, better known as #dbestsquad, are amazing!
We had sessions upon sessions at camp that really made me look at my life, and to look for areas for God to reveal to me what I needed to surrender to Him and start working through. I love how God works because after the first few days, I was over talking about my feelings and constantly having to think about different areas in my life, but God knew He still had things to teach me. God reminded me of the freedom He offers, all I need to do is take it. I know God was at work because I found myself opening up to my squad mates about things I didn’t think had a stronghold on my life.
I literally could write a book on everything I learned, how it applied to my life, and how I am still processing everything now. For now I will just a share one of the many things God taught me. (If you ever want to hear more about what I learned, I would love to chat with you sometime, just email or call me!)
One of the many areas that God really spoke to me was being empowered by the Holy Spirit. Living in Orange County, I definitely put God in a small box. The Holy Spirit lives inside of me, and all of us who have accepted Christ into our lives. I don’t think I have ever really taken the time to truly think about what that means. One of speakers said this, “ We treat the Holy Spirit as if he has visitation rights, but He has habitation rights.” That quote really stood out to me because I live like the Holy Spirit is just visiting. After having some time to really dwell on what it looks like that the Holy Spirit lives in me, it’s amazing. God has empowered me with the Holy Spirit- that is so cool! Coming back from camp, I began working on cultivating my relationship with the Holy Spirit. God is bigger than the box I have put Him in. He is the God who created the whole universe and made every human unique. It blows my mind when I think of everything God has done and still doing, and He lives inside me. I start to think of what my life could look like if I lived every day truly knowing and believing that God can do anything through me. Being empowered by the Holy Spirit, I want to work on hearing God’s voice and being able to distinguish His voice from mine. I want to be bold and take risks for God. I love how God continues to reveal things to me that I need to work on with His help. My heavenly Father cares and loves me enough, not just tell me things to work on, but meets me where I am at and walk along side me.
Training camp created the opportunity for me to see where I’m at and what I need to work on. Then part of camp focused on unity and community with my squad, my new bothers and sisters in Christ:) Getting to see God at work not only in my life, but in those around me was such a neat experience. We are all hearing the same message, yet God is working on different areas of our lives and speaking to us in different ways. And the worship was so amazing. Spending time,morning and night, to just be in the presence of God and worship Him was truly incredible.
I was stretched spiritually, emotionally, and relationally during training camp and I wouldn’t change a single thing. I am on an incredible team with 5 other teammates that God handpicked. Their names are Kristina, Catherine, Caitlin, Spencer, & Adam! The word “handpicked” got used a lot at camp. I love that God handpicked each and every person on our squad and our teams. God knows exactly what we need and who we need in our lives, and He put us all together. I love that our God cares and loves us so much!
As I am writing this, it’s hard to express in words how extremely excited I am! I feel so truly blessed with the team God has handpicked for me to do the World Race with. Here is a picture of my team:
Our team name is “Team Parrhesia” meaning to speak boldly & openly with free and fearless confidence. As a team on the World Race, we want to fearlessly speak about Jesus and spread His love to everyone we meet. It can be a bit terrifying thinking about going out & talking to people in other countries, that may not even speak English, and sharing God with them. I know I get fearful thoughts sometimes. So that’s why we choose the word parrhesia because that is our prayer for our team; that we are fearless to do and say whatever the Lord wants us to.
As I embark on these final 2 months here in the United States before I depart on the World Race, I am continuing to process all that God is trying to teach me, so I grow closer to Him and prepare for launch. I know once I leave that my journey is just beginning and God will have me for 11 months in full abandonment to refine me even more. I love that God is never done trying to help grow and reshape me into the woman of God I am becoming. Please be in prayer with my team & I these last 2 months, as we try to stay present at home and prepare for the next part of our journey.
