Ok, so picture this:
With about 50 or so of my newest (and dare I say, soon-to-be closest) girl friends, I was brought to a trailhead on the outskirts of Toccoa Falls College, which is located in the rolling hills/mountains of north west Georiga.
Having no clue why we were all there, my brain tried to figure it out.
Seeing a fairly hefty tupperware box and the somewhat serious look on my squad-leader's faces, I could only come to one conclusion:
We're going into the Hunger Games.
Quickly, I came up with a game plan.
I reasoned that since I've already watched the movie, know how to shoot a bow and arrow, and have been declared a professional tree-climber in 3 states.. the odds of winning were definitely in my favor.
Within minutes, we were given our first and only set of instructions… and my formulated plans were trashed.
1."This is not the Hunger Games"
dagnabbit!
2."Here's the scenario: everyone was part of a plane crash, and has either been left unharmed or injured–your goal is to get each other to safety by following this local indian (a squad-leader) up the mountain"
still cool! my giant outdoorsy/competitive nature is clearly burning with loads of excitment at this point
until…
"Cheyanne, from here on out you're mute."
"haha, what? sweet joke."
"No. You're mute. It's your disability"
After it finally clicked in I laughed it off on the outside, but inside I was soon panicing!
I love talking, and I thought it was the best form of communication to get this job done!
How was I supposed to help, direct, and guide people without talking?
Then I saw Jen, a fellow L-squader.
She was lying on the ground with her eyes closed.
Her disability was "unconciousness".
My reaction was, "Perfect! I'll sling her on my back, and away to safety we go!"
Little did I know, God was planning on teaching me something much deeper than the possibility of accomplishing this goal…
I don't think I've ever sweat so hard in my entire life–high school soccer practices can't even hold a candle.
I forged the steep incline through trees and brush, waved off minor scrapes, and hoped to goodness that Jen wouldn't get caught in a branch or slide off my back.
As all this is going on, I heard God speak to me:
"This is your life when you take it into your own hands: you end up exhausted. You're working extremely hard for a goal you desire, and you may or may not even end up reaching it."
(He does really know everything, because we ended up not even reaching the safe-zone because we lost our guide. whoops..)
"Cheyanne, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. If you lay down your life and give it over to me, all your efforts and hearts desires–I'll take care of it. I designed and created you–I KNOW YOU, so trust me."
"Your striving and working for control is in vain. You don't control the universe and all it's happenings, I do."
"Surrender."
"Rest in Me, I got you girl."
After I heard Him tell me all of this, we were instructed to sit down and wait for others to catch up.
Praise the Lord, because I was floored and in total shock.
For as long as I can remember, I've always taken control of things–even when I claim to place it in the hands of God, I have never TOTALLY SURRENDERED things.
That's what He was calling me out to do at camp.
That's what He's calling me to do back at home.
That's what He's calling you to do too.
We need to be less concerned about the end goal–whatever it is: outright obtaining the goal, figuring out how to get there, all the THINGS we need to do, etc etc.
We need to be more concerned with falling even MORE in love with our Heavenly Dad, trusting that He's in total control, and knowing He's got only our best planned.
HE'S AFTER OUR HEARTS, NOT THE THINGS WE DO.
When we surrender and lay down our hearts and lives to Him, with all the messiness they consist of, He takes it and in exchange–we get the only thing we'll ever need:
MORE AND MORE AND MORE OF JESUS!
John 3:30 "He must become greater, I must become less."
