A few months prior to training camp I began to pray that God would wreck me for His glory. I wanted to be broken down so God could build me back up even stronger in my faith and in even more dependence of Him.
Oh boy, the Lord sure did answer that prayer.
I went through extreme emotional highs and lows, but through the emotions I grew exponentially in my faith. I learned that forming a community that you can openly share the hard truths and painful realities with is important- God doesn’t call us to a closed off life. I learned the stories He gives us are not our own, they belong to God. We should never be ashamed of our testimonies of redemption, the person we were before is not who we are now. God didn’t call us to be silent in the ways He has moved.
All in all, God moved in some pretty cool ways. He spoke to me and others through the Holy Spirit in undeniable ways, and because we all craved more and more of His presence every day, the Spirit was so clearly there and moving.
A Typical Day at Training Camp:
Wake up at 6:30 and brush my teeth before devotions at 7:30
(Future Racers, BUY AN AQUABOT SPRAY WATER BOTTLE. It is SO helpful when brushing your teeth, washing your face/utensils, spraying squadmates, etc.)
Breakfast at 8:30 (one day we had CRICKETS for breakfast)
Session right after until lunch around noon. (One day I ate NINE slices of bread)
Our sessions were basically lectures on a variety of things, mostly about our own spiritual growth. This is where we filled our notebooks (literally. I filled my whole journal.) with awesome things God spoke to us through the speakers.
More session or a cool activity until dinner around 5:30.
We did cool things like practice in listening to the Holy Spirit, try new pathways in connecting with God, play games and learn skits for the children overseas, hike in 1000000° Georgia heat, play Bunny Bunny, bond with our team, dance battles, squad wars, sleep in an airport, the list goes on…
Worship, Sermon, and Reflection.
This was always the best part of the day. The worship was amazing, with people all worshipping in their own way. Whatever God laid on your heart, whether it was to sing, scream, dance, sit in silence, pray, however the Spirit was moving you! I learned to make a space within myself for the Spirit to overwhelm me and to be comfortable in that.
Check my tent for spiders, scorpions, and such. Pass out.
This is my AWESOME team, Team Unconditional! Listed in order is Skylar, Tara, Me, Sara, and Kirkland. Our team verse is James 3:17- “For the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.”
This is my beautiful squad. It is full of lovely people who have the BIGGEST hearts!
Also, one final note if you’ve read this far, my name is actually Hannah Grace. When I was born, that is what my parents intended for me to be called, and for some reason it was shortened to just Hannah. For awhile now I’ve wanted to change it back to Hannah Grace, and I finally decided to at Training Camp!
Much love,
Hannah Grace 🙂
