Team Poeima: Janet Garrison, Lauren Outcalt, Emily Simpson, Amanda Glenn and a Big THANKS to Cat Pollock our producer!
He showed up in personal stories of deliverance and healing, in quiet moments meditating on truth and in loud declarations of praise and adoration. At meal times in our prayers and conversations with each other the presence of God was palpable.
During nightly services we celebrated his truth and goodness through art, dance, song and various reflective expressions. I especially enjoyed the exuberance of dancing before the Lord reflecting on his goodness, power, and might. My favorite scripture to meditate on these past few days has been Psalm 91:1 “He who lives in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” (NIV)
Something Memorable
One of the things I’ll never forget about training camp was the culture of prayer that was cultivated among the staff and on behalf of our missions team (‘M’ and ‘N’ Squad). They prayed before giving us a word of knowledge or truth and even in relaying field related information showing vulnerability before God and a humble submission in front of their brothers and sisters in Christ. In their actions and intentionality about speaking out what they were doing there was a sense of our very real dependence on God. They did that with us and on our behalf, I almost want to cry for the joy in my heart because of the care and love I felt from their acts of submission to God in prayer. It was hard to leave such an atmosphere of God’s presence in and around the staff and our Squad/missions team, but I know it won’t be long before we will be together again. The same power that I see with Christ in scripture is available to me. In fact Jesus promises that the very things that he did under the authority of the God the father was transferred to us when we believed on Christ for salvation. I’m encouraged by the truth that Jesus has begun and will continue to do these good works in me of love, submission, humility for his great pleasure and ultimate glory. My hope is to daily submit myself, my will and ask instead with an honest heart for his will. I did that today and it just broke the power of the enemy and my flesh to give in so easily to doing what I wanted. Instead I got to act out of obedience to the Holy spirit’s guidance and saw for the first time how rewarding it was to say no to myself. It was hard to stop and listen, but I knew that If I didn’t I would just get more of what I didn’t want disappointment and a lack of peace. With Christ I don’t have to be disappointed because it’s his plan. If something doesn’t go the way I thought it should. There’s an opportunity to let disappointment go by submitting myself to his plans. I pray now for love and that fear in me to really live in this will cease to exist in the presence of God’s love.
