Are you tired of hearing me talk about training camp yet?! No? Good, because I want to share with you something awesome that the Lord did at training camp!
At session one night, it was just our squad there, a woman shared with us about a topic that had rocked her world while she was at her training camp, sitting in our seats – hearing God’s voice.
Now, I’m a firm believer that The Lord speaks to us, and the way in which He can choose to speak to us is unlimited. Which is really stinking amazing when you think about it. He can use anything to speak to us! But with that being said, I still got a little nervous in my seat. I had a feeling that something was coming, that I was going to be pushed way out of my comfort zone that night.
That feeling I got, it was no lie.
After she finished speaking she had us partner up. She explained that with our partner, we would first pray, asking The Lord to speak to us, for Him to give us a word for the person sitting next to us.
I am freaking out a little bit on the inside.
I turn to Jacie, who was sitting right beside me. We both had the same deer in the headlight looks on our faces, which was actually quite comforting to me. This wasn’t familiar ground for either of us.
The speaker (I wish I could remember her name!) told us to ask The Lord to clear our mind. Best advice ever by the way.
My conversation with God: Alright God, I am freaking out a little bit right now. This is new for me and…do I really have to do this?! You’re really going to have to help me out because I don’t know what to do. Clear my mind Lord. What is it that you have for Jacie, right now? What am I supposed to say when I open my eyes?
The craziest thing happens.
I see this giant pool, and someone diving into the water. There was no toe dipping, or going halfway in, they just dove head first into the pool of water. This was a little bit convicting to myself so I wasn’t sure if this was for me, or if this was what I was supposed to share with Jacie.
So I kept praying.
Then, God gave me lyrics to a song we had sang several times earlier in the week, “Love be in my bones. Love break down my walls.”
Okay, God…here it goes.
I open my eyes and share with Jacie the image of the person diving into the pool of water as well as the lyrics. She said that song had become one of her favorites that week and that “diving all in” was something the Lord had been speaking to her throughout the week. So that was really cool.
Jacie shared with me the word cherish. I wasn’t quite sure what God meant by that at this point, but there is more to the story. Keep reading!
They told us to make two big circles, one inside the other. The inside circle was to be facing those on the outside. I was on the outside circle, and not going to lie, I was getting a little nervous as to what this activity was going to entail.
They told those of us on the outside to close our eyes, and the people on the inside were to find one of us and put there hand on our shoulder. Once we felt a hand on our shoulder we were to pray for God to give us a word/vision for the person standing in front of us, with our eyes still closed.
What?!?!!
Panic mode. Freaking out on a whole new level.
I stand there waiting to feel a hand on my shoulder, trying to keep calm and not run away, which is what I really wanted to do.
Alright God, I’m freaking out right now. Freaking. Out. Lord, I need you right now. Clear my mind. Help me focus on you. What have I gotten myself into?!
I feel a hand on my shoulder.
Another wave of panic hits.
Whose hand is this?? I don’t want to do this! What if nothing comes to mind and I have nothing to say to this man or woman standing in front of me, waiting to hear from you? This is a lot of pressure God. How awful would it be to not have even one word to give them?
God interrupts my freak out session and says, “Deep breaths. Clear your mind. Focus on me.”
Okay. Yeah, you’re right. You’ve got this.
Deep breath.
Lord, what do you have for this person standing in front of me? What is it they need to hear from you today?
Again, this crazy thing happens.
I get the word ‘adore’.
I pray for more, but just that one word keeps coming to mind.
Deep breath.
Okay, Lord, here it goes.
I share with the person standing in front of me the word ‘adore’. After I’m done, I slowly open my eyes. I was so nervous to see who was standing in front of me. Were they laughing at me? Were they going to be staring blankly at me? Looking at me like I’m completely crazy?
They weren’t.
She had tears in her eyes.
She explained to me how the Lord used that word to speak to her. We hugged and by the end of our interaction we both had tears. I couldn’t wrap my head around what God had just done!!!
Then it was my turn to be on the inside circle.
I walk around and find someone to place my hand on.
After a few moments, Alyssa starts talking, saying “I don’t know if you need to be encouraged, or if you need to encourage someone with this, but I just see a scroll of words, and she starts listing them off. Words like ‘You are enough.’ ‘You are cherished.’ ‘You are precious.'”
Cherish. Sound familiar? That is the same word Jacie had just shared with me 20 minutes before.
I am enough. Days before, the Lord had brought up one of my biggest fears in going on the World Race during an exercise we did. Before even signing up for the Race, I had these fears and doubts of would I even have anything to bring to the table for my team? Would I have a purpose? As well as this fear of holding my team back in some way, whether it be spiritually, physically, or I don’t even know how.
Basically, this overwhelming fear of not being enough.
Vanessa (one of our squad trainers) questioned me on it and next thing I know, I’m balling like a baby sharing with a group of girls about these fears of mine. It ended with these amazing girls speaking words of encouragement to me and just listening to me. And then here, God used Alyssa, who wasn’t there and knew nothing about what had happened earlier that week, to speak words of affirmation to me. That I am enough. I am loved. I am cherished and precious to Him. I do have a purpose.
Wow wow WOW!
So then I met up with Jacie after, super excited to share with her everything that had just happened. At first I didn’t know why God gave her the word cherish for me, but it all made sense now. God had put the pieces of the puzzle together! And guess what she told me, the person who prayed for her gave her the exact same song lyrics that I had shared with her earlier.
Isn’t God incredible?!?!!
Y’all, our God is SO BIG! Too often we put so many limits on Him, build up walls, and keep Him in our tiny box that we make for Him. But He is so much bigger than that! I don’t want to keep Him contained any longer, I won’t!
I want to encourage you, too, to stop putting limits on Him. Let Him break down those walls. Let Him out of that box you have Him stuffed in. It is so worth it!
