A couple weeks ago I came home from my ten day training camp in Gainesville, Georgia. God worked wonders on my life and my heart during this trip.
To start, I was on crutches during the duration of the trip. Here is a picture of me at the airport on my way to Georgia. I would have taken more pictures at camp, but I only had my cell phone, and they had us turn those off for the ten days.
I was scheduled to be off of the crutches two days upon return. If you have ever been on crutches in your life, than you have an inkling about how challenging training camp was while using them. For the rest of you, you can only imagine.
Imagine this: a very large campsite with uneven ground and lots and lots of walking. Of course, our campsite was located the furthest away from everything, and we had to walk down this rocky path to get there. The porta potties were all the way back up the hill next to the training center, where we had worship every day. Our showers, which included a bucket with some water in it, were again on another side of the campsite. Finally, our squad meeting point was at the top of a huge hill.
However, I can honestly say that the pain level of my knee was 0-1 for most of the trip and my energy level was comparable to everyone else on my squad. How so? Through the power of healing prayer, every time people prayed for my knee, the visible swelling in my knee would go down.
One example was about day two of camp. As soon as I walked into the worship room, I felt an immediate shift from a level 1 pain level to level 5. One of my squadmates sitting to the left of me even said,
“Your knee looks puffy.”
It was so puffy I couldn’t stand for even one worship song. What hurt more than the pain was the fact that I couldn’t stand and worship my Lord. I sat down, defeated. I began to cry about how I wouldn’t be able to get through the rest of my week and how I was worthless. My squadmate to the right of me then sat down next to me and whispered that she felt the Lord telling her to tell me,
“Whether you sit or you stand, you can still worship the Lord.”
She continued to speak directly against the negativity I was feeling. I started to feel a little better. Then I felt one of the staff members lay his hand on my back. Instantly after feeling his hand, the remaining negativity ceased. I then went from crying tears of sadness to tears of joy. All of a sudden, I could hear the Lord speaking to me. He told me,
“Up until now, you have depended on your own strength to get you through this camp. It is now time that you depend on me. For I will make you strong.”
I then felt myself stand up. I worshiped the rest of the night! We sat back down and the speaker started to give a message. I then looked at my knee. In shock, I pointed at it to the girl next to me who said,
“Wow, it’s not puffy anymore!”
After that, I continued to pray for the “puffiness” in my knee every time I felt pain. And God was so faithful in lessening that pain every time I asked. Instead of getting more and more tired while trekking through the campsite day after day, I got stronger and stronger! I even started walking sooner than expected and felt no pain!
I eventually went home with full anticipation that I would be ready to go in August.
However, I am sad to report that this isn’t exactly what happened.
It seems as if God wanted me to go to camp, renew my faith in him, and declare a “yes” in my heart to commit to the World Race.
Let me explain. Not long after returning home from camp, I started rehabilitating my knee. A few days into rehab, I started freaking out that six weeks of rehab wasn’t enough time and that I would end up re-tearing my knee. Was I losing my faith that God could heal? Or if I did go, was I being unwise by leaving on a hurt knee? I went back and forth for several days. I prayed about it, talked to my family and therapist, and came to the conclusion that this is not the right time to go on the World Race this August.
Last Sunday, our pastor preached about timing. In Ecclesiastes chapter 3, King Solomon writes about how there is a time for everything under the sun including “a time to heal.”
It seems as if God brought me to training camp to:
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Renew my relationship with Him
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Teach me that I need to stop relying on myself and instead rely on the Him for strength
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Show me that I am going to go on the World Race, and to not lose hope in that, but that I need to wait for His timing
On a happy note, I met 30 new brothers and sisters in Christ who are on fire for the Lord and who passionately want to share God’s love around the world. I get to follow their journeys through Facebook, Instagram, Youtube channels, and blogs. I know each and every one of them by name, so I get to pray for them individually.
We are not all called to go. However, we are all called to pray, give, and encourage. It seems as if at least right now, that is my calling.
I am going to go on the World Race. I am just waiting on the Lord’s timing. I will continue writing blogs and I will share which trip I am going on as soon as I know.
