July 10-20th 2018. These were some of the hardest days of my life, spiritually, mentally and physically. Would I take them back? Absolutely not. If I could sit here and write down everything I wanted to about what I learned about myself, my squad and my team, I think I would be here forever, so ill just write about the important things. I think training camp was designed to pack 9 months of hard things into 10 days (if you are thinking about going on the world race, don’t let that change your mind, keep reading!), unfortunately, some people throughout the duration of camp gave in and decided to opt out (please join me in continuing to pray for those who decided the race wasn’t for them, and that God will continue to use them in incredible ways). While I was at camp I learned a lot about myself and about the people that I’m going to get to minister to while in country.
God taught me a lot about myself while I was at training camp. A lot of the time I felt distracted and like I wasn’t learning as much or taking in as much as everyone else; Jesus told me not to compare myself to others because His love is incomparable and He shows up in different ways to each of his children. I found myself growing frustrated with the Lord because I felt like He wasn’t showing up for me in the ways He was showing up for others. I couldn’t feel His presence or hear His voice; again, God just said “be still”. His presence isn’t always “felt” or “heard” but that doesn’t mean we should give up and quit trying. During camp when I couldn’t feel His presence and I was wanting to give up I heard Him say “don’t give up Lucy just be still”. One night someone spoke that truth into me during worship and told me that God wanted to tell me to be still and that I didn’t have to feel anxious or alone (coolest experience of my life). After that if I ever felt anxious a faint voice of encouragement would just say BE STILL, or someone would tell me to be still and know that the creator of the universe had everything under control. Who knew that two words could be so comforting? Other than that, training camp just provided a lot of spiritual growth. I have never felt closer to God than I did in those 10 days, even when I couldn’t actively feel Him, just knowing that He would never let me down and that He was ever present was the most comforting thing.
Let me tell y’all about my U SQUAD!!! I have never met a group of people who’s hearts were so ON FIRE for Christ. Just being around them was so inspiring and so encouraging. The first day was a bit overwhelming because we had all been talking online for so long but meeting in person was so different. After we all got over the first day jitters, the bonding didn’t stop. Every day we all got closer and opened up more and more. For a really long time I just prayed God would give me a group of Christian friends but He is such an overachiever and He has blessed me with 46 of the sweetest, most pure, encouraging new family members and I feel so special to get to be around them for 9 months, sharing the good news of the gospel and building God’s kingdom. I can’t wait to grow with all of them and get to know all of them more!
JR FLOSS (my team). One of the girls on my team was talking to our squad leader and asked her how the teams were picked, her response was prayer. To you this may seem insignificant but I cannot put into words how PERFECT my team is for each other. God truly placed each one of us on this team for a reason. In the ten days that we were at training camp, the 7 of us bonded and opened up so much about our pasts and the things that we were going through while at training camp and it was such a beautiful picture of what the Lord calls us to do. Jesus calls us to be vulnerable with other believers as well as people who don’t believe and share what He has done for us and about how when we felt that He wasn’t there, that He ALWAYS was. These girls are so strong and so faithful that our God is so good to us, even when they’re feeling discouraged, they were still encouraging each other. That to me is so amazing, that when they weren’t feeling God move in their lives, they were still so quick to celebrate and encourage everyone else. I feel so blessed with them and I’m so excited for us to grow in unity throughout this nine months.
Jesus showed up big time and I’m so grateful for the supporters who want to share this with me. As always feel free to reach out and let me know how I can pray for you individually. Thank you for taking the time to read about my experiences so far.
With a grateful heart,
Lucy Jackson
