The past few days I’ve been at The Awakening which is a time where my squad (41 of us) and 3 other World Race squads from different routes were able to gather in a village in Cambodia to shake off the dust that has slowly began to build up and awaken our souls and the burnt out areas to be reminded of things we may have lost sight of along the way.
I knew it was going to be good and I was so excited for this, but so much more than I expected took place.
Jesus awakened my soul. Re-lit that flame that was slowly starting to burn out. He wrecked me beautifully through and through. With the mixture of all of the little distractions and missing home’s comforts that the enemy likes to throw in my face “it’s sooooo much better at home” “look at what you’re missing out on” and thinking too much on ‘what’s next’ I was reminded of so much on how to keep running this race with courage and confidence and endurance.
Gary black (helped start The World Race and currently leads a discipleship program in Spain … also one of the wisest men I’ve ever met) led a few sessions and spoke some good words to our souls such as: our authority in Him, our waiting seasons, how to embrace the storms with Him, the importance of having heart songs and storing scripture in your heart for when due times come, being more intimate with Him, and the fear of God and what that truly means and what it looks like when you walk it out. (BTW- fear of the Lord does not mean that you are afraid of the Lord. It simply means that you are afraid to NOT be with Him. What does it look like to walk it out?
1. When God asks you to do something, you do it instantly.
2. You obey Him even when it doesn’t make sense.
3. You obey Him even when it hurts.
4. You bet Him even when there is no benefit.
5. You obey Him until completion.)
By the end of our time here, he opened the pool for baptisms. I had put zero thought into it, really. I was baptized at 6, because it’s what you do as a young kid in the church. I was re-baptized at 15 and I understood it then, but I did a lot of running and my own thing for a while. I came back to Him almost 2 years ago now, but never got re-baptized. I let so much time pass and developed the thought of “what does it matter now? It’s been too long.” Or even the thought “People will think I’m this beginner, baby Christian.” (But even then… what should matter?) So as the baptisms went on, I turned to my left and told Katie “I kind of want to get baptized!” completely random and out the blue, soooo unexpectedly to even myself. Katie replied, kind of shockingly, “Do it?!” I didn’t even give myself a chance to think twice about it or have the little voice in my head swell up and tell me no. We walked through the crowd of racers standing on the sides of the pool cheering on the current baptism, with pounding hearts (per usual, our crazy ideas never seem to end) I dragged her into the water with me. Gary had been doing all of the baptisms, but I knew it would just be so special to have my sister Katie baptize me. Luckily, and again…. per usual, she did not think twice! She hopped right into that pool. Gary asked me why I was choosing to get baptized and I told him that I got baptized when I was 15, did some running, and never physically rededicated my life to him. He looked at me, more so at my soul than my being, and said word for word “You’re very prophetic. When you go under this water and come up you need to trust the prophetic in you. You are going to unlock the hearts of many women. You have the discernment and you need to trust that what He is telling you about them is true because it’s going to unlock their hearts and bring freedom to them. So you’re not going to go down and go under unless you give me your word that you are going to start prophesying over everybody you meet.” I couldn’t really say anything but I got a yes out somehow! He shouted to the crowd “she is recommitting. She is going to be a prophet and going to prophecy and unlock the hearts of many women.” Katie, blown away just as much as me, dunked my head and under I went and up I came.
Come on?! I haven’t ever spoken a word to Gary! What a word from God! Restoring this dying dream/vision that He placed in my heart long ago and reminding me of my purpose even in the waiting season. It was such a catalyst moment that I’ll never be able to forget. And afterwords, everyone, fully clothed, jumped in the pool and had a party. It was easily one of the best nights of my life.
So… here I am, starting fresh. I am truly going to be a women of God, an unashamed women of God who doesn’t care what people think, who will fight the battles behind the scenes on my knees in intercession. I’m going to store the word in my heart so when due times come, I will not be fearful and afraid of any situation because I have the truth stored inside and even if I physically can’t remember my soul can sing for me.
All glory to Him because He so rightfully deserves every inch of my life.
Reader… if you’ve done a lot of running your life and you know you’re not satisfied, why keep running? Why keep trying to do this life on your own strength when it only leaves you burnt out? Why keep walking around with a weight on your shoulders? It’s never too late. The riches of this world will fade, the treasures of our God remain. Only when you lose yourself, will you then find yourself.
What are you living for?
Oh, and hey… He loves you. The Creator of this whole universe loves YOU.
CLICK ME blare it and believe it!
