Things I learned at Training Camp:
- Jesus’s love is sufficient. This is something I have always known in my head, but never really understood in my heart. Over the past year, through training camp I have really come to understand what this means. I hope to continue to grow into His love and know more and more about him.
- God really does know you better than you even know. There was a night, during one of our sessions we were sitting and just asking the Holy Spirit to come and fill us. As we prayed individually, the staff was going around and praying for us. This night, two of our trainers spoke over me. One of them was our mentor. She sat down next to me and told me, “Shae, I’m getting a vision for you. I see a river with a dam. The dam represents your barriers that you have put up and the river, filling up behind the dam, is the Holy Spirit waiting to rush in. The more you lower the barriers, the more the Holy Spirit will rush in, and it will happen. But, the Lord is also saying that there is no rush for you, so you don’t have to feel pressured for anything to happen right away.” I quietly thanked her and then I covered my face in my hands and I lost it. In that moment I realized God really does know me and He cares about me. He knows that I hate to feel put on the spot and pressured, especially when I feel uncomfortable. Not only does he know that, but he respects it and is willing to be patient as I get to know him better.
- Satan has been speaking lies over me and I have believed them. I am pretty hard on myself. I find my self getting overwhelmed often and start to beat myself down at times. I have said things to myself like, “Why are you so lazy? You need to try harder. Do more. If you would just learn to be self-disciplined, you could do more, be better, look better, act better, etc….” What I didn’t realize was that these were lies that the enemy was giving me. He has been shaming me and I have let him and using his lies against myself. The only way to combat that is to speak God’s truth over ourselves and tell Satan to “Give me 10”
- God’s voice doesn’t sound like shame or insecurity or hate. God’s voice is encouraging, supportive, loving, reassuring. When We doubt ourselves, not only are we assaulting His creation, but we are letting Satan and his lie live in us. God’s voice says, ” you are fearfully and wonderfully made. You are loved. You have Strength in me. You are made in my perfect image. You are enough.” and on and on.
- Worship is more than singing. I LOVE the way worship was done at AIM. We were told the first night that there was no judgement and that we were free to worship as we felt. What I saw throughout the week was people on fire for Jesus and who weren’t afraid to show it. We were raising our hands, jumping, standing still, shouting and showing our love and Worship for our Good and Holy God. But, worship didn’t stop there. We also spent a lot of time in our sessions sitting with the Lord and listening for his voice. This is a form of Worship. We shared with each other our fears and how God was moving in and through us that week. We celebrated and prayed over every situation, thanking God for everything He is and is doing.
- Lastly, when people truly know Jesus and His love, they show it. I grew up in the church and in a Christian family. I have seen a few great men and women of God throughout my life. These 10 days at Training Camp I was surrounded by so, so many men and women full of Jesus and His Spirit. I saw for real for the first time what the body of Christ looks like. I saw the true characteristics of people who are living for Jesus.
Training Camp was awakening, empowering, exhausting, and just overall freeing! I am more ready than ever to start this journey and am anxiously waiting January 8th, when I get to be reunited with my new family and get to be used by the Lord more than I could ever imagine!!
