Oh Training camp! What an amazing week we have had at Toccoa College! The spirit showed up in amazing ways. So a little background…
I was raised in a Southern Baptist church in Georgia that did not really emphasize the Spirit. I mean it was a part of the salvation experience, but the Spirit was not something you tapped into or walked with daily. During college I started to see the importance of the Holy Spirit, even to the point of celebrating Pentecost. I mean we as a culture celebrate Christmas (the coming of the Lord), Easter (the death and resurrection) but you don't hear about anyone celebrating the coming of the Spirit on Pentecost. Jesus declares He was going to send a helper, a comforter, etc. John 14:25-26.
With that said the Spirit showed up this week in ways I have never seen. I even told myself before I got there that I was expecting the Spirit to show up in mighty ways. Man… I made that statement, but I did not mean it. The Spirit was there alright and I had a skeptic’s heart and doubted it was the Spirit. The thing happening did not equate in my realm of personal experiences. Speaking in tongues and healing did not fit into my view of how God worked, therefore it could not be real. Oh how God shattered that prideful, self-righteous concept of Him and how He works.
One night I just desired so badly to speak in tongues or be apart of physically healing someone. I thought my faith was too little or I had sin in my heart. I was crying and broken. One of my teammates came over and prayed over me. She showed me that the Spirit was moving, real, and tangible. She spoke so much life into me and bound some of my insecurities and feelings of inadequacy. The Holy Spirit spoke to me in that moment and crushed my attitude of comparison. The Lord just convicted me and said, “I have created you in My image.” So no more desiring other gifts. The Spirit gave me an image of Jesus reaching down and healing my wounds. Specifically, I saw the image of the calluses that covered my heart being softened with the outpouring of Grace. Jesus is so merciful. Even in my unbelief the Lord met me and reminded me of the cross. Glory to God!
Then he told me to wait… Not sure what that means but I am going to wait and be expectant for God to work through me on the World Race.
