Abandonment. Brokenness. Dependency. These three words represent the foundations of Adventures in Missions. Wow. Training camp has been a crazy 12 days of deep refining, sweet connection, and overwhelming love for the Lord. I have experienced the method myself and have grown so much over that. I have had to abandon my comfortable home lifestyle ( regular beds, bathrooms, warm showers, time to get ready in the morning), abandon my phone and digital world, and abandon my need for a schedule and plan. It has been difficult, but so freeing. Through this I have had space to dig deeper into the Word of the Lord and to process my faith. I have realized that I believe that God loves me, buy never fully trusted it. Instead I desired love from other sources in my life and looked for it outside of the only truth and unfailing love of God. I learned to die to myself and fully surrender and live in my identity in Christ. I have realized how truly broken I am without Christ and how much I didn’t fully put what I believed in action. There is a very big difference in believing in God versus actually fully trusting God. As things has been out of my control: sickness, spiritual warfare, unknowns, etc, I have had to depend entirely on the Lord and live in peace that He is in control and I don’t have to worry about what comes next.
One phrase to describe my experience at training camp is: Live interruptible. This phrase has been something the Lord keeps stirring in my heart. At training camp we did a market place scenario to get food for our team. I’m very task oriented and so I took charge for my group and got the money, exchanged currency, and got food. Although after, I realized how I neglected the broken people on the streets (actors) and the English speaking people giving out packets. They promoted us with the question: Is it worth it to possibly give up your dinner one night to share the gospel with someone?
Another day we went out into Gainesville George to practice evangelism. My team went to walk around Kroger at one point. We were walking around and praying and I mentioned I had to go to the bathroom. The two other girls with me both were like “ oh my gosh me too”. I felt bad because I knew we were supposed to be sharing the gospel and Jesus’ love with others there but I wondered if maybe the Lord had us all need to go to the bathroom on purpose. So, we did. And sure enough a girl walked in. After striking up conversation about how her and my friend with me had the same hat, we found out she was also from Knoxville, TN. So crazy. We got to share with her what we were about to go do and ask her if she wanted prayer for anything. She said she was not religious, but always liked when people prayed over her. I believe the Lord had a purpose for us being in the bathroom at that time and even though it wasn’t a salvation story, the Lord was planting seeds in her.
Live Interruptible. Don’t let life, busyness, or schedule get in the way of how God is moving. Pray about who to talk to the next time you are grocery shopping. Look out for those hurting and feeling unseen. On your regular walk, be alert for what the Holy Spirit is saying. On the plane, pay attention to who you are sitting by. God is moving right now. Be a part of making His kingdom known.
