This was my last official week of training camp, so that’s pretty crazy. The 23rd through the 28th I’ll be in Mississippi for domestic ministry, and then we’ll have a week of debrief. On the 7th we’ll be flying off to Malaysia! It’s pretty crazy how fast it went by, but also how long it felt at the same time.
Anyways, a good chunk of this blog is a “sermon” I wrote after having a breakout session on how to write a sermon. I wrote this on a theme that the Lord has been teaching me about in my walk with Him, so I’m excited to share it with you all.
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The God Who Sees
So many people walk around at times in their life and feel unloved and unseen by the people around them and maybe even by God. I have felt this way first hand so many times, and so often I feel alone and unseen. However, God has so kindly shown me that I am seen; I am seen by Him.
God sees you
Hagar- One of His names is “El Roi”, which means “the God Who Sees Me”. This title came from the story of Hagar, when she ran away from her mistress and the Lord sent an angel to comfort her and give her a promise from Him.
*Genesis 16:13
~He sees us when we are being used and mistreated
The Israelites- God tells Moses that He sees the afflictions of His people, and He sent Moses to free them
*Exodus 3:7-8
~He sees us when we are in trials and hard times
The lame man that was all alone- Jesus notices this lame man by the pools who said that he has no one to help him get to or fro the pool, so he has to just sit there. Jesus heals him
*John 5:7-8
~He sees us when we are broken and no one is there to see or help us
Zacchaeus- He desired to see who Jesus was, but was small and disliked by the people around him, so he couldn’t see Him. He claimed a tree to see Him, and Jesus called him out by name
*Luke 19:3-5
~He sees us when we are seeking Him
Elijah- He was so worn out and depressed that he said God should just take his life. Knowing what he needed, God sent an angel that provided him with water and food, and then woke him up from rest 2x so that he could build up his strength to continue going on
*1 Kings 19:4-8
~He sees us when we are weak, tired, and done
Personal Example
Many days during training camp, and even throughout my life, I have felt alone, out of place, and unseen. This has led to many tears and asking God why I felt this way when no one else seemed to. One night during training camp I was feeling this way, and God sends over this guy who tells me he had a vision of me playing hide and seek and being scared that no one was going to find me. He told me to not hide from God because God has already found me and that He sees me. I had this picture in my head that was in place of that time of me playing hide and seek. Instead of the door opening and getting closed again, Jesus opened it, bent down, looked at me, pulled me out, and wrapped me in a hug. I know that God sent that man to show me that He sees me and that it shouldn’t matter if I feel seen by others, that I should run to Him when I feel “invisible”.
Call to Action
Run to Him when you feel most alone and unseen
Reflect on and ask God to reveal times when He showed you that He does see you
Find past experiences and reflect. See if God will turn that into showing you how much He sees and cares
Conclusion
The Lord sees you, whether you’re being used and mistreated, in a trial, broken and alone, seeking Him, or weak, tired, and alone. He sees the hard times and the tears. Jesus cries with us (John 11:35 “Jesus wept”), and all our tears are collected in bottles (Psalm 56:8). Run to and lean on God and His company when alone/lonely, feeling invisible, and when you’re hurting. He sees you and He is right there with you
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How the rest of my week went:
Monday: We had a session that was on an overview of the Bible, and we broke down the different categories for the books. I’ll include a picture of the notes I took below this if anyone is curious
Tuesday: My squad led worship on Tuesday morning, and I was one of the people who helped lead on the worship team.
Each squad had a challenge day where each person had to pack up their gear to go hike a mountain and camp on the top for a night. Sadly, my squad only got halfway up the mountain before we had to turn back because it was starting to storm and it was going to thunderstorm all night. However, I got to hike in the rain, which was really enjoyable, so it was ok
Wednesday: Nothing crazy happened on Wednesday, but there was a beautiful and huge double rainbow, so that was really cool
Thursday: This day started out kinda rough if I’m going to be honest. There had been a lot of teaching about spiritual warfare and demons (just teaching us about it and warning us what’s out there), and I was overwhelmed and uncertain about some stuff. -That was also the day that it truly hit me that I wasn’t going to see my family for 9 months, and I started really missing them. But, it gave me a chance to talk to one of my teammates about it, and also realize that I need to start being okay with leaning on other people, because I’m not going to be able to take care of myself and my sadness all by myself this whole trip.
-My squad got to watch Jesus Revaluation that night because we didn’t get to camp on the mountain on Tuesday
Friday: This was the day that I wrote that “sermon”. We also had revival night that night, which was really good. I go into it every week not expecting anything to really happen, but each time the Lord has greeted me and it’s been so cool.
-This week He was showing me how despite the fact that I’ve had this pain in my legs for the past 5 years, He is worthy of me praising Him. And also, I have full faith that He could/would heal me if that was His plan for that time, and I trust His reasoning and timing.
-He also reminded me that He is Lord His Majesty, and that He deserves to be bowed to and praised
-We get to worship the literal creator of the universe, and that’s actually crazy and amazing
-There was a moment when I was on my knees, praising God in worship, and for some reason, I felt truly beautiful. I feel like this is how He created us to be, beautiful people in His image that are worshiping Him
-There is so much freedom and joy in openly and without shame or care jumping or praising how you feel in worship
Saturday: Saturday was basically a sabbath day. People were going to the laundromat and the store, with pit stops at Chick-fil-A. It was a nice day to relax and hang out with friends, but also being productive.
-That night there was a girls banquet. We got to have dinner, some teachings on woman from the Bible, and worship. We also took so many pictures with each other, it was so fun
(Check out my insta for more pictures: gabifish23)
Sunday: I spent most of the time on the phone with my parents, which was a sweet time. I also spent time with the Lord before going to hang out with my squad and have a steak dinner that was paid for by the parents of one of my squad mates. I also watched Cars with some of my closest friends here: Karis (my best friend here), Kat, and Jackson
So yea that was my week, it’s had its ups and downs, but overall really well. Plus I got to hear more from the Lord and that’s always an amazing time
Worship lyrics that have stood out to me this week:
“if the wind goes where You send it, so will I”
“If You gave Your life to save them, so will I”
“forever He is glorified, forever He is lifted high”
“I want more, I want more, I want more of you, Jesus”
One last thing. I’ve been reading in Romans and it’s so good! 10/10 would definitely recommend
