Wow! These past two weeks have flown by but at the same time, it feels as though I have known my squad forever! What a blessing.
Training camp was a mix of emotions. To be honest, It was hard. I missed the comfort of home. I missed my family, my friends, my bed, and so much more. I was very humbled in these living conditions, to say the least. Then, there were times where I didn’t want to be anywhere else. I was having so much fun with my new family (my teammates), I was going on fun adventures exploring new places, and most importantly I was spending more time in the presence of the Lord than I ever had. Spending hours in worship and praying and reading the Bible. My relationship with God has deepened so much in the past couple days. So much so that I decided to get baptized for a second time! I was baptized when I was younger but my faith has grown so much since then, I felt like the Lord was calling me to do it again. And so I did! The Lord has truly renewed my heart. I came into this trip holding on to a lot of heart ache, bitterness, and apathy. I gave it all to the Lord and I feel so much lighter. He is so good! As I was getting baptized someone prayed Psalm 36:4 over me: “Delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
When I look to the Lord the desires of my heart change from what my mind wants to what the Lord wants for me. I am so thankful for a relational God.
Romans 12:2 says, “ do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” I have been pondering over this verse a lot during my time at training camp. It is so easy to live in his presence in the environment there, to be transformed. I asked the Lord to reveal how I can live transformed when I return home, and He did! He told me to do life with him and not for him.
If we continually strive to live for him, we will get exhausted. We are created to rest with Him. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God!! Not as a result of works, so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:8-10.
Wow what a blessing! I don’t have to “earn” my faith. It is a free gift presented by the creator of the Universe. Nothing I can do can save me. I get to do the work he has created me for and rest in the hope that Jesus is with me through it all. What a good God.
That is just a quick summary of what the Lord has been doing in my heart these past weeks.
And a summary of what I did during training camp, cause it’s been a wild adventure:
Learned Jujitsu, played Dutch blitz’s, hiked Mount Yona and spent the night, slept in a hammock and froze, did laundry and showered with five gallon bucket of water, evangelized (prayed over people in a park), did an intense scavenger hunt, had a slumber party (14 girls in a 12 person tent), had a movie night, decked out in glitter for squad wars (we got 3rd place), campfires, and bought a lot of cold sodas from the vending machine 😂 What a time!
Thank you for reading my blog! If you read all this and have any questions or want to talk to me about it please reach out!
