Training camp has come and gone. As I have begun the process of processing, God has been revealing so many lessons learned during the week. Here are 10 things I learned in 10 days!
1. It’s okay to be expectant
As I prepared for training camp, I was told to come expecting God to move in mighty ways. This came as a surprise to me. A lot of times we tell ourselves to go into something new with zero expectations. We do this on order to cushion ourselves from disappointment. The risk of pain is much higher if we walk into something with expectations. That is why I have grown accustomed to having little expectations and then letting God do His thing wherever I end up. But this week, I learned how to expect God to show up. I handed God everything I desired to get out of this week and I watched Him not only meet those expectations, I watched Him blow all of those out of the water. I’m blown away by His faithfulness and I know this is only the beginning of a year full of hope and expectancy.
2. Expect the unexpected
On the subject of expecting, I learned pretty quickly to expect the unexpected. Each day our squad was given a different simulation. These simulations were designed to prepare us for what we could potentially see on the race. Some situations we faced were things like sleeping in an airport with only the day bags we carried, having half of our bags lost at the airport and having to rely on other squadmates for clothes and shelter, shoving 15 people in a leaky wet community tent, or having to buy our whole team dinner in busy marketplace where we didn’t know the language. By the end of the week I realized that flexibility and adaptability are going to come in handy during the race because there is no telling what we may encounter.
3. Cold bucket showers are surprisingly refreshing
Yes you read that right. Our showers this week consisted of taking a hose, filling a 5 gallon bucket full of cold water, taking it into an outdoor stall and using pale to rinse off. Over the course of the week, I grew to like them. We even made friends with the pregnant Black Widow spider that chilled in one of the stalls all week. Her name is Georgina. She’s a doll. The primitive lifestyle we lived for the week was only the beginning of what we will face this year. There were times where I just wanted to be clean, laying in my bed with access to all my comforts of home. But then I realized that there is joy in living humbly and I am excited to make due with the bare necessities. I give you all permission to remind me of this right around month 4 of the race when the struggle gets real.
4. God is not looking for results, He is looking for obedience.
For so long I have been driven by the results or potential of results I see in my own life. When making decisions I will always determine if what I am saying yes to is actually possible and if there is a slight chance of failure in it, I will talk myself out of saying yes. Until now. God is showing me that He is not concerned with results. He is concerned with whether or not I obey. This week, He revealed to me that my fear of failure is what hinders my boldness and it ultimately keeps me from obeying the stirring of His Spirit moving me to action. God began to show me this during the first few days of camp and He asked me to hand over that thought process. After doing so, I was able to walk in freedom to step out in bold obedience and over the course of the week, I watched my boldness grow. I prayed for people I didn’t know, I stepped out in faith by praying for healings to take place. I followed the voice of Holy Spirit even if it meant looking a little foolish in the moment. God was not concerned with what was or wasn’t accomplished, He was concerned with my obedience. Through our whole squads obedience this week, God showed up. There were physical and emotional healings. There were newfound freedoms. There were salvations. There was so much change. Jesus is so cool and I love that the Father invites us in to minister like His Son did.
5. Rest can be found in the craziness
Training camp was go go go all week. There was very little time to process everything being learned because right after we were smacked in the face with a new life altering revelation, we walked right into another one, and then another… and another. Good times. By day 3 I was super overwhelmed with how much I had been learning and how little of time I had to process it all. I wanted to immediately resolve and fix all the things that were being brought up. Finally, the Lord pretty clearly revealed to me that I needed to slow down. He was asking me to be still. To take it all in without trying to strive to resolve everything at once. Just breathe. Just relax. From there, I entered into rest. Even though the information did not slow down, I did. God showed me that I can still find rest in the chaos. He wanted me to trust that He was working it out within me and that I didn’t have to do a thing besides rest.
6. Be selective with where you decide wear red bandannas
What started as a way to represent our squads color may or may not have turned into us getting mistaken for gang members as we street evangelized. Note to self: put the bandanna inside the backpack when you minister.
7. We are stronger together
One of my favorite moments of training camp happened during the physical test. Our whole squad had to be able to hike 2.2 miles in under 38 minutes with all of our gear on. On the morning of the hike, we woke up at 6am and headed to the starting line. We prayed and then we set off. One by one, we crossed the finish line. We cheered each other on and celebrated with one another. But by the end of the 38 minutes, there were still people who had not crossed. Seeing the defeat on their faces was devastating. We quietly prayed and spent the day trying to encourage our squadmate who had to retake the hike the next day. As we encouraged her, there was a shift clearly seen. She went from “I can’t do this again.” to “I’ve got this.” She allowed us to speak into her and bear the burden she was carrying. She realized the importance of allowing the people around her to uplift and encourage her instead of trying to do it alone. The next day our whole squad got up at 6am and went to the hike with her to cheer her on as she attempted the test again. As she made her way through the hike we were spread across the trail and when she passed by we would scream, cheer and uplift her. We were all waiting at the finish line and with about 3 minutes left, we saw her making her way toward us. The moment we saw her we started screaming her name and jumping up and down. She was tired but she had this look of determination and victory in her eyes. There were teammates on either side of her grabbing her arms and helping her move forward. There were tears in our eyes and joy in our hearts as she crossed the finish line with time to spare. She fell to the ground with exhaustion but so much happiness and we huddled around her and celebrated with her. It was in that moment that we realized this is what community is all about. We were not meant to run the race alone; we are stronger together. At any point in the race, we will all be in that same position. We will be feeling defeated and wondering if we’ll make it to the finish line but it will be then, that we will reach out to our teammates that are there wanting to encourage us and carry us to victory. It was a beautiful picture of what these next 11 months will look like.
8. Deck talks are my jam
Going into training camp I was praying for connection. Connection with God and connection with others. Pretty quickly I learned that there was opportunities for connection all around me and the Lord began to reveal to me that my identity should not be rooted in my ability to connect with people or the relationships I have in my life. My identity should be rooted in Christ alone. This is still something I am processing through and learning how to walk in. Nonetheless, God brought so much connection. I was able to connect with the Lord each morning on the front deck of the lodge. I was able to connect with my squadmates through beautiful conversations on the back deck in the evenings. Through every interaction on every deck, I saw the Lord’s faithfulness in showing me that the sweetest types of connections happen when He is at the center of them. My prayer for the race is that, whatever deck I end up on, I would keep my attention on the Father and let Him lead me into connection with Him, with my squad, my team, and with those that I minister to.
9. Life is ministry and ministry is life
This phrase was used over and over again during the week. We learned how important it is to make ministry our lifestyle not just something we turn off and on. There will be times on the race where we aren’t necessarily participating in “ministry activities” but these moments might be there very best time to minister to people. For instance, during the market simulation there was hustle and bustle and we faced a task; find dinner. 100 people were trying to buy food for themselves while trying to sort through exchange rates, language barriers, cultural norms and pick-pocketers. There were opportunities all around us to minister, like the homeless woman begging or the drunk tourists acting a fool on the streets. It was up to us to keep our eyes, ears and hearts opened for what the Lord might have been doing in that moment regardless of what we thought we were actually there for. It was cool to see how our team handled this scenario. We managed to get all of our dinner with money to spare and lead some tourists to Jesus. It was an awesome representation of truly having life be ministry and ministry be life.
10. It is possible for strangers to become family in only 10 days
It has always taken me a while to warm up to people so I didn’t think it would be possible to get so close to people so quickly. This week I watched the Lord take a group of scared humans, bring them together, fill them up, and empower them to change the world; together. Leaving home is still going to be one of the hardest parts of this journey, but it is comforting knowing that I have this group of people waiting for me. They feel like home away from home.
These are just 10 of the many things discovered since the start of my race. The crazy part? This is only the beginning.
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