if you could describe the past 4 1/2 months in one word, it would be “wild”. in fact, the past month and a half has been absolutely crazy. allow me to bring you up to speed on my crazy, Christ-filled life.
cabin leading was amazing. exhausting, but so full of the Lord’s goodness and faithfulness. i was able to be used by the Lord to help lead a handful of my girls to the Him for the first time (praise God!) but also experience so much pain, frustration, and overall hunger for Him. I was able to grow such fruitful and beneficial friendships – people who would pour into me and I into them. Hebrews 12:1-2a explains so well what the summer was: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”
that season of life was definitely needed for what the Lord had in store for me in the current season – wow God you are so good! the transition period between camp and training camp was definitely restful (before i knew how to actually rest WITH the Lord) and it was beneficial to have that time to spend with family and friends. it was bittersweet but the fact i get to come back and show the love of Jesus to everyone is SO EXCITING!
training camp (sept. 2 – oct.1):
if i could put training camp in three words it would be: growing, joyful, and miraculous. the first revival worship we had was absolutely amazing – it was unlike any worship i have been a part of, but it was so clear that the Holy Spirit was present. the best way i can describe those revival worships was both like David when he was dancing in the streets (2 Samuel 6:14-15). We also had many sessions, ranging from spiritual warfare to different religions and how to properly evangelize to them. in all of it, growth happened – praise God! They (my amazing leadership) also introduced on how to Sabbath, and it has definitely been a game changer that I 100% want to bring back home.
I was also able to experience physical healing from the Lord! it was on the night of baptisms – a lot of people were able to experience physical, mental, and spiritual freedom as well as healing. i personally did not get baptized, but the Lord had me ask one of my leaders (Ally) to pray over my stomach. when she did that, i almost immediately felt a stabbing pain in my stomach, and i was discouraged about it. i asked God, “why would there be pain when i just asked you for healing?” the next day during lunch, we had sandwiches (a staple here at training camp, every lunch we have sammies), being completely honest, I was terrified. so, i told the Lord that i was trusting Him, that I was going to fully enjoy the sandwich and trust that He healed me from my gluten allergy, and He did! it is currently day 44 of the World Race and I am STILL healed, but i praise God every meal because of what He did for me. never stop rejoicing of what the Lord does for you.
Psalm 16:7-11 explains well of my experience:
“I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body will also rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make me known to the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
this next section is going to be concerning spiritual warfare and deliverance. it’s entirely up to you whether or not you believe what is being said here. but before you move forward, pause for a moment. ask the Lord to soften your heart and to allow Him to speak truth into you. again, this is what i have experienced in just this short time of being here, and I really feel the Lord telling me to share this so that you may be able to see how the fight is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12).
DELIVERANCE:
before training camp, I had never heard of deliverance. I didn’t know that you could be oppressed by demons but still be madly in love with Jesus. a little backstory to help you better understand what led me to go through this freeing experience: during our worship sessions in the morning, i wasn’t able to feel connected with the Lord. I couldn’t feel His joy and i would easily get distracted by people or the lights and wouldn’t be fully involved. during one particular worship i felt like there was a black mist behind me, so of course I turned to the Lord and asked Him to free me from anything that was holding me back from Him. that night I had a dream where a black mist came out of my mouth, but then came back in which, WOAH, that’s crazy! i brought it up to my leader, Emmery – you’ll get to know her more since she’s my team leader 🙂 – and she told me that they were going to pray over me. turns out, it was actually a deliverance.
here are just a couple main points from that experience:
- i had three demons that were oppressing me (oppression and possession are two different things, if you have questions about what that is, ask me!) they became “attached” when I was young and were very good at hiding (sneaky snakes) and they held on to things that prohibited me from growing more in my relationship with Jesus. i had to repent and literally give those things to the Lord – physically, mentally and spiritually.
- the act of deliverance is not pretty. physically, my entire body was shaking like a leaf in the wind. i was crying so hard, harder than I ever had in my entire life. but the freedom, joy, and peace you receive after and even during is beautiful.
- i learned that i need to give EVERYTHING to the Lord. i cannot rely on my own strength. it is physically impossible to do things without the Lord (Philippians 4:13) – my prayer is that you will come to learn that as well.
- the FIRE of the Holy Spirit is a REAL THING! “They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them” (Acts 2:3). after i had repented from all of the sins i had been holding on to, dawson and banks (they are leaders on my squad) were able to bind and cast the remaining demons. they then prayed that the fire of the Holy Spirit would fall upon me and spread through-out my body, and it happened! it started in my chest, a burning sensation, (i literally thought i was dying because Jesus was taking me home) and went down to my toes and went up to my ears. it felt like when your ears get super cold and they burn a little because your body is trying to warm up. i immediately felt peace fall upon me, then so much joy! beautiful.
SPIRITUAL WARFARE:
like i stated before, our fight is not against flesh and blood – but against the evil forces in the spiritual realm. i won’t go into great detail, mainly because of the length of this post, but also because the devil doesn’t deserve so much recognition, he doesn’t need power where there isn’t any. also, my prayer is that these stories don’t cause fear, it is not my intention in the slightest. i pray that these stories
- there were several nights throughout training camp where there were screams, noises, nightmares and several other things that happened not only in our campsite, but in other squads as well. however, our squad’s leadership team did a very good job in telling and reminding us that we have power over those things, and they cannot hurt us. so we were very fortunate to know very early on (because these attacks started night 1) that because we have faith in the Lord, we can cast things away in His name and that they have NO power. remember that!
- in the last week, each squad did something called “Night Watch.” people signed up to pray in half an hour increments and the entire night was covered by our whole squad. on our night, the Lord showed His love and faithfulness. i personally had a vision from the Lord saying that everyone was protected by the light of His love and that there was no need to fear. was there demonic activity, yes. but as we know, Jesus has conquered death and the grave. we have power in His name. be praying for us this week as our squad will be doing another night watch Sunday night!
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
WAYS YOU CAN BE PRAYING
- our squad leaves on wednesday, october 18th for Guatemala! pray for travel mercies, patience, and kindness towards one another.
- i’m currently working on building trust with the Lord – i’ve always struggled with giving Him everything, so pray for perseverance and continued growth
- be praying for our upcoming ministry that we will be doing! pray that the Lord will use my team’s individual gifts to show His goodness. that we will continue to grow together in love, patience, joy and kindness!
