Day two/three:
Tocca Falls, GA
AIM Training Camp
In the second day of training camp, I truly felt the presence of God within me! The day started opff with some great worship and then some very powerful words. One of the AIM admins (Jimmy) took control of the sermon and said a very powerful quote, “God works in spite of us.” This means that even when we may think that we don’t have anything to offer or that what we do have to offer isn’t enough, it truly is enough and we do have something to offer to Him. God is so ever present in anything we say and do, and He can constantly use us to His will. Jimmy also talked about the fact that many of us are afraid to talk about Jesus. But why? With the so many mighty and glorious things that God can do and overcome would we hesitate when sharing how much God has impacted our lives and what He has done to use us? This truly struck a chord within me and when Jimmy said it was all for fear of being shunned by others, it made me question he strength of my loyalty to Jesus; because isn’t it Jesus we should only fear shunning from? He is the only one we need for everlasting life. So, shout it from the rooftops that Jesus is the Lord our God and He died onb the cross and shed His blood so that we could freely enter the Kingdom of God. Being shunned by man shoul not discourage us; because this just means that the devil is trying to thwart God’s plan. Satan (in those situations) is trying to make us doubt God’s will and the things that God really wants us to do. We are messengers of the good news. We don’t need to be trained in “how to speak the word properly,” we don’t need to be eloquent. Jimmy said, ” You being obedient is more important than you being eloquent.” This was such a powerful statement, because before coming on this trip I doubted whether I was really qualified o go speak to anyone about God when I haven’t ever had any training. In the end, I am so glad that I did come on this trip. God has broken my chains and set me free to love Him more. This brings me nicely to the evening service and expectations. expected failure from myself, and how I realize that failure isn’t a part of God’s vocabulary. He knows that there are going to be struggles, but He also knows that by His power His people can overcome them! Being Christian is not an easy thing to do, but it is one of the most rewarding things that you can do with your life. The last thing that we did during this time frame was the most impactful for me. We did a prayer aloud where we just asked God to help us reflect on the things He had really been laying on our hearts. Some of the hardest memories of my past kept coming up, and I just started to cry like a baby (and yes I mean I was sniffling and making noise) not for these things in the past, but realizing that God was there in every situation that I ever felt abandoned in. He was there and took me under His wing of proptection to help shelter me from the storm. During this time as I was crying, many people came up and just started to pray over me. It was almost as if God was telling them that I needed to feel love and that I wasn’t alone and that He was always there for me!!! I can feel that I am so changed already and it is only the beginning of the trip. I am so above and beyond excited for the works that I know God is going to do in my life on this trip to Nicaragua!!
