Time in Gainesville is almost always dreaded, but never not rewarding or forgettable. When I think of Gainesville my mind automatically thinks of rain, red Georgia clay, porta potties, gardenhose showers and fire ants. Somehow I always seem to forget about the awesome community that AIM instills in people, the amazing inner healing that always seems to take place and the awesome people that take soo much time to pour into their fellow staff. My time in Gainesville has been beautiful for many reasons. For those of you whom have been praying for my headaches….an update for you: I have been having fewer and less severe headaches for the last couple of weeks. And without medicine. I really felt the Lord calling me to depend and trust on Him for my healing. For the last week and a half my co-leaders Tag and Holly Thompson
have been praying with me every night for God’s continous healing and every morning just to praise Him for a headache free day! It has been a process and will continue to be, but I have learned to praise Him for being the true Healer.
This week has been loaded with training and preparation. The first 3-4 days we spent really preparing our hearts for what we are about to embark on. We took a trip to the woods and went camping. Yes, I went camping! It was actually really beautiful and I appreciated the hot shower and toilet. We slept in shelters almost like tree houses….a platform built within the middle of the forest that has a roof over it, as well as one covered side. The rest of the shelter was open, it was beautiful and I enjoyed being and hearing the nature around us. That weekend was also filled with spiritual activities that took us on a spiritual journey to truly lay our hearts down at the cross. We were given an opportunity to partake in a surrender walk. We were told to find an object nearby that symbolized something that we felt like the Lord was telling us to surrender. Someone then proceeded to pray over us and for the walk we had ahead of us. We continued on the walk, silently and prayerfully asking the Lord to help us lay this down at the foot of the cross. For me it was a blessed walk as there were definate hopes and dreams both past and future that I needed to allow the Lord to take from me. The way up was exhausting, not only physically but also emotionally and spiritually as you almost felt heavier and heavier during the ascent to the cross. As we continue to carry the baggage that life always gives us, the closer you get to releasing it, the harder it seems to be. But thank God that it doesn’t end there. He so desires to release us from the burdens that this fallen world has put on us, and when doing so allows us to walk in a freedom that unfortunately not many of us know, including myself. Descentation that day was full of freedom and I was able to celebrate a God whom loves me as a child of His eternal family as well as the love and intimacy He desires to have with me. We continued to praise the Lord and seek Him for the rest of the night and were back on AIM’s yellow school bus heading to the base the next morning.
This week we have been getting prepared to join this program, learning what is expected of us and how to exactly do that. Of course it’s still uncertain, as there are just things in life that you cannot predict, but the AIM staff has done a wonderful job preparing us for the next year(s) of our lives as missionaries and leaders of a rising generation.
It’s been nice here. It’s nice to get to know techinically my new “family” for this upcoming year. This group of people are committed to seeking the Lord in what He has for us next year as FYM leaders. It’s nice to share a common goal, vision, passion and love with a community. It’s nice to laugh and love people that you’ve only known for a little over a week. It’s just nice to be. I guess that’s a little update on what life has been for me these past couple of weeks.
Thank you for allowing me to embark and embarking with me on this journey.
Here are a couple other pictures from my last couple of weeks.
