Blog #1: Revival night!

     Hello everyone! Welcome to my blog, and thank you so much for all the incredible prayers and donations! I couldn’t have made it here without all your generosity. 

     I know nobody wants to read forever, so let’s just jump right in. A lot has happened in these first three weeks of training camp, but I’ll just tell you about the most important thing. Friday night the 8th we had a worship service and it transformed into a miniature revival. If you don’t know what that is, it’s basically what Christians would describe as when the Holy Spirit, or the presence of God, is being physically felt by a group of people worshiping together in one place. This recently happened in Wilmore, Kentucky at Asbury University and lasted more than two weeks. You can read more about it here if you’d like. This isn’t something that happens every day and was the most incredible spiritual experience I’ve ever had.

     Now I know some people reading this will say it’s just a social contagion of adrenaline or whatever, but what I experienced cannot be explained in any other way than the presence of God. I’ve been to church camp almost every summer and winter for the past 7 years of my life and I have never, ever felt or seen anything even remotely close to this before. Everyone was describing the same feeling in their chest of pure joy and peace. It felt like our physical hearts had pressure on them from the overwhelming happiness. I saw the most reserved people coming out of their skin with joy just going around hugging everyone. I saw people breaking down in uncontrollable tears, releasing years of trauma and built-up stress and anger. I saw people crying hundreds of happy tears because they felt so free from their past. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. 

    I had been sitting in the back icing my knee that I hurt earlier in the week. But the crowd was so hyped I decided I couldn’t pass it up. I got up and moved into the front part of the crowd and started to worship. Then, I looked back to see another of my friends on his hands and knees with his face to the ground. I just immediately felt like he was supposed to be at the front of the crowd. I didn’t know why, so I just asked God if I was supposed to bring him to the front. I kept hearing “yes”, but I kept asking because I usually feel like I’m making things up in my head when I’m talking to God. I asked one more time and I just heard such a loud “YES NOW” that I immediately opened my eyes to turn around and go get him. But the moment I opened my eyes, he was right in front of me being brought to the front by another person on our squad. Afterward, I asked that person why they had brought him up, they said “I just felt like he was supposed to be at the front of the crowd.” Only God. Many more unexplainable things happened that night, but that was the most impactful to me. 

     After that night so many of us were transformed and just fully immersed and committed to this process. Everyone’s walls were torn down that night, and in the weeks afterward we’ve become so close. I can’t wait to see how our unity will bring others to Christ over the course of the months to come.

    Thank you all again for your prayers and donations, all of this is only possible because of you. I hope you know how extremely grateful I am, and how incredibly God has moved me through this experience. Thank you.