Hello Wonderful Friends!

I thought I would jump on and share some of the wonderful things God has done over the past week! Our training camp for this trip was one week long, and we are set to leave for Johannesburg, Africa on Monday the 26th! Our camp shifted plans quite a bit because Georgia is having icy cold weather, so we would love prayer that our flights would take off on time! 

God blessed me with an amazing group of 6 other girls and our squad leader for this trip. We are the smallest squad, but already have bonded and been united through our faith in Jesus, praise God! This week has been full of logistical planning for the field, and running scenarios for what we might encounter, as well as growing deeper with the Lord! I thought I could share some of the main things that stuck out to me over the past week of worship, lessons, and reading scripture!

The teachers highly stressed KNOWING God. I capitalize it because knowing God is a deeper understanding of God than simply a head knowledge or the facts about Him, but a real heart understanding and worship of our wonderful Creator. We can always be tempted to lean one way or the other too much, but we should study scripture and theology and seek to know God intellectually, while also praying He would help our hearts and minds to truly know Him in a deep relational way!

The idea of being humble also showed up in many ways. God loves us with a steadfast love, but we also draw near to Him with a humble heart, recognizing our position before Him! We are saved by the blood of Jesus alone, and there is nothing a sinner could do to earn their way to the Lord. But praise be to God that "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." - Romans 8:8

Finally, our God is the Prince of Peace, and as we truly meditate and dwell in His word, He will show us that our identity is truly in Him. Anxiety and insecurity have no place in the kingdom of God because Christ's blood on the cross has made us "...a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession..." 1 Peter 2:9

There are so many more things I could share, but our team is excited to leave for Johannesburg to serve with a missions group called Impact Africa. There is a whole variety of things we will be doing, but we will be staying with a host family and jumping in to working with kids mainly! I would love continued prayer for team bonding and unity, smooth travels, and that God would use us in mighty ways even as we travel to spread the good news of our Lord! Love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers! God bless!