*This blog is the second half of a two-part post, so if you missed yesterday's blog, Lost..., I encourage to give that one a read before you begin with this one. Thank you friends for stopping by day 28 of my month-long blogging challenge! I pray you have the best Friday of your life!! Oh... and p.s. There's officially ONE WEEK until I leave for The World Race!!!
Training Camp continued on, more sessions, more hands-on field scenarios, growing closer to and more intimately in my relationship with my Papa, and truly coming to know and love the individuals who are my squad and teammates.
I completed the fitness requirement, a 2.2 mile hike with all of my gear in 30 minutes. I tried foods that I never imagined I would, including crickets (surprisingly not that bad). I gained valuable insight and knowledge about the people groups that I will have the honor of serving while on The Race. I did all of these things and so much more without my ring. The weirdest part of it all was just not seeing it on my finger anymore. After 10 years of wearing it around, you get pretty used to it. You know what though, I was surprisingly okay with it. God had asked me to trust Him with it, so I was choosing to say yes to that and walk forward knowing that He had so much more in store for me and something so much better planned.
It was the next to last full day of Training Camp when my squad was gathered at our usual meeting spot to discuss all of the incredible things God had done and was continuing to do. I loved being able to just sit and soak it all in as I was truly trying to cherish my last bit of time before heading home.
One of my squadmates, Ariel, stood up and said she had something to share with the group. She turned her attention toward me and said she had so desperately wanted to be able to find my ring, so much so in fact that she talked to maintenance staff and asked if they would remove part of the lattice so that she could crawl under the back deck where we had been when I lost my ring. They happily obliged, but she said sadly she couldn't find it anywhere under the porch.
As she said she couldn't find it, I kind of laughed and was still very much okay that I didn't have the ring. She then said "just kidding" and began walking over to me, and low and behold she dropped the ring into my hands. I couldn't believe it and I immediately began crying. She said that she had ended up finding it in the middle of a flower as she began to walk away from the porch. It's still so crazy to think about and honestly if it hadn't happened to me, I probably would have a hard time believing it.
The day continued on and I began praying and thanking God that I had gotten my ring back, but I admitted to Him that I didn't understand since He had asked for it. It genuinely felt as if God laughingly said, "My girl, I didn't want to take anything away from you, I just wanted to know that you trusted me."
God doesn't want to keep anything from us, He has everything good and faithful in store. He simply wants us to say "yes" and be obedient when He asks something of us. He always gives us back so much more than we give to Him and it always seems to far exceed anything we could have hoped for or imagined!
-Meagan
