NIKO=Overcome... rightttt?

So I know everyone has been waiting for the update on my Niko trip! Well here’s the good news… I SURVIVED!!! Not only did I survive, but I overcame so much that God had placed in front of me. The bad news? I can’t talk about the activities we did…. Haha I know it sounds lame, but that’s the rule. This trip was about learning to overcome things in your life physically and mentally. And believe me… I was faced with things that I never even imagined. It showed me really who God has made me. With His help I was able to push my limits to a whole new level. Believe me… Just be proud. Do a Niko… Then we can talk! Being back on the base has been great though. I appreciate the simple things here like running water, toothpaste, and food. Which we didn’t have at Niko. People told me it sounded like I was heading of to Survivor and yes, it was just like Survivor without the competition. We grew so much stronger as a team and learned to use God to power through together. It is a challenge that I will never forget.

So now its back to base life and this week has been a huge blessing, yes I am so so tired but the speaker this week is Rich. He is speaking on The Father Heart of God and let me just tell you that my life will never be the same. He pin pointed areas in my life that were so true it was scary. We still have two lecture days left with him and I wish it was longer. He reminds me of my dad so much. The way he talks, and his eyes, they even wear the same shorts. Haha. I miss my daddy so much. Rich has really challenged us to open our hearts to God’s love. Its actually a huge challenge to brake the lies we have heard or told about ourselves and just receive love. But how can we expect others to receive love from us if we can’t even receive it ourselves? He has really been showing us how to brake down our walls and stop doing the dance to get the hug. There’s more to life. God wants us to live… Not just walk through life trying to meet expectations. Sometimes success is a curse. You finally make it, you finally do it right and then they move the bar higher. This is the reality of the world we live in. Nothing is ever good enough. But let me just tell you it is. We have all got to the point we are because God is weaving a plan. He is very practical and straightforward. It’s been really incredible. God is really working on deep layers for me. I thought I had dealt with problems in the past but I can see them start to come back to the surface. I realize now that I never mourned, never let go of dark things I should have, I only pushed them deeper to forget they ever happened. God has been facing them with me now. He is peeling back the layers like an onion. Rich said something that really stuck with me this week… I need to expose the pipe, fix all the leaks, then cover it back up.. using God’s grace. Things from our past that we burry get buried ALIVE. They will eventually come back up. I feel like this all sounds depressing but its not. This week has been emotional and hard yes, but also very healing, again. Things are great. God is good and He is moving. Amen.