A Community of Prayer

Twelve days ago, my flight took off from Dallas, Texas, and flew me to Gainesville, Georgia, where I am now. Since then, I’ve met all 10 of my Squadmates in person, and I’ve seen the Lord move in so many incredible ways. Some things I have encountered have been emotionally challenging for me, but others have been constructive and beneficial.

On Tuesday night, we had a prayer night where at least three team members would be up at every hour between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. to pray. When we started off, almost all of our Squad members were there, with the expectation that some would go to bed after an hour or two and then get up later in the night to relieve some of the others. The Lord clearly had different plans.

We started praying for general things like where the Lord wanted to lead us after we finished the Camino and good sleep for the other Racers through the night, but then we started to see the Lord turn us to more personal things. The Holy Spirit showed up and empowered us to pray for each of our teammates specifically, by laying hands on them and blessing them for the journey ahead.

By the end of the night, at around 4 a.m., we finished praying and looked up. Almost every single person had stayed up the entire night just praying and reading the word over each other.

Afterward, I found myself thanking God for allowing our team to be vulnerable with each other so quickly. God has been knitting this group together so perfectly that we can encourage and strengthen each other with joy and humility. Nowhere else have I ever found so many people who love the Lord so much and have such a unity in spirit and passion.

As we enter the second week of training camp and less than a week before we leave to hike the Camino, I am getting really excited to see how the Lord will bring us even closer together and draw our entire team closer together!