RU Boot Camp!!!!

BOOT CAMP. These words often make me think of the army or the military, of people doing drills, crawling through mud, physical exhaustion setting in, but still pressing on. Arms are numb; brain is repeating a continual stream of mantras saying: “You can do this.” These were my preconceived ideas of a boot camp. Pretty accurate really. Although we are not in the military and I am sure that the intensity of the army does not compare with Refined undignified in anyway, by the end of our 12 hour dance days, my arms were weak, I was telling myself to: “keep going, concentrate, and work hard.”
I have never done a dance boot camp, since the last time our dance team did boot camp, I was in Ecuador. So, for me, this was a new experience. I LOVED it. Physical exhaustion feels great when you look back and see what you have accomplished.
But the MOST IMPORTANT THING I want to emphasis is just the GREATNESS of God. I have really learned this year that everything is done for God and that when that is the purpose for everything, joy can be found in every single act, whether that is doing homework, singing, or in this case: dance. Knowing that I was dancing for God and having the confidence that God was giving me strength KEPT ME GOING.
I think my favorite moment was at the end of the first day when with body exhausted, mind muddled from trying to remember the choreography we had just learnt, and with just a sense of having given it my all, all that was left to do was to praise God. Just hearing my teammate pour their heart out to God and lift him up for the strength he had given us was incredible.
I have to admit sometimes I am weak, sometimes I feel like I have reached the end of my rope or feel like I will fall down at any moment without God. But God gives me strength to keep going. So when I am about to stumble under the pressure of a day I want to remember to praise God. Sometimes we get caught up in all the doing, but if every ounce of strength, courage, hope, and life is seemingly striped from us, I think we need to remember that all we NEED is God.
Romans 8:
“…In all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. “

When all is taken away, ALL we have and ALL we need is Christ.

THANK YOU GOD for this awesome weekend of Boot camp and what it has taught me.
Much love,
Jolene Maxwell