Never Been So Happy Mold Stains (Training Camp)

I have so many things to share but let me start by talking about some of the physical challenges of the last two weeks. It all started one cloudy afternoon when God let the heavens rain down. I thought the rain was rain no matter where you were but I was sorely mistaken. Georgia rain is not at all like Colorado rain, it comes down hard and fast and lasts days. In this case, the rain lasted three days. On the second night of rain, a tree branch fell on my tent and ripped my rain fly. So, as you can imagine my tent was flooded with water. When I realized my dilemma it was ten o’clock at night and still pouring rain. So, I borrowed ducktape from a friend and made an incredibly inefficient patch on my tent fly.  That is when I learned another interesting fact about living in Georgia; mold is very real. This is another problem we do not have in Colorado. It is far too dry to ever mold but it’s not in Georgia. After, I mopped up the water from my tent it was still so humid that everything molded. The mold started on the tent floor and worked its way up to my sleeping pad, pillow, clothes, backpack, and pretty much anything else that was in my tent. The next night it rained I watched the water slowly drip into my tent as I breathed in the mold spores surrounding me and before I realized what happened I was laying on my tent floor. Yes, my sleeping pad popped. God blessed my efforts and helped me find the hole so I could make another one of my great make-shift patches. 

You may be reading about my series of unfortunate events and ask, “Kristy, why in the world would you pay to be doing that?” Although it is hard it is incredibly fulfilling. I have to trust and rely on God in a way I have never had before. I have the have faith that he will provide a waterproof roof over my head and that he won’t let me die by breathing in mold spores. I know that may sound dramatic but I can’t even begin to describe the mold growing on everything in my tiny abode. The moral of the story is that God comes through. 

The night my tent was slowly flooding and I was sleeping on the ground all I could think to do is cry out to God. So, that’s what I did. I lay on the cold wet ground and cried. I asked God why he would let so many things go wrong at once and I questioned what he would be trying to accomplish by letting me get hypothermia by sleeping in wet clothes? If you haven’t guessed, I did not get hypothermia, I got something much better. God gave me peace and comforted me in the uncomfortable. At the end of my adventure when the heavens finally closed and the rain stopped I took on the challenge of tackling the mold. This leads me to my last fascinating fact about living in Georgia, mold stains. As I was cleaning the mold off my belongings I noticed that there was always a mark no matter how much I scrubbed or how much vinegar I used. Later that day I consulted all knowledgeable google which told me that mold does in fact stain. I have never been so excited to learn that mold stains! Mainly because it meant that the spores were all dead and gone which means I could stop scrubbing. 

This adventure made me realize that this is exactly what God has been doing in my life for the last two weeks. He has seen all the mold that has grown in my life and desires for me to be clean before I leave to preach the Good News of His love. It definitely hurts as He scrapes me clean and it will leave a stain which is a sign of a stronger character. However, I can’t wait to see what the final result will be!