It’s hard to believe that 5 months of CGA has come and gone so fast. Here I am, two weeks after graduation. Back home in Michigan. In a bed that feels I’m a queen. In a space that is my own. A space that allows me to reflect on the most beautiful season that just ended.
So you ask,
What is the biggest thing you learned from God while at CGA?
How have you grown?
What are you going to do next?
How has God surprised you in this season?
What is one new thing that the Lord revealed to you?
The growth that came out of CGA was a direct reflection and continuation of the growth and healing that I walked through on the Race… my identity. To fully know and believe who I am in Christ. [Check out my last blog post “Worthy to Speak Out” if you haven’t 🙂 ]
Some of my favorite lessons that God taught me through CGA are:
1. There’s no such thing as perfect.
The amount of times I’ve have heard this before CGA? The limit does not exist. Somehow it has just never clicked before yet I was always using it as an excuse. Because I wasn’t “perfect” yet, I wouldn’t step up, be vulnerable, open up. I always felt like I needed to know the right answer or the right thing to say.
2. “Oh you failed?! GREAT!”
Failure is always thought of as being this big, bad thing that scares us. Sometimes it even scares us so much that we don’t attempt something new because we are afraid of failing. But you know what? Failing is great! Why? Because it means you took a chance at something. It means that you learned something and can try it again!
3. Leadership may seem glamorous but it’s hard and costly
“You say you want to lead, but what are you willing to pay?”
The cost of leadership is your acceptance, friends, status, authority, and reputation… Thinking of losing one or two of these is hard to imagine but in all reality, if I truly want to lead like Jesus, I will lose these things and I wont get a choice.
Because the truth is, Jesus lost these and so much more because He could see the big picture and knew that it was worth it!
4. I am an influential leader.
Even walking into CGA, I didn’t fully believe that I was a leader all the time. Throughout the past five months of identity work, I’ve come to truly believe that I do carry influence with me and that I can lead others because I can lead myself.
Which leads me to what’s next in life…
I’m super excited to say that this summer, I will be headed back out onto the field to lead a group of high school students to share the love of Jesus to ETHIOPIA! During the month long trip, we will work with two different ministries. I’m so excited to go back to Africa and walk through this journey with these young students!
So as I sit here at home back in Michigan, it’s not the same as before. I am not the same as I was before. I know who I am, who I belong to, and that I can come to the table just as I am.
