When I came to YWAM Ships Kona to do a DTS I mostly just signed up so I could do some traveling. I did not feel called to it. I really was not that close to God. I just wanted to travel and I knew my church would help pay for my trip. I had no expectations of my relationship with God changing at all nor any desire for my life to change.
My relationship with my parents was not great either. The first few weeks of DTS I did not really talk with them or miss them much. I was also pretty hard into alcohol before I came. When I landed in Kona I was still hung over from the night before.
The second week of DTS our speaker was David Gava. He was teaching about hearing God’s voice. I really liked his teaching, but was very skeptical. I wanted it to be true and thought it was such a cool idea, but anything I thought might be from God I questioned and wondered if it was just me.
David taught about how certain things can hold us back from hearing God, so I thought, “OK, it’s time to cut some things out of my life.” I decided to go six months without drinking any alcohol. I also decided to call my parents and fix my relationship with them.
Calling them was very difficult and very emotional. I wrote up a whole long list of things I wanted to talk to them about – a lot of built up resentment and things to confess to them. I didn’t get to half of it, but it sparked us talking more. I began texting them every day and calling them once a week. It was a process but I am now able to be open and honest with them and talk to them about my ups and downs. We are much closer now than before.
My relationship with God also became better than it had been for a long time. As I pursued a close relationship with God, cutting out the bad habits and sinful parts of my life naturally happened. This really opened me up to hearing his voice.
During this time I was praying with my outreach team. We were going to Greece but still had not decided exactly where to go. Our options were Athens, Thessaloniki, and Lesvos. I felt like God spoke a verse to me: 1 Thessalonians 3:1. I shared it with the group and we looked it up. To my amazement it read, “ …we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens.” God was directing us to Athens!
Camden Erwin
YWAM Ships Kona Alumni
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