slaying the giants

so anyone who asks me is going to hear me say the same thing: God's presence is so completely over this place it's ridiculous. yeah. ridiculous. i love it! :) haha! it's really impossible for me to write everything that happens...i'm still processing so much of it because we get SO MUCH every day. i've only been here a week but it feels like longer. so, today was an awesome day. for real. during the morning session, Ray Hughes was talking to us about David. He was going through the story of David and Goliath and talking about what David brought to the battle. He brought a worshipping heart. God chose David because his heart was completely devoted to worshipping God and God used David to cut the head off of a giant, which then opened up doors for other people to be who they were created to be because they were no longer living in fear of this giant. a giant who had been screaming lies and hate over them for 40 days. a giant who was standing in opposition to God and God's purposes. Ray was relating the story to our lives as worshippers and how there are giants that stand in opposition to the fullfillment of God's purposes in our lives - our destiny in God. then, as a prophetic act, Ray had us stand up and picture in our minds the giants that are standing in our way...the giants we know by name because they've been screaming lies and hate over us for a season. i didn't have just one giant. i had a line of them. one behind the other and i couldn't see how far back the line went, but i saw three very clearly and their names were on their helmets. their faces were dark and angry and they looked at me as if to say, "there is no way you will take us out because if one of us falls, there are more of us behind to take the place of the fallen." next, ray had us hold up our arms as if we had a sling and we were to swing our arm around and make the sound of a sling - which, by the way 200+ people making the sound of a sling is REALLY awesome - and on the count of 3 we were to let the stone fly out of the sling. as we let go we were to give a shout while the stone implanted the heads of the giants and made them fall. i was a little afraid because the giants i was staring down were big and ugly, but i did it anyway. i don't know how many stones were actually inside my sling but it didn't matter because when the stone hit the first giant they all crumbled to the ground like an imploding building and they lay there, dead...their heads crushed and they were nothing but rubble. as the dust settled i could see an opening that i knew was my destiny. i couldn't see what it was, but i just knew i was supposed to walk into it. then, ray had everyone close their eyes and make the sound of rain. it represented the cleansing rain that was coming to wash off the dust of the slain giants so that no part of them would remain in our lives. it was such an awesome moment. at first the rain was quiet and then we just got louder and louder and there was so much freedom. i'm going to keep claiming that freedom because those giants are dead and gone and i am walking - scratch that - running straight into my destiny!! woohoo!!! :)