This is the first time our team had the privilege of being at Shenandoah Baptist Church in Cleveland, TN. Pastor Gamble was a great blessing to us. His message on “Revival” Sunday morning stirred our hearts. It was great to work with Matt Smith and Dr. Favre again. We were with them at Valley Baptist in Virginia a few years ago. We were all encouraged with a good week. The Lord worked in many hearts, and we had a wonderful testimony time.

Ashton, the captain of the Super Seals, counseled a young boy on his team on Wednesday. The boy was convicted about his bitterness towards his sister. Ashton was able to share some verses with him, and the boy decided to write his sister a letter of forgiveness. He testified on Friday,

The Lord talked to me yesterday during one of the messages. I was bitter because of something said by my sister…And the Lord said you shouldn’t do that…you shouldn’t be holding grudges. And you don’t hold grudges when you ask for forgiveness. And I’d encourage y’all to not take grudges against any of your family members because the Lord doesn’t want that to be your future. 

Violet, the Mighty Marine co-captain, recruited a young boy on Tuesday. He came Thursday night and got saved! He was so excited to share what he had heard with his mom.

Hyles, the Incredible Ranger’s captain, was burdened for one of the guys on his team. He hadn’t responded to any of the messages. But on Thursday, he went back after the team meetings and confessed his bitterness. He got that right, and Friday encouraged the boy next to him to respond to the message as well. His decision to stand caused other boys to respond as well. He gave a testimony on Friday,

I feel like all week the Lord has been telling me that I should go up, especially on Tuesday whenever…we was talking about bitterness, but…I guess it’s the pride in my heart. I just didn’t want to go up because I guess I was too embarrassed. I was worried about what other people would think about me, what they would say, but…I’m really glad that I did decide to go up and get it right with God because the longer I kept the the bitterness in my heart, the…more miserable my life got. So, I encourage everyone to just if there’s anything that you need to get right with God, your parents, anyone to just do it and like do it as quick as possible.

Violet counseled a girl on the Ranger team on Wednesday. The girl was struggling with bitterness and immorality. She knew it was wrong, but didn’t understand why. After talking with her, the girl realized she had never accepted Jesus as her Savior. She was fighting the sin by herself because she didn’t have Jesus’ power. That day, she got saved! As the week went on, she began getting convicted about her sin and wanted to get it right. She told Austin and Carissa on Friday night that she was so glad the Special Forces came because if we hadn’t come, she would still be going to hell.

Every time I did something that was wrong, I knew in my heart that it was wrong, but I still did it. And when the Special Forces came, the healing in my heart happened…I talked to a friend about it, and she says, listen to God, just keep listening to Him. I was like, okay. So, first week, I kind of just ignored it. Second week, I was like, okay, it’s interesting. So, I accepted Christ, and my life has been better.

Carissa, the co-captain for the Super Seals, counseled a girl from her team on Wednesday. She was convicted about her attitude towards her parents, and her response to them when they corrected her. Carissa encouraged her to pray for her parents and to depend on God to help her obey. Annie, the Incredible Ranger co-captain, was also able to talk to the same girl on Friday after the message. She realized that she was depending on herself to obey instead of on God. That day she decided to be totally reliant on God for victory.

Violet had talked to a girl on Sunday and was burdened for her. She began praying and that girl ended up on her team! She finally responded to Friday’s message and confessed her bitterness and self-harm. Violet showed her that self-harm was a coping mechanism she was running to instead of Jesus. Though the girl has more needs, she was able to take steps of victory that day.

Here are a few more testimonies from Friday night:

This week on Wednesday…the message about bitterness really hit me hard…because for many years now I’ve struggled with bitterness against my parents and just situations that were misinterpreted and I kept that grudge for a really long time. And in the message he said, God has bigger plans for you than just spending your entire life thinking, oh, I’ve been hurt this way, I’ve been hurt this way. You don’t know what they’ve done to me. So why do you have the right to tell me that I need to let go of stuff? But I realized it’s a lot deeper than that, and I realized God has a lot more plans for me than just saying I’ve been hurt my whole life. And so I decided to…let go of that hurt and let go of my bitterness and let God turn it into something that I can use to help other people….I’ve just realized like even every day I’m just more happy, I feel closer to God, I’ve been praying more, I have more of an urge to read my Bible.

 I didn’t know if I was saved or not because I got saved at…a young age and…Hyles, he brought me into the other room and he explained to me…how God loves me and how I can’t…not be saved whenever I’m already saved. And I got the assurance of salvation.

God has done a lot this week. He’s like changed my life this week. He’s…saved me this this week and… every day of this week, He’s…urging me to…give it all I’ve got and…it’s just been a blessing. So, I encourage y’all to just give it all up to God.

My mom and my dad…I know why they sent me here…They want me to trust them. They want me to trust the Lord. No matter what you’ve been through…. if you’re here today and you’re going through something that you think is just indescribable…No matter what you’re going through, I realized that you just have to trust. It’s hard. Every day I have battles. Every single day….You have to…replace it. You have to tell yourself, you have to trust God…what he’s telling you in His Word every single day.

When Dr. Jim came to school and he was talking about bitterness and anger. And he said everyone go to the back if you needed to…I chickened out and I was too scared. But today when he was talking about it, I felt that I needed to do that. And I did and the Lord helped me