Costa Rica Update

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you all so very much for continuing to pray for me and encourage me as I am here in Costa Rica! You all bless me tremendously.

I am so thankful for the opportunity to be here serving the Lord and His children. These past few weeks have been challenging, and yet I am learning to be thankful in all circumstances. I'm learning it is easy for me to say that I am thankful, but it is another thing to actually live a life of thanksgiving. Especially with Thanksgiving quickly approaching, the subject of thankfulness has been one that has been on my mind a lot. I am so thankful for my Mom, because there will be times that I text her and tell her the struggles I am going through, and she reminds me to be thankful and that God is good. 

This will be the first Thanksgiving that I am away from home, and it is hard not being there. Even though I’m going to miss spending that day with my family, I still have much for which to be thankful!

The PFK program has been continuing to go well, praise the Lord. We actually just have two more weeks left of it and then we won't have it for two months because the kids have their break from school. I am sad that the program will be ending for two months, but I guess this will just cause us to look for more ministry opportunities and other ways we can reach the children outside of the program. Please be praying for us as we end the program. Please pray that the children would continue to be fed by the Word, and that we would be able to keep in touch with them on a regular basis. Please also pray for wisdom for us as we look for other ministry opportunities.

There is a song by Audrey Assad called “Lament” and lately I feel as though I really relate to it. Some of the lyrics go like this:

“I'm Mary and I'm Martha all at the same time;

I'm sitting at His feet and yet I'm dying to be recognized.

I am a picture of contentment and I am dissatisfied.

Why is it easy to work but hard to rest sometimes?”

These lyrics describe so well how I have been feeling lately. I have been finding it so hard for me to rest, feeling as though there is always something that I should be doing. I have been loving my time I spend with the Lord, but even then I easily get distracted by what I feel I should get done next. Please pray for me that I would be faithful to do what needs to be done, but that I would always rest in the Lord and not take burdens upon myself which He never meant for me to bear.

I would appreciate continued prayer that I would pick up more Spanish. I need to start taking time to study it. Cory was telling me that if I start studying for even just ten minutes a day that would probably help a lot because I am also constantly around people speaking in Spanish. I am starting to pick up on things, and I definitely know more than when I first arrived here, but still not that much.

I have found that I love early mornings here. I love to get up, get my coffee, go sit outside, and do my devotions. Around 6AM it actually feels fairly cool outside, and so I love going outside at this time. Most of all, it is really good to have this quiet time with the Lord before the day begins. Recently, the Lord greatly encouraged me through His Word. I have been reading in Matthew, and I got to chapter 14 where Jesus fed the 5,000. This section stood out to me in a powerful way. When Jesus told the disciples to give the crowd something to eat, they said, “We have only five loaves and two fish” (vs. 17). The disciples felt that they didn’t have enough to minister to the people, but Jesus said, “Bring them here to Me” (vs. 18), and He had the people sit down, gave thanks, broke the bread, and the disciples gave the food to the people. The people all ate and were satisfied. I had read this story before, and heard it many times, but suddenly it meant so much more to me. On my own I am inadequate, and so often in ministry I feel inadequate and worthless. The wonderful truth of the matter is that if I surrender myself to Jesus, as little as I may feel I am, He can use me effectively in ministry because it is Him and not me. My adequacy is not in myself, but in Jesus, my strength is not in myself, but in Jesus. The disciples felt they didn’t have enough to give to the people, yet Jesus asked only that they surrendered what they had to Him and He took care of the rest. In the same way, though I so often feel like I’m not adequate enough to minister to people, Jesus asks me to surrender all that I am to Him and to trust Him to use me. He alone is able to meet the needs of people, and I am simply a tool in His hand. Though I come to Him empty handed, He is so faithful to give me what I need to minister. It is all about Jesus, and nothing about me.

I want to again thank you all so much for praying for me. I’m blessed to be able to serve such a faithful and loving God. Even though things can be hard, God remains on the throne and in control.