what a week! we arrived to costa rica wednesday night and we have been spending the last couple days getting to know the ministry and what our lives will look like here the next month! the ministry here has built an incredible program for men who has walked through some tuff things to learn how to work, know God, and how to truly be a good brother in Christ. a way for them to rehabilitate their lives but centered around Christ. we will also be helping them build their women’s with children ministry which is opening in November! it’s a place for mothers to stay also don’t have great situations. this includes a lot of sweat, and sore muscles 🙂 honestly, it was bitter sweet leaving nicaragua. it was sad to leave the special relationships we had built and the community, but also exciting to embark on a new adventure. i learned A LOT in nicaragua. one of the biggest things i’m learning is how to rest in my relationship with Him.
“rest”- it sounds so simple and easy, until you realize it’s not always exactly what you picture. prior to this trip, i had this idea of how this trip would be filled with these insanely big God moments all of the time, which there has been great ones! but, my time here has also been so much slower than i thought. one of the days this week consistent of me painting walls the entire day. it was just me spending hours in the quiet, but it gave me the opportunity to process and reflect. so it hasn’t been one big, miraculous moment after another as there has also been time where we are just sitting and talking.
i’m starting to realize that i have never truly rested before. one of our days here is committed to a day of rest, or more commonly known as the sabbath. and wow, i never knew how vital and necessary sabbath is. after practicing sabbath consistently on this trip, i thought, “okay, this is what it means to rest. i have this thing down.” but, there’s more. sometimes God calls us into a season of resting where we don’t know what’s to come. i’ve been finding this all throughout the bible as well. how the story of creation is really a story of God teaching us to rest. how he calls His people into the wilderness to rest in His presence. how He led the Israelites out of slavery to go worship Him in the wilderness and REST. how many of us are willing to go into the wilderness with complete trust that He will provide for us in the wilderness and when we come out of the wilderness? right now, i’m entering in a season of resting in the wilderness. and i don’t just mean how i’m quite literally staying in the middle of the jungle, but how i don’t know what this next month will bring me, or what life will be like when i come home. but i do know, that i have to have complete trust in Him. although the resting season can be frustrating and slow, it’s so special to take a chunk of time to be dedicated, not to your desires, but His. and to tune out what the world is saying, and let go of your expectations of life for a season to only focus on Him. there has been so many opportunities to rest here and it has been challenging yet fulfilling as well.
go rest in the wilderness 🙂
^^^ here’s the past couple days in costa rica has been like summed up in a picture !
