Lessons

I am now in what people call “the Home Stretch.” I have 4 weeks left as an honorary Costa Rican, or “Tica.” Two weeks of classes, one week of finals, one week of playing tour guide to my family, then I am right back in Lancaster County. I remember thinking in September that June seemed so far away and that this long stretch away from home would be so incredibly hard. However, I consoled myself with the idea that I would be fluent in Spanish. Spanish was my biggest goal of the year.
Flash forward to May 10. I am not fluent in Spanish, not will I be by June 5th. I have greatly improved, yes, but I have problems with my accent and speaking and such. However, my spirit has changed. I have grown spiritually this year, more than I really ever anticipated. I can honestly say that this year has been one of the best and possibly most profound experiences of my life.
For a long time, I fought to make every aspect of my life spiritual, instead of having a spiritual life and an “every other thing” life. But I usually fail miserably. I didn’t expect it to be different when I came to Costa Rica. But I have spent a lot of time learning about the Bible, reading the Bible and being around so many godly, passionate people both Costa Rican and American. And something crazy happened. I began to see life differently. I began to see God differently. Now, I am different. Many people, the cynics, will tell you that a person cannot help but change their viewpoints when they leave their small and protected bubble of home. But the internal changes that I am dealing with are not merely from traveling to another country (though at the same time, it took traveling to another country for me to discover these things.) But my heart is different because God worked in me. He could have done it in Pennsylvania, he could have done it in New Holland, but he chose to do it in Costa Rica.
Now, enough of all this, “I am changed” and “my heart is different;” here is how:
A brief summary of my “enlightenments.”
1. I am the made, not the Maker.
2. On the concerns of God’s will:
One thing that I have noticed in myself and among other people on my team is that usually God’s calling lies in what you are most passionate about. I love working with kids, especially those with disabilities, so it would make sense that God called me to work with kids in Peru. There is a little book called “God’s Will.” I highly recommend it. In it, the author writes, and I’m paraphrasing, that sometimes people think that God wants to stick you with something that you hate. For instance, God wants to take a football player, break both his legs, and make him play the piccolo. But God doesn’t normally do that. He uses people’s strengths.
3. God doesn’t really need me.
He could do it all my Himself if He wanted. But He wants to use His people to be a part of his plan. The strengths that you have were created by God. He created you for a specific purpose. If someday you are called to be a worship leader, then you should believe that God created you with that in mind. He put the love of music in you, he set trials up in your life so you could relate to people, and so on and so forth. Personally, God gave me a compassionate heart and a sister with Down ’s syndrome. I believe that he put her in my life so that I could go out and help other families who have a member with a disability. If we let it, everything in our life can point to our purpose.
4. I needed Costa Rica more than it needed me.

This is the downfall of a lot of mission trips (especially short term trips.) I felt this way when I first came down, I felt this way about Peru, and I have seen a lot of people who come here on short term trips demonstrate this mindset. It’s a hard one to break. But break it anyway. People are tempted to think that they are going to be this divine helper swooping down to better the lives of the poor people they are helping. Yeah…..no. It doesn’t quite work that way. We need to instead pray that God uses us and if we make a difference, to one person or a thousand people, it is not us at all. God used us and God made a difference to one person or a thousand people.


5. The Word is Lamp to my feet…..

This Biblical definition of faith is “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” Hebrews 11:1 and Psalms 119:105 says, “Your word is a light to my feet and a light for my path.” Notice that it says “to my feet.” What happens when there is only a light around your feet? You have to walk slowly and you can only see literally what is right in front of you. There is a reason that God only wants to light up your feet. He wants you to trust Him completely. That being said, it is far far far easier to say that than to do that. I have found that the easiest way to keep the faith is to………….dun dun dun…..read the Bible.

The Psalm also starts out with, “Your word is a lamp…” Honestly, before I came to Costa Rica, I never had a regular quiet time. I prayed and read my Bible and journaled and such, but I was never consistent and I never really get fed through my quiet times. I relied on church and youth group too much. Then I came to Costa Rica and BAM! all the sermons and youth group lessons are in Spanish. Suddenly, I wasn’t getting fed the way I used to. So I started reading the Bible….a lot. And a strange thing happened. The more I read the Bible, the more I wanted to read it. God gave me a thirst for his Word. I have gotten a great deal of direction from my quiet times. I understand the Bible better and I’m learning scripture by heart. I am being prepared to go into battle. The living Word of God is powerful. Learn to be saturated in it. No matter what you are going to do in the future, whether it is a gym teacher or a missionary in Africa, you will need to know the Bible. It is a strong weapon against the enemy.

Thank you all so much for your prayers. I am trying to make these last 4 weeks really count.