A look back into Costa Rica

Hi friends and family !!

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read what the Lord was doing during my time in Costa Rica, as always I am abundantly thankful for the prayers, encouragement, and love from back home. I am praying for each person reading this to feel the father’s love and encorugaemnt in whatever capacity He speaks to you. I pray you can hear the Lord’s voice through my experiences and press more into Him each day !! 

As I sit in a coffee shop in Guatemala and look back at my time throughout Costa Rica, I am overwhelmed by the provision, gratitude, new knowledge of the Lord, and growth this gap year has brought me through. However, as I look back and the Lord reminds me of lessons, memories, and ministry days I am mainly reminded of the times that I had to remember why I said yes to this journey, and committed everything I lived in and surrendered everything I was to be more like Him. Yes, the cliff jumping days, exploration, and good food that most people can see brought so much happiness and thankfulness however, the majority of the weeks, days, and hours were spent realizing how broken my religion was. Countless days were spent learning how to rewire my mind from old habits, new love for myself, and eyes to see others how God see them. The reality that I soon found out on the race was although I knew of God, my trust in him was instable. I learned in order to fully trust him I had to stop “doing” things for the Lord and simply give him my heart, the only thing I truly had to bring. In Costa Rica as ministry didn’t look as I expected, a lot of days I struggled with seeing myself as God saw me, and I believed I had to earn his love. The Lord painfully ripped apart those lies with grace upon grace. As new qualities of the Lord came up through abiding in Him and seeking His heart the ripping out of old lies became less painful, because the harvest was in view. Although some harvests I will never get to see because they are not mine to see in the first place, I am abundantly thankful the Lord has revealed a few to me so that I can look back at His faithfulness and His promises and take deeper leaps of faith into freedom with the assurance He is there to catch me. So here are a few pictures, hard realities, raw vulnerability, and lessons the Lord taught me in Costa Rica that I pray I can look back to when I need a reminder of how good our Father truly is to those who love Him with all their heart. 

These 4 pictures all happened in one weekend. Saturday, November 20th a few of my good friends and I went on a waterfall tour with Manny, a man from Horizon, the church we were working with. I actually got to be a leader at the youth group with 3 others at that church! It was such a beautiful gift from the Lord to be able to work at a church, very similar to my home church in Costa Rica. Manny graciously took 5 hours from his day to take us through the Costa Rican jungle to a beautiful, breathtaking, waterfall. There as we hiked I was in awe of the glimpses of heaven the Lord blessed us with. As I sat under that waterfall and felt the roar of the fall, I knew I wanted to get rebaptized the next day and allow his love to wash over me. I wanted to rededicate my life publically and commit to the Lord that I was ALL IN for His kingdom forever. The next day November 21st I got to do just that. It honestly felt as if I was getting married. It was a beautiful and intimate glimpse into what I believe the wedding feast will look like when we arrive to the gates of heaven and are reunited with our first love. I am endlessly thankful I got to redidcate my life in the oceans of Jaco, a place the Lord left a piece of my heart in. I plan to return there someday with the promise God will bring me back, to help bring revival to that city. 

Throughout my baptism the verse 2 corinthians 6:2 was running over and over in my head. It says “Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.” I knew in that moment as I read that there was no time to waste, and as the waves washed over me, for the first time I believed I was a new creation, washed in love, holiness, joy, kindness, faithfulness, and abundance. I finally knew I could live in that abundance with the Lord. The only thing it took to believe that, was getting over my false humility that I was unworthy. HE CALLS US WORTHY OF LOVE, so we must walk in it and start believing it. NOW is the day of salvation, NOW is the day of abundance. 

Here is a glimpse into a few more lessons I learned from Jaco, the city my squad stayed for the first month and then Nicoya, the two weeks my team, Eden, and team rooted stayed together away from the whole squad as we all split off to do various ministries:

the top two pictures are from Jaco! I learned that ministry comes in all forms and every day we live is a chance to minister and ove others as Christ did. There is no to do list for glorifying God except putting your whole heart into it. SO no matter if I was working at the youth group, painting a light post, or crammed on top of a cabinet from 9-5pm painting the walls of the base, I would do all things for the glory of Christ ! This lesson excites me for the seasons to come as I continue to see each day as a ministry opportunity not each ministry job as the agenda to check off for the day. 

I could go on and on about lessons from Jaco, but I will list a few for now and when I come back home I would love to explain, testify, and share more !!

I must pray from a place of abundance, God takes us from Glory to Glory not mountain to valleys, If I see the world as flesh sees the world I will never be satisfied, Christ is my savior but also my LORD, I am a living sacrifice and a pleasing aroma to others, I must look at God’s unlimited resources rather than my limitations, Life is an endless journey of being pursed by the greatest Bridgeroom (Jesus). 

The bottom four pictures are located in Nicoya ! Nicoya was a time of recharge, overflow, intamicy in rest, and abiding with the Lord. I learned how to just be, and seek glimpses of heaven to increase my hope in what we wait for. We were endlessly loved on by Pastor basilio and I learned that I too, like him, can exemplify all the fruits of the spirit because Christ dwells in me ! I posted two other blogs during that time if you want to hear more into those experiences !! 

PUERTO VIEJO ! 

Here comes some honesty, Puerto Viejo was a time of hardships, spiritual warfare, and hard work. We were in a ywam base in the middle of the jungle. It was hot, tiring, and buggy, BUT in that a choice each day to see the good admist it all. Each day was a chance to cling to Christ and plead for his strength to get through the day. Yes there was a lot of joy and moments of bliss, however the base we stayed at constantly had an uneasiness and overwhelming repeat of old lies I thought I buried. Lies that I was not good enough, lies I had to do more for Christ to love me, and Lies that I was not washed clean came up each day. I felt like I was fighting a battle Christ had already died for me to be free from. However, I was not alone in this warfare. A majority of the squad expirineced it and as we pressed into deeper vulnerability with the reality there WAS indeed warfare, we clung deeper to the word and the truth. The more we clung to the truth, the quieter the lies became.

Holidays were also hard, homesickness was real, and comforts of family traditions were missed, however to experience these joyous days of thanksgiving and celebration of Jesus’s birth with a group of 40 others who love ther Lord with all their hearts provided memories I will never forget. Every time there has been hardships, so many opportunities to cling to God’s goodness have got each one of us through. 

On new years eve I actually experienced one of the hardest theological conversations of my life. I would love to go into more depth if you are interested when I arrive home, but for three hours my faith was tested with new age beliefs, I felt shaken, and I felt enticed. However, the Lord reminded me to not be afraid and take courage because He was my strength. I was reminded during the conversation that the Lord warned us of those who would pose as antichrists and to stand firm. The experience strengthened my faith and brought me closer to the Lord’s heart, and for that I am grateful. 

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” – Joshua 1:9

and after that experience our whole squad spent the night worshipping into the new year proclaiming the victory Christ has already been won for us ! Thank you Jesus !!

The rest of the time in Puerto Viejo was spent doing manual labor, and children ministry.

We built houses, worked on roofs, cleaned up the jungle, painted walls, ran feeding programs, and evaglized in the nearby town. It was a time of learning how to depend on the father for strength and pressing into the challenging times. I was so thankful for that season, but also so ready and expectant for the next stability in Guatemala, a place I knew would bring so much joy & fulfillment !!

pictures by my amazing teammate Amelia !!

Overral my two and a half months in Costa Rica taught me abundant lessons, and in thre next few days I will be posting a list of the most prominent lessons I will cling onto forever. I appreciate and applaud you if you made it all the way to this point of the blog, and I am so thankful for each and everyone of you who is walking alongside this journey with me !!

As always today I pray that the Lord would grow my capacity to love others and myself. I pray that He would continue to refine me through the fire, and lead my steps each and every moment. 

All my love, Emily.