I truly can’t believe our time with you is over. It feels like our plane landed yesterday! Your culture was so amazing to live in and experience. I found God in your sunsets, in your people and most of all, your beautiful mountains. I loved how crazy your roads were. How people could drive so freely at any time of the day. I envy how life doesn’t run on specific times, just when everyone in the community shows up. I loved how early your sun woke up and went to sleep. I cherish the memories you gave me and the sweet lessons I learned while we were together. In my time with you, I learned so much about the Lord and myself.
My Church:
I found my community here. I experienced what living with 53 people was like!!!!
Community is such a fun concept. While it was hard to find alone time- it was SO easy to find people to talk to. & with a bunch of people in the house, there is constantly a conversation going on somewhere.
A common question I got before going on the race was ‘what denomination is the World Race?’, and at the time, I truly didn’t know the answer to this question. I knew that it was a mixture of different people, but I didn’t know what denomination it was ‘categorized’ as. I got a lot of clarity to this here.
The World Race is a group of people who love the Lord & simply want to serve him. In my church, Church Q, we worship freely, pray constantly and love each other as each of us come. In our church we cherish relationship over any religion. We want to serve Him through love for one another.
Identity:
In my time here I discover a new relationship with Him. One that is based simply on Relationship and not Religion.
I learned that those who leave everything in Gods hands will eventually see Gods hands in everything. I’ve had to ask myself if I am truly denying myself daily and picking up my cross. I know at home I wasn’t. I constantly put other things before my relationship with God and had to work through them my first month on the Race. It was a hard realization for me. I struggled with feeling “behind” in my relationship with God- I constantly felt like I was comparing myself to other.
I came to the realization that our hearts are Gods home. GOD LIVES IN OUR HOUSE ! God isn’t going to live in a messy household, he’s gonna keep his house clean but we have to ask God to take our house, we have to give him all of our rooms. When he comes into our house he isn’t just going to clean it, he is going to come in & do some rebuilding. He is gonna get rid of rooms from my past that have brought hurts or have hurt others. Rooms that tear down and don’t lift up. Rooms that I cling on to when things get a little difficult. We have to be OK with him coming & taking it all. If we don’t give him our entire house he can’t clean it; simply put, he can’t live in it.
He needs a firm foundation and He is a firm foundation.
Something else i’ve learned over the last 3 month is that the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. I have seen Him work in so many new ways. Its hard to put into words the ways my heart has grown.
My heart has learned to love the people that have been placed in my life. When I arrived here in September, I was full of expectations for the race and for my life in general. Being on the World Race, you quickly learn to get ride of any and all expectations. That way you can never be let down or have a negative outlook on where He has placed you! I came to quickly realized The Author of my Life will write my story perfectly according to his expectations & plans. Anything that I can think of for my life is nothing compared to his perfect plan. In this, I also realized that every single day is a choice. You can choose to have a joyful and positive attitude & see the good in each day OR you could choose the opposite. You can choose into intentionally with the people around you or you could choose a movie in your room. you can choose eyes of gratitude of eyes of the world. To simply choose into each day, because the next is never promised.
In our time here, I lived out the words “love has no language ” every single day. I made many best friends at my ministry’s but someone who was super special to me was Maylee. At our ministry we were teachers helpers, or kinda like interns. There were 5 different classes: babies, preschoolers, blue room kids (kindergarten), older kids or kitchen. Maylee was in the blue room and she is the cutest little girl I have ever met. She captured my heart from the very first day. Over our two months at Tronos De Dios, we shared so many laughs and giggles but we never had a real conversation. We simply played and loved each other. We didn’t need to have a conversation to know that if she jumped from the tree, I would catch her.
“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” 1 John 4: 11-12.
Simple love was what made our friendship so fun.
Im beyond thankful for the memories made here. For the growth the Lord gave me. For the everlasting relationships made. For the joy and smiles the kids brought me.
I’m thankful for the things I left behind here and didn’t bring in my backpack. For the new memories and new growth that comes with new places. For the stillness I can already feel in South Africa. For the simplicity that is coming.
I love you, Costa Rica.
PS:!!!
*I ONLY HAVE $420 DOLLARS LEFT TO FUNDRAISE!!!!*
Please pray for me and if you feel called, help your sister out !!!!!
Make today count, xoxo Helen :)<3
