Hello Readers,
This month has been very restful! We are staying in the mountains of Costa Rica. The property where we live is home to a thriving garden. In the garden there is also a storage shed, which our team calls home. The she-shed is equipped with a stovetop, refrigerator, a couch made of pallets, and a table and chairs for community dinner. Each day brings unpredictable weather. Here it can be sunny one moment but pouring down rain the next. Sometimes it rains all day, other days it doesn’t rain at all. Since the weather has a mind of its own, it makes ministry days for us a little challenging. This month our ministry has consisted of: working in the garden, visiting home churches, helping out at schools, working on a webpage for our host, but most of all, it has involved a lot of REST!
I have been learning this month that rest can look differently for everyone. Rest can mean being literally at rest. It can also look like: taking a walk, creating something, singing, listening to music, reading the Bible, etc. In my opinion, resting means finding something that will focus you on God’s presence. While working in the garden there was a day where I was planting seeds. I noticed how tiny they were. It reminded me of the verse Matthew 17:20 where it talks about having faith of a mustard seed. I thought of the mustard seed as being a “yes” in our spirit to the Lord and choosing to seek him daily. Just like a seed that needs watering, we need to tend to the garden of our hearts everyday. If we neglect our hearts, then over time it allows weeds to come up and ruin our flourishing hearts. If we choose to say, “yes” and surrender each day to the Lord and keep watering the garden, then that mustard seed of faith will start to sprout and create deep roots within our hearts. It takes time. There will be challenges, but in the end we will grow so strong in our faith and it will produce fruits of God’s goodness.
…Just some food for thought from the garden.
This month in my resting, I’m learning to be content where I am in my relationship with the Lord. The team and I took a bus to the beach last weekend. In the front windshield there was a big sticker that I had a hard time figuring out what it was. It was driving me crazy! Every once in a while I took a glance and would try and guess what it was. I’d study it for a few moments and then stare back out the window. About and hour and a half into the bus ride, I glanced up again and the image all of a sudden became so clear! It was a big sticker of Jesus’ face. I thought to myself, “why didn’t I recognize an image of Jesus’ face the first time?” Then I started to think of how many times Jesus shows up in my life daily, and wondering if my eyes are open to seeing Him. I think He gave me that realization to remind me to keep resting in Him, and lean not on my own understanding but to know God so well, that I start recognizing Him at the very first glance.
Here in Costa Rica, people use the phrase Pura Vida that basically means “good life.” The weather may not always be great, and I may not always feel as though I am in the best season in my relationship with the Lord but for now, I am living the Pura Vida life. I’m choosing daily to tend to the garden of my heart, surrendering to the Lord, and learning that it takes time to grow but all you need is faith the size of a mustard seed.
