Where have I been? What have I been up to? Nicaragua. What a place filled with people abounding in such love. Wow did the Lord do so much with such a short time here! This past month I have been falling more and more in love with this place and these awesome people I now get to call my friends. At the start of my time here, I read the beginning of Ecclesiastes 3, talking about how God created a time and season for everything. Going into this time I asked God what He wanted this season to look like. He told me it would be a time of dancing and embracing. Rejoicing in His love and joy. Boy was He right! I got to see His very present and intentional love in the people I became close to through sports on Sundays, pick up games of soccer in the afternoons, the servant hearts of the beautiful ladies who cooked in the kitchen, the translators, and the families who came to the farm. I got to meet and interact with people who are so loving and welcoming to me in so many ways, vulnerable with their testimonies and their selfless love. A love that reminds me so much of Jesus. These friendships that grew out of intentionality and rooted by the Lord are now something I hold onto. My favorite part of my days at Reap were the afternoons after our scheduled ministry, where I got to choose into the friends here, playing pick up games of futbol, asking them to come again tomorrow and soon more and more coming to join in! I absolutely loved connecting with others through our love of soccer and our Father (and my somewhat Spanish speaking) and then that leading to greater community, friendships that feel like family! I learned a lot about loving out of overflow. Overflow of the love given to us, as children of the King. In this time the Lord unveiled my desires, my passions, and my heart through the ministry and the relationships I have formed. He showed me a gifting He gave me of intentionality and being relational, that thoughtfulness and relationships are things I hold close to my heart. After leaving this place I got to look back and realize that the Lord has also given me a spiritual authority and boldness through prayer walking. Letting go of all fear and intimidations and choosing in to encouraging others and praying over them. Stepping out in faith of His power that moves through me and learning that I am just a vessel, the words being said are not of me but are of my God. I remember one day my team and I were out prayer walking and we stopped by this one house in the middle of nowhere. There was an older woman, she was a grandmother and mother who lived with her daughters it seemed. She could not see and could barely hear anything. My first thought was we need to pray healing over her vision and hearing. As I finished up my prayer, the Lord said “keep your hand on her, my love is working through the touch of your hand.” She did not need a physical healing but healing of her heart, through my hand on her she could feel the love of God, He was moving in her heart. This moment really got to me, I could feel the Lords passionate love for this woman and oh how badly I wanted her to know of it. This was a moment of realizing His love that had no ending, will not ever leave us, and will never let go. It is uncontrolled and uncontainable. God emphasized love in this place and these people in many ways.
Leaving behind those relationships and the ministry there was hard but even in my leaving He revealed to me that He is constant. His love is never changing. He will always be my home. Home is a safe place, not physically but a place my heart feels content and filled. Thank you for keeping up with my journey and all of the encouragement the last eight months, it has been super refreshing and uplifting!
