“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
– Matthew 11:28-30
This is the scripture that embodies my trip on “The Wholeness Journey,” where we connected mind, body and spirit to Jesus.
This September, beginning Labor Day weekend, I spent a week in Costa Rica doing something called “The Wholeness Journey.” The Wholeness Journey is a Christian non-profit group that combines missions trips with retreats to connect mind, body and soul to Christ to create overall wholeness. On our trip, we spent the first 3 days doing missions work with an organization called Casa Transforma in San Jose. Their mission is to empower women to break the poverty cycle through trades like sewing, massage and manicures. We spent the second half of our trip in Jaco where our team debriefed and went through our own personal retreat.
To describe the Wholeness Journey, is truly to describe a journey one takes in their mind, body and spirit. For me, my Wholeness Journey trip to Costa Rica was a vision trip—a trip to learn more about what it’s like to do missions work, to see the world and a place I have always wanted to explore, and to dive deeper in my faith while doing something I absolutely love: Christian Yoga.
~ For part 1, I’d like to start with the MIND ~
“…Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest…”
I didn’t know what to expect when I said ‘yes’ to going on the trip. It actually all started with a connection from The World Race. I had asked my mentor if I could do Christian Yoga while on the race, and she recommended that I get in touch with Christina Barnes, one of the co-founders of The Wholeness Journey. Before I knew it, I was on a plane to Costa Rica.
My Wholeness Journey trip was really a way to get a quick snapshot into what it would be like to do The World Race. The missions work we did with the women at Casa Transforma included refreshing the women that go there by pouring into them through half day wellness and wholeness workshops. Many of the women that go to Casa Transforma are refugees from Nicaragua who have no access to health care, government assistance and other resources. Vanessa, the founder of Casa Transforma, described these women as living in ‘extreme poverty.’
Many of these women are single mothers with multiple children. Every day is a struggle for them. Most live in make-shift-shacks with dirt floors, where access to amenities like a laundry machine is simply a luxury. They want to be good mothers to their children, but they can hardly take care of themselves.
Women like that need refreshment more than anyone – but they especially need the unconditional love of Christ. We taught the women at Casa Transforma simple wellness habits that they can use in their everyday life such as the benefits of drinking water and caring for their bodies through Christian yoga. We helped them feel loved, beautiful and whole by leading them in workshop exercises such as writing the lies they’ve been telling themselves and tearing them up while proclaiming truths as they looked at themselves in a mirror. Exercises like that rewire the brain of a woman living in “extreme poverty” to begin to believe in hope through an “abundance mentality.”
Most importantly, we were able to share the gospel – the most refreshing message of all. For these women who are truly weary and burdened, we were able to give them a sense of God’s rest. We were able to share through personal storytelling how Jesus has transformed our lives. One of the women on our team told the women at Casa Transforma how she had struggled with her health and even anxiety and depression for years – and at times, she had been angry with God— but that God slowly began to heal her. It wasn’t perfect but He had revealed such beautiful truths to her in the process.
By being vulnerable in our own stories, we were able to connect with the women. By telling our stories of redemption, healing and even forgiveness, we were able to share the way God has showed his love to us, giving the women at the missions hope that God can do the same thing in their lives. After hearing the stories, one refugee woman told us that she was going to start going to church and even shared that one day she would like to go to college.
What I learned is that our own personal stories of hope and refreshment have eternal impact, and I couldn’t have been more inspired by the life transformations I witnessed. When we let go of what is in our mind and share with others how God has changed us, we can change the world.
With Love,
Hannah
…stay tuned for Part 2 & 3… 🙂
