I’m excited to finally update you on where we are and all that God has been doing over the past few weeks. I am currently in Panama, which any of you following my journey may wonder about because Panama is not one of the countries on our scheduled route. Let me back up for a moment to a few weeks ago, just before we left Nepal.
As mentioned in my last post, we had team changes at our debrief in Kathmandu. After receiving our new teams (which I will introduce you to in my next post), we were given time to discuss and pray into Costa Rica which would be our next country. We all shared ideas for things that we wanted to do, things we felt we were called to do, and just desires of our heart going into a country that is well known for amazing tourist activities and plenty of adventure and sightseeing. One of my teammates, Taryn, who also happens to be our new team leader this time around, shared a “crazy” dream she had which was to see all of Central America. That would mean adding four extra countries to our next three months of travel. While it did sound somewhat crazy, every single team member almost immediately fell in love with the idea. We continued to pray over it during the next few days before leaving Nepal to head back to the Western Hemisphere. After a long day of travel to get there (about 40ish hours to be precise!), we regrouped to discuss what our month of September would look like. We stayed in San Jose, Costa Rica for the first few nights, but knew that God was telling us to take a leap of faith and head toward Panama to see what He had and how He would provide.
One afternoon, Taryn and I headed to the bus station to check on tickets to take us south, where we “randomly” met Julie. She told us she was traveling that day to Puerto Viejo, which was the town we were trying to get to. We talked with her for a few minutes about where she was from (Germany) and what she was doing in Costa Rica. As we said goodbye, we joked with her that maybe we’d see her again in Puerto Viejo, because we’ve noticed that God has a way of “randomly” putting the same people in our path. The next day we took a bus to get to Puerto Viejo, without any idea where we would stay that night. We met a very friendly man who was also heading there, Nick, who had friends that own a hostel where he planned to stay. He called ahead and set it up for us to stay there also. While we were not completely certain about following a stranger to a place that we didn’t know, we decided to trust that there was a purpose in our paths crossing and that he was there to help us. After arriving at the hostel, wouldn’t you know it…it just happened to be the same hostel Julie was staying at! Not only was it confirmation to us that it was exactly where we were supposed to be, it was also really cool to see Julie’s excitement as she laughed and said “You told me I’d see you again!” There was no doubt in our minds that our friend Nick was used by God to help us get to where He wanted us to go so that we could continue to build a friendship with Julie. After more conversations with her over the next few days, we learned that she was heading to Panama…which is exactly where we were trying to go! Another confirmation that we were on the right path and that God had placed her in our lives for a special reason. We’ve had the privilege of traveling with Julie for just about one week now.
One of the coolest things we’ve seen happen in our time with Julie was her request that we pray for her friends living in Florida during the impending hurricane. We sat in a circle holding hands and prayed together with this sweet lady who has confessed that she does not believe in prayer. We’ve since had a few more opportunities to invite her into our prayers, and because we still have two more days with Julie, we hope to have more opportunities to pray with her and converse about our faith in Jesus and why we believe He is pursuing her heart through our time spent together. I was reminded of a quote from Pastor Bill Johnson that says “Every other religion has you reaching for god. The gospel is about God reaching for you.” Isn’t it so beautiful and true that our God loves us enough to reach for us, which just might include sending two random girls to become friends with you at a bus stop in Costa Rica.
One more miracle I want to share with you, because our God is a God of miracles! When we originally discussed going to Panama, we all agreed that Panama City would be a great place to visit…especially since its home to the Panama Canal. After some research, however, we quickly realized that it was well outside of our budget to make it all the way down to see the Canal. BUT…that didn’t stop us from hoping and praying that God might perform a miracle to get us there. Taryn reached out to missionaries who her family supports who happen to live near Panama City. They promptly offered to host us in their home and show us the different ministries they are involved with. Through the generosity of some faithful supporters, we are also being provided the money we would not have had otherwise to pay for the transport to get all the way to the city. So the trip that we dreamt about before we ever reached Costa Rica, one that was nearly impossible to accomplish without God’s miraculous provision, is about to happen at the beginning of next week. Our transportation to Panama City will be paid for, and we will be housed and fed for free with a generous missionary family, which is so much more than what we ever expected. We give God the glory, as we read in Ephesians 3:20-21…”Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or imagine, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
All of this can only happen because we decided to dream big and trust that if it was something God was calling us to, He would provide the means. What giant dreams has He placed in your heart?? I’d challenge and encourage you to trust that HE will make a way. You just have to take the first step of faith toward your destination, even if you don’t know how you’ll get there or where you will stay. Maybe He will send you a “random” stranger to help out along the journey, or maybe He will prompt someone to generously support you financially. I do know this and I can promise you…if it’s something He’s calling you to, He WILL provide. He truly is an amazing father!
