Unexpected blessings

I am learning that sometimes I'm not good at change. Today is one of those days...
I had to leave the Abraham Project to start school at UCR (University of Costa Rica). I knew this was going to be part of my summer but I was not ready for how dear the Abraham project would become to me. The last few days with the ninos has been amazing. Honestly the whole time I've been at the project has been great but you know when you get past the "getting to know you"-ish stage? Well, with the kids, four weeks is definitely long enough to get attached to the point that I was already talking about how to adopt one at dinner last week with Mallory. My relationship with them was to the point of excited greetings and bear hugs whenever I saw them.

It's funny how God works. I honestly love it - though sometimes I'm just like "really?" I can't express how much He has taught me through these beautiful children. I look at them and think of the Scriptures that speak of our adoption as His children. What a display the Abraham Project is of that....though these kids are not "adopted" into a family yet....how they are cared for and loved here is truly a testimony of how God receives us.

I remember the first day five of the orphans arrived to AP. It was only maybe my first week here in Costa Rica. Witnessing that event was amazing. To my knowledge, majority if not all of the orphans cared for at the AP come from abusive and volatile backgrounds. To think of where these beautiful children, so very young, had come from and the way in which they were received opened my eyes so much wider to how God receives us.

Before they even arrived, everyone was making preparations and the excitement was building as we waited for them. New items had already been bought to replace their things, which were in such poor condition they were only suitable for the trash. The children were cleaned up, received haircuts and played like all children should be able to do - safely, surrounded by love.

Last night I was helping put children to bed. One of those babies was one of these five I just mentioned. He is absolutely adorable. As I laid him in his crib, the house parent told me I could pray over him if I wanted. They always pray with the kids before they go to sleep. As the house parent walked out of the room to round up the rest of the kids, I stood their in the moonlit room and just gazed at this child. I cupped my hand on the side of his face and he just rested in it. As I prayed over him my heart swelled with love.

I'm so thankful for places like the Abraham Project that display the love of God, the Father's love, so potently in the simple everyday way of life.

I can honestly say my life has been changed in an incredible way because of my time at the Abraham Project...and this is just a glimpse.

I was just coming to Costa Rica to get credits for my Spanish minor at ORU...my life has been deeply changed and I still have a month and a half to go.

I love how He directs my steps.

Safe in My Father's Arms

It’s amazing the lengths God will go to draw a person to Himself. It is amazing the lengths He will go to heal and restore.

On my way here, I kept thinking “I am going to Costa Rica for 2 ½ months. What am I getting myself into?” I was excited and in disbelief it was actually happening. This is my second time in this country and I remember the first time I came the work that God did in my heart. A trip I cannot forget because it was in that time that God began to break the barriers I had put up in my life to keep the world out. A prisoner of my own brokenness. Yet He saw something in me and wouldn’t let me stay in that place.

Now I’m back. I’m back on my own, without a missionary team or organization. I simply came back to serve at an orphanage and study Spanish. I have only been here three weeks and already I am a different person than when I came.

Being in a home without internet connection has a way of making you less distracted with plenty of quiet time. Plenty of time for reflection and conversation with the Lord...

I have a beautiful Tico family I adore and spend time with until we exhaust all forms of communication. There is an upstairs porch outside my room. It's covered so when it rains I can still sit out here and overlook the beauty of the landscape. The mountains are in my backyard and I can see the clouds come down when it rains. It really is beautiful. It’s a rainy morning today and I have a cup of Costa Rican coffee that my tica momma brews for me. (She already knows me so well.) These are simple little things...but these little things draw me to my Father’s heart. When I think about how big of a God He is and how much He delights in wooing us...it really is amazing.

A little coffee and a quiet porch. It's where I have been meeting with Him since I arrived in this beautiful country. It's where I get to steal away by myself and just talk to Him. I know He is with me all day long - but I love the moments when its just Him and me.

I encourage you, put away the distractions.

Sit with Him.

Read His Word.

You don’t even know how much He longs to be with you. You are the subject of His adoration – one that He deeply delights in.

The distractions are keeping you from hearing it.

Draw close Beloved.

He’s waiting for you.