The first update is on God's direction to the place He wants me to serve in Costa Rica, but before I share that, I want to share the verse that refers to the title of this post, and this is how it's been this year, and specifically this month! The Lord gave me this promise on January 4th when I was in California in the Missions Conference, through my beloved Sally Smith:
"I will bring the blind by a way they did not know;
I will lead them in paths they have not known.
I will make darkness light before them,
And crooked places straight.
These things I will do for them,
And not forsake them" ( Isaiah 42.16)
At that point, I thought it was a beautiful promise and I just took it as a word from the Lord that He would lead me this year!. So technically I can say this is like my "Year Verse" or something like that!. However, it's been a journey of 5 months into this year, of truly not knowing or seeing what is going to happen exactly the next week or the next month. Beginning of May, the Lord brought me to this verse again, and then I got it !!! I am BLIND ! Truly BLIND to His almighty purposes, His timing, His greater plans. This is exactly how I have been feeling, throughout this year, BLIND! I can not see what exactly is before me. I know it's in Costa Rica, and I know that is serving Him, but I don't know exactly, when, how, where! When God brought me to this verse, He showed me that yes Im blind, and we are all blind to the Spiritual Realm but we are not deaf. Precisely because we can not see, He call us to hear Him so that we can hear His instructions and walk accordingly, trusting Him in every step, for He promises to bring, lead, make light, and not forsake us. Jesus wants us to tuned our listening skills to His voice very well, because that's how He leads us, and that only happens in the College of the Feet, at the Feet of Jesus, everyday! So even though Im blind and feel blind to so much, everyday I hear His voice telling me where to go, what to do!!!! It's an amazing blessing because as I hear, I continue to grow my trust in Him only until I obey every step He tells me to take!
I prayed and prayed asking Him to show me where He wants me to serve Him, and short after I was reminded of this promise. And someone I trust and respect told me: "You already know in your heart where God wants you to go, just obey, stop asking for more signs". She was truly right but still I wanted to ask for confirmation. I challenged myself to just obey in faith, and so I did. When I made my decision to obey and moved forward in faith, then God continued to confirm His will in this direction with 3 confirmations ! So even though I still don't see and am still blind, He showed me through His Word, through a tug in my heart and through others, and it was all aligned!. As you may have read in my latest newsletter, God is leading to go to San Isidro del General. It's small town, 3 hours south of the Capital and it's the third place that we visited with Maggie in February. The people there are truly in my heart, specially some wonderful girls I met there and I have started to pray for each of them specifically. There is a Bible College site there and a bible study, and I have been in contact with the leader of these efforts to start to pray for what God may have for me serving there ! I am so so blessed and excited to know where He wants me to go and to start to prepare for this move! Please continue to pray that God prepares and breaks my heart for what is to come, that God allows me to join the team and serve them and with them as He wants me to and that He provides the funds and means necessary for all this! His timing is perfect, I am blind and I just have to listen carefully !!!! He is in control of this adventure of faith !!!! Thanks in advance for your prayers, encouragement and support !
Here are some pictures of San Isidro del General and the ministry there
The second update is more of a personal note! And the verse that comes to my mind is: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." (James 1.17). It was literally a gift from the hands of God that I got a plane ticket to go see my mom in Florida, for Mother's day (well, 5 days before). God truly knows the desires of our hearts and He is a good Father and Giver. The Lord allowed me to spend 9 beautiful and fruitful days with my mom in Florida, what I had not even thought in my wildest dream. His love continues to surprise me and touch me! I believe God knew that this special mom-daughter time was really needed for me, before going into the field, and He orchestrated this gift for both of us. We had so much fun, and also deep time in prayer and in the Word. Love my Mom and I'm so so grateful for her in my life! Te amo Mamita ! a few pictures:
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| De tal Palo tal Astilla !!!! heheheheh |
The third update is pretty short. As another gift, and due to the convenience of being in the East Coast this time of the year, I was able to attend the one-day East Coast Missions Conference that took place in Calvary Chapel Philadelphia. It was such a refreshing time to hear missionaries share their hearts and what God is doing around the world. God truly encouraged me through the teaching of Don Mclure about Gideon. He reminded me of the fact that it's not about the many resources I have for the battle, but about His way and His glory to be shown, and this generally happens with less and with lacks. The closing teaching was awesome too! It was David Guzik encouraging us to pray for missionaries and for our own ministries! So powerful ! Key lessons: intercede for other missionaries and battle with them in prayer, and devote time of your prayer life for this specifically, and second, pray the Word of God, pray Paul's prayers which are right on the spot!. In short God challenged my prayer life and encouraged me to pray more and better! Funny that the very next day after the Conference, I got a book as a present, and the title was "A Praying Life", so that was another confirmation!. The message for me was: Pray Paula Pray !!!!!God surprised me in the Conference allowing me to see my beloved friends the Aikoo's with whom I studied the Missions Training Program in Hungary. I love them so much and got to see them ! They are from Maryland and are praying and getting ready to go as missionaries to Ghana, Africa! Please pray for them too, for God to lead them in His time!. Here are a couple of pictures with my friends: Akiko, Shaunice and Ashely.....
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| With Shaunice and Gus Aikoo |
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| With Shaunice and Ashley ! |
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| With Akiko, my friend !!!! |
Well it's the end of May, and God has been so faithful and Im sure He is preparing and opening the way before me. May I yield to Him, and passionately prepare to step out in faith and obedience!
Thanks for all your prayers, encouragement, support and love!!!! I truly feel His hands holding me and I know it's the many prayers from you. Thanks for reading my blog and staying in touch, You are a blessing to my life!
Let's continue to pray for God's timing and provision for my departure! That He will make it clear when it is that Im to leave for Costa Rica! I have started to pack, get some ministry materials and prepare in faith!!!! I will post something a soon as I have a date for the trip, in the meantime let's PRAY, PRAY AND PRAY!
