It’s been a long time! Sorry! Life has been a whirlwind lately.
I was thinking today, “Why did God bring ME to Costa Rica?” And I realize that since my life belongs to Him, and my goal is to be more like Him, my sojourn here is so that He can do His work in me, in a way that could not be done in any other place. By His sovereign wisdom, the mix of conditions that I find myself in are here to refine me and to GLORIFY Him.
Maybe, if I had lived somewhere else, my human nature would have led me to do and to be a very different person. I pray that in my time here, I can lay aside more of my carnal, sinful nature and habits. He began a good work in me! (Good? Sometimes I hardly think so! But He says “good”!) Well, and He will be faithful to complete it. That is good.
I think of the things that God has been weaning me from in this 6 ½ years. Being away from family, with limited finances, living in a different language and culture, and submerged in fulltime, full day (& sometimes night!) ministry, has been good! It has not always been easy, but it has been good. I see God’s grace – blessing- in my life. I think this ministry has made more extroverted, more comfortable meeting new people, and more content. I am away from the pressures of the western world to conform myself, my family, or my children to an idea. I am an expat here, and it gives me a wide berth to be who I am.
I have been praying a LOT this year about contentment, and I feel that God is answering that prayer. I have a good life, with lots of time and opportunity to seek Him and to SEE Him (including in our students! There are signs of a good generation coming.) God knows what He is doing with my life, and that is enough to satisfy my heart.