Three adventures... Take a weekend off!

This past weekend I went to the Jaco beach which is 2 - 3 hours away from my home in Zapote, and I spent the weekend with a Tica family who have become great friends of mine. Although this meant that I did not attend any of the church activities for the weekend, I had an incredible time and I believe it was definitely of God.

Thus I give you three short stories that I had this weekend not including the great refreshment that I have returned with.

1. At the bus stop where I waited to catch my bus to the beach, I met two girls from Israel who spoke very little Spanish, but a bit more of English. They were excited to see a more white than usual face and quickly approached me asking if I spoke English. I was so inspired by knowing them, and I believe that it was an inspiration for us both. One of the two girls was a devout Jew and the other was not religious. They were here for two months and go home in one or two more weeks. What a joy and pleasure to be able to share with them!

2. Sunday, when we were returning home in my friend´s car, we stopped at another beach on the way back, because Katherine wanted me to be able to see more of Costa Rica´s beaches. It was gorgeous! The waves were spiraling and crashing, and I thought of the beauty and majesty of God and how powerful He is... I thought of how He must have created water with such passion and as a demonstration of his powerful side. Something to be respected and feared, and yet something so beautiful and appealing, that you love it and are refreshed by it.
Anyway... It was on this beach, that my friend´s cousin and I began to look for seashells called ¨conchas¨in Spanish. We only stayed for about 45 minutes here before we continued on our journey back to San Jose, but God gave me a special reminder of how much he loved me as we were searching carefully for the ¨conchas.¨ Just as we were finishing to look for shells and returning, I found one last shell in two halfs. it was little, but it was so precious. It was purple!
The color of royalty... and so rare! it signified to me how valuable I am in God´s eyes and I was filled with love and joy :)

3. The third most profound and stretching part of my time with Katherine and her family was our time we spent walking the beach together in the morning on Sunday before any of the family was up. Katherine and I had decided the night before that we were going to arise at 6 am and go and walk along the beachside to have fewer distractions (i.e.... her cousins...) who although are precious, keep us busy making sure they don´t go out into the waves and get swept away to sea. Katherine and I began to talk about some aspects of culture which are very different for us both, and we began to learn and grow and sharpen each other with our differences. I felt humbled by our conversation, as I also felt enriched. We view things differently on some counts, not only for our religious values, but also by our cultural values. It was incredibly beautiful to hear God speak through another individual and stretch our brains to hear what the other was saying and understand why one thinks they way they do.
Praise God for friendship like that! My prayers grow more intimate and more full of emotion after a conversation like the one we had.

.... I was reminded by our conversation to stick to the Bible at all times and let cultural values and religious values that are extra Biblical remain as personal preference.
It is not always good to say all you think or all you know, but rather to be a great listener and reiterate the truth of the Word of God. As man, we have ideas and perceptions that may be false and are usually greatly influenced by our culture and our upbringing, but the Word of God will stand forever.

When God dreams...

Praise God for His faithfulness. He likes to give dreams, but often we don´t understand the way those dreams are coming to us, and every day he fine tunes us.

I have found that it is in humility that I must remain, for in humility God is able to bring me all kinds of understanding that I would have passed right over had it been in pride.

For this, I recognize that I am nothing without him, and He has given me some incredible dreams that I am so excited to be living. We need to be full of the Holy Spirit at all times, my friends, so that we can be ready to share the good news in every situation and with all wisdom.

Before we can share the good news with someone, we must know that they will see how this news affects them and how it is so good. The best news that ever existed. For if we do not present it as so, many see this news as a painful news, and as a news that is not that good. To share the good news, we must have the Holy Spirit´s wisdom, because the Holy Spirit is aware of the inner workings of our hearts. He knows our love languages and our fears.
The Holy Spirit is God... and He knows everything you know...

It is a beautiful thing to be able to express to someone how great life can be with Jesus Christ, but many times we believers shy away from our calling, as found in Matthew 28:19, to go into all the world and share the gospel.


My question is why.

I believe that many times it is because we are not in tune with the Spirit. For if we had His wisdom every day, and if we were walking with his touch in our hearts, we would speak when the soil is fertile, and we would have the confidence of His words within us.

I want my eyes and ears to be open to the inner workings of the hearts, so that I will know when to give an answer for the hope within me.

¨Always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is within you.¨

There is a song from hillsong that I remember. the second verse goes like this...

¨The Holy Spirit fills me up and I need him every day,
For fire, faith and confidence and knowing what to say,
I gave my heart and all I am to the one who needs me most
I´ve got love grace peace and power and joy in the Holy Ghost
...

I had a dream last night of one of my friends praying for me. For that I thank you. It means so much. God is awesome, and every day He surprises me with new opportunities. If you are the person who prayed for me yesterday...July 20th, ... or this morning perhaps... thank you so much for being used by the Holy Spirit. I felt his presence and his love.
...

God bless all of you deeply and richly. May you walk by him, and may be you be surrounded by His presence in your life. Thank you so much again... for all of your prayers.

Another day, I will re'count to you another story... until then.

Dream with God and the angels...