Full thankful heart waiting for His coming...

"Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in ALL circumstances for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus"  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

It's been a full few weeks!!  I am so thankful for the opportunities to be in so many wonderful lives. 

I hope you are enjoying this Advent season.  Advent.... Waiting... in Latin it means "coming"  The Lord's had me in a place of waiting for over a year now and I am learning to trust him more and more.  This whole semester I felt as if the Lord was telling me to wait and see what He was going to do with YL.  We met as a team two weeks ago now and have big changes for YL next semester.  I eagerly await what He's going to do in kids' lives through our new Friday night "Bring A Plate YL"  dinner and discussions.  I have really enjoyed the anticipation of seeing what God's going to do.  He continues to bring me back to Isaiah 55: 8-13 where He promises growth and His purposes to prevail. 

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.

    “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

 

For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,

    so my ways are higher than your ways

    and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.“The rain and snow come down from the heavens

    and stay on the ground to water the earth.

They cause the grain to grow,

    producing seed for the farmer

    and bread for the hungry.

 

It is the same with my word.

    I send it out, and it always produces fruit.

It will accomplish all I want it to,

    and it will prosper everywhere I send it. 

You will live in joy and peace.

    The mountains and hills will burst into song,

    and the trees of the field will clap their hands!

Where there once were thorns, trees will grow. 

    Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up.

These events will bring great honor to the Lord’s name;

    they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.”

 I enjoyed coaching and cheering on my Cross Country team at our Central American meet in Guatemala. 

Here's a quick peek into the past month of my life... 

Returned to Thanksgiving at our Regional Director's house with over 50 Young Life staff and friends!!! It was quite the celebration of what the Lord's done this year!! 

Last YL Club of the semester celebrating Christmas together!!! 

So I am enjoying this Advent season waiting for the Lord- Emmanuel to come and dwell among us.  I pray that you can actively enjoy this waiting season as well.  Waiting for the hope and light of the world to break at dawn.  I give Ann Voskamp's words....

"In this day, this season, miracles will grow within, unfurl, bear fruit. And the heart that makes time and space for Him to come will be a glorious place.  A place of sheer, radiant defiance in the face of a world  careening mad and stressed. Because each day of Advent, we will actively wait. We will wait knowing that the remaking of everything has already begun."  (The Greatest Gift Ann Voskamp) 

Life to the FULL...

Started the year out telling students that Jesus came so we could "have life to the full" or "a rich and satisfying life"  little did I know how literal that was going to be this semester.  I have been so blessed to see God move in so many ways in so many lives the past month and this is the best way to capture a glimpse of it all.  

I've been blessed to see God bring new students and old ones back to YL club this semester so they can experience this "life to the full" and hear about Jesus's great love for them. 

 Another neat thing I was able to go to the Dominican Republic in October on our International Schools Staff retreat.  It was so rejuvenating and special to be back with all these people who really get what my job and daily life is like by being on International Schools staff.  I am so thankful for each of them and the special time we shared together.  

Then less than 24 hours after returning to Costa Rica I headed to Nicaragua with our interns to do their visa run up to Leon, Nicaragua.  We stayed at El Ayudante, the child protection and family enrichment center, where I have spent extended amounts of time before.  It was wonderful to see the kids and how well they are doing.  We also got to do a little Nica style adventuring that always makes life "Rich and satisfying."  And one of the best things is I got to see my best friend Megan who I've traveled to Nica with before while she was there for a board meeting visit.  To learn more about El Ayudante click here: http://eanicaragua.com/ 

Please pray for these kids that they would know the hope of Jesus and for this city that it would be freed and released from the chains of its past and the harsh governmental power.  

 After a 12 hour bus ride we got to hope off and head immediately to YL Karaoke night and see these lovely ladies enjoy themselves.  It was a wonderful night to see our kids really experience the freedom to be themselves and know they were accepted and loved.  

 Here's a snapshot and the joy of Dona y Dona the donut sister at YL Donut Club!! 

 Then we loaded the buses with 70 kids and leaders and headed to the mountains for Wyldlife Camp this past week.  It was a wonderful weekend packed full.  One of my favorite parts was seeing all the high school leaders, volunteer leaders, and staff come together to be an incredible team to love kids.  

 I lead the Work Crew with Kaylee, one of our interns, and it was a special group of 3 students that didn't know each other prior to the weekend, but ended up being such a wonderful team.  One of the things we got to do was help run Wyldlife club throughout the weekend and what a joy it was to see kids living life to the full and experiencing deep joy.  

Meet the Work Crew!! We had such sweet time with these students really diving into scripture and our lives discussing what it means to truly be a servant of Christ.  We spent some time in John 13 discussing Jesus's foot washing of the disciples and how humble and radical that type of love was.  It was so great to see these students really desire to live their lives for Christ and wrestle with how to do that back home outside of this perfect camp setting. 

What a joy this month has been living life with all these special people and experiencing His love and joy as my strength to do it all.  Here are a few of my Cross Country girls that I will be loading a plane with this Wednesday to head to Guatemala!! Manuela is model and was named Miss Tu, a local magazine.  Please pray for opportunities to share the love and joy of Christ with these students.  

Please pray for safety and a special time with these 13 runners and the Athletic Director as we compete against other Central American teams this week.  

Here's a fun video one of them made about life in Costa Rica! I think you'll enjoy it! 

The ugly beautiful....

The ugly beautiful.....

Why are we so scared of the unknown…? Of the ugly…?

This site was the favorite part of my walk around town... An old beautiful farm where I used to talk to the cows as I passed by... Now it's under construction to build government housing for an impoverished community that lost their homes a few years ago due to an earthquake. Everyone I've talked to about it is really upset... Scared of "these people" moving into our neighborhood.

"Why?" I ask....

Is it because they're different? Just because they're poor? Because they could bring crime to the area? Why do people respond this way to the unknown? …to something that’s different? Why do I respond this way?

Why did my youngest brother at 5 years old plug his ears and scream when he heard another language because he can't understand it...? Why are we so terrified of different? 

When living in the states, I worked in some underprivileged communities with the Latino immigrant community and received similar responses to people when I told them where I was working... Everyone was fearful for me to be in those areas and with "those people."

Why though...?

Why is it we fear the unknown? Fear "these people" like they're some other species from another planet or something...

Why do we fear what may look ugly or poor or scary on the outside without really taking a look?

Aren't we all just human living the lot we've been given... Why do we fear the different and look down on it as if it’s something ugly and unworthy?

Aren't we all just humans created in the image of our Creator? Then why is it that we can't see each other as equals or just as another reflection of our Creator?

I want to challenge you to take a deeper look.

….to pray for God’s eyes to see people for who they truly are. 

Why do people respond to this construction in anger and fear, instead of joy and excitement that our brothers and sisters are going to have new homes finally after three years....?

Why can't we take a deeper look at Lonsdale as a place where other humans are living and striving to live the best they can in the life they've been handed…?

Why can't we look at Upstate South Carolina and see the hundreds of families working hard to make enough money to send home to their families, so they aren't starving…?

These areas might look a little ugly from the outside or even the inside and there might even be higher crime rates... But does that mean that we're not called I love them...? Because isn't that all they're doing is crying out for love? For life? 

So I want to challenge you to take a deeper look and pray for God to give you his perspective on whatever your "government housing construction site" is, whatever it is that seems ugly, unworthy, scary, unknown to you, and see the beauty in it... 

“Because somewhere, underneath the grime of this broken world, everything has the radiant fingerprints of God on it. Seeing the world with Jesus’s eyes, we have the astonishing opportunity to daily love the unlovely into loveliness….” – Ann Voskamp (aholyexperience.com, author of One Thousand Gifts)

See that God’s making it lovely!