The calendar had just flipped to April when twelve women, initially strangers, found themselves united by a singular purpose and a shared stirring within their hearts: to carry tidings of hope to the marginalized and comfort to the sorrowful. The powerful words of Isaiah 61 became our collective compass: “He has sent me to tell the captives and prisoners that they have been set free…to announce that the time has come for the Lord to show his kindness! He has sent me to comfort those who are sad, those who mourn and to take away the ashes on their head, and give them a crown of beauty!”
Our journey began not on foreign soil, but within the quiet spaces of our own hearts. As a team, we embarked on a preparatory journey, seeking God’s specific vision for us, inviting healing into our own stories, and discerning which threads of our redemption could potentially unravel the chains binding others. With each mission trip, a familiar prayer rises within me as the plane ascends: “Surprise me, Lord!”
Through experience, I’ve learned to lean into His unwavering faithfulness, to anticipate the extraordinary. And once again, I found myself captivated by the unfolding series of connected events. Often, our prayers are accompanied by a mental storyboard, a desire for surprise tempered by our innate need to orchestrate. Yet, this time, my prayer was a simple, unreserved invitation for God to move beyond the confines of my imagination. We serve a God whose power eclipses our understanding. What I hadn’t anticipated was the intricate and deeply personal way He would choose to work.
Our time in Costa Rica unfolded through three distinct retreats, each a sacred encounter in vastly different contexts. The first embraced thirty young girls residing in the harsh reality of a human corridor, their young lives already burdened by unimaginable hardship. The second welcomed their mothers and other women from the same struggling barrio, many having fled their homelands seeking safety or an escape from the suffocating grip of poverty. Our final gathering took place in the vibrant yet vulnerable heart of San Jose’s red-light district. These women, likely stealing precious moments from their demanding lives, came seeking a momentary respite, a sip from a temporary well. Little did they know that day held the potential for an encounter with the only ONE who could truly satisfy their souls.
Across each retreat, God revealed His grace in unexpected new ways. I witnessed His transformative power firsthand, a humble participant in His ongoing work. Time and again, He exceeded my capacity for wonder, orchestrating moments that took my breath away. One such day, I experienced the incredible privilege of guiding a woman to Christ. She carried the weight of feeling undeserving, a barrier to accepting Jesus as Lord. Yet, in that moment, it felt like her own encounter at the well, met by the One whose grace alone has the power to save and set us free.
However, He was not done yet! One particular moment remains etched in my memory. One morning, a woman hesitantly began to share a deeply buried secret, a weight of shame that had held her captive for far too long. As her story unfolded, an unexpected echo resonated within me – a painful memory from my own past, one I had unknowingly suppressed. It surfaced with startling clarity just moments before I was to facilitate a session on forgiveness for our team.
But God’s intention was not to dredge up pain for the sake of suffering. In His infinite wisdom, He brought this forgotten memory to the surface so that I could experience MORE of the very freedom we were offering to others. He desired to dismantle the walls of self-condemnation, to release me from the subtle yet persistent grip of shame, from the need to hide or pretend I was anything other than a recipient of His grace. He longed for me to extend the same compassion I so readily offered others to myself, to fully embrace the boundless forgiveness He freely bestows.
The scriptures remind us, “Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their stories,” and promise the profound truth that “the truth will set us free.” That day in Costa Rica, amidst the raw vulnerability of shared experiences and the palpable presence of God’s love, I encountered His mercy, grace, and love in a way that resonated deeper than ever before. As I tentatively shared my own “secret,” I felt the tangible weight of His freedom wash over me. And in that shared vulnerability, I witnessed a double portion of that freedom descend upon the woman who had bravely opened her heart. It was a powerful reminder that not only can God redeem what the enemy intends for evil, but He alone possesses the transformative power to take our deepest wounds, our most profound regrets, and use them for His ultimate glory. The unexpected echo of freedom in Costa Rica became a testament to His boundless grace, a grace that knows no boundaries and leaves no heart untouched.
Prayer Requests:
- Please keep Kevin and I in prayer as we lead in Puerto Rico in May, in Chicago in June and as we lead and host the Ambassadors Trip in DC in the month of July. Please pray for us and the participants to be on one step with the Holy Spirit and for the Lord to be glorified in and through us!
- Please pray about what is calling YOU to do next!
- Is HE calling YOU to intercede in prayer?l
- Is HE calling YOU to GO?
- or is HE calling YOU to give?
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