January 25: Confession, Countdown, Challenge

Anything that tends to make you anxious is a growth opportunity.  

Instead of running away from these challenges, embrace them, eager to gain all the blessings

 I have hidden in the difficulties.... 

Don't waste energy regretting the way things are 

or thinking about what might have been.  

Start at the present moment --accepting things exactly as they are -- and search for My way in the midst of those circumstances.

-- Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

True Confessions:

I have wasted energy regretting the way things are here.  I'm especially guilty of comparing this experience to our year of volunteering in Morelia, Mexico in 2003-2004 when I often felt like I was 'living in a bubble' because life just seemed so good.  One of the biggest blessings of that experience was the sense of community we felt with so many different people:  the girls and staff at the Victory Center where we volunteered, our neighborhood where we had daily significant interactions with three different families, a missionary couple who became quick friends and helped keep our sanity by taking turns with childcare so we could enjoy regular date nights out, and an incredibly loving and welcoming church body that invited us into their homes for coffee, meals, cell groups, birthday parties and celebrations like weddings, baby showers and quinceañeras.  All these different groups made us feel like we were family and made it easier to be away from our own family and friends.

One of the greatest challenges we've faced here is the lack of sense of community.  This was highlighted for me last month when we went to talk to our neighbor about leaving for Panama and seeing if she could keep a close eye on our house.  We were talking to her in the doorway.  As I walked away from that conversation I confess I didn't 'embrace the challenge, eager to gain blessings'.  I walked away from that conversation frustrated and quite frankly, ticked off.  Not at our neighbor, Francisca, for she was very willing to be extra vigilant in our absence, but at the realization that stepping into her doorway, was the first time in our nearly 6 months here that we were taking a step into a Tica (Costa Rican) home.  Other than our American missionary friend, Laura, and her kids, who have warmly invited us into their lives and home, we have not received a single invitation by a Costa Rican to do anything.  It's just a completely different experience than what we experienced in Morelia, so it's been hard to deal with that reality.

Counting Down:

Yep.  Rather sad to admit but our kids have started the countdown to our departure day from Costa Rica....5 months from today (they could tell you the day count).  Another aspect that is way more challenging for us here than in Morelia is doing this with kids who are 12, 10 and 7.  When we left home with a 3 and 1 year old like we did in 2003 they adapted super quickly and didn't ask too many questions as long as mommy and daddy were there and they had a daily routine they were used to.  Whoa!!  I guess we shouldn't be surprised but we have certainly felt drained and overwhelmed at times as we try to respond to our kids' emotions, frustrations, and complaints.  We want to let them be honest about what they're feeling, yet at the same time encourage them to see what we can learn and how we can grow through the challenges.

Living in the present and embracing the challenges:
Today I received an email from a dear friend who is experiencing many of our same challenges this year:  moving to another state, living in very small living quarters while they search for a permanent home, dealing with childrens' emotions of missing friends and the difficulty of going six months without feeling connection to a church body.
Her words so eloquently restate Sarah Young's wise thoughts above:

My prayer underneath all the others 

continues to be that the time here 

won't be merely a time of waiting 

but a time of truly living.  

Amen, sister!

Would you please pray that for us?  Would you please pray that our time here - especially for our kids - would not just be a time of waiting to get back to Zeeland, and Sanford St, and Zeeland Christian but that it would indeed be a time of truly living in His presence.  That we would search for God's way and direction in each moment, whether it feels like we're living in a bubble of goodness or confronting a challenging hurdle.

A personal challenge:

I know not everyone feels like their gift is hospitality but is there someone in your life that you could consider inviting 'past the doorway'?  Is there someone in your school, neighborhood, church, or job that you could give a warm welcome to?  I encourage you to reach out to that person who will probably be greatly blessed by experiencing a sense of community.