Oh geez. I am so sorry that it’s taken me 3 weeks of living in Costa Rica to finally write a blog post about it! So much joy,
wrestling, dancing, getting sauced by the Spirit, and encouragement has happened since arriving here! So let’s get started!!
So a little bit about what ministry looks like for me and my team is this. First of all, the church that we are living and sleeping and eating and worshiping and studying and laughing and talking and learning is also the place we are doing our ministry work. Every night we go to sleep on a tile floor in a classroom type area of the church and wake up each day to do construction work on the building the Lord has so awesomely provided!
So far we’ve put in a concrete sidewalk, added on a overhang of the roof, replaced an old, rotted fence with a new, sturdier one, and freshly painted nearly the entire building. And although our “set ministry” is physical labor (which I love haha), my team and I have had several opportunities to meet and invite and pour into random people in the community around us!! Multiple people have come up to us on the streets, in town, and when we’re working on the church with questions about why we’re there and what we’re doing. This has given us the chance to invite them to church services and then build relationships even more with them through that.
In addition to working on the church, building relationships, and living the “Pura Vida” life (a.k.a eating way to much ice cream, hiking through the jungle while getting a bajillion ant bites, petting wild horses and crossing picturesque rivers on hanging bridges), the Lord has been pounding and reshaping my heart big time.
These last few weeks the Lord has been reteaching me a lot of things about myself and rewriting the way I live my life. He’s been teaching me what it is to be His daughter and for Him to be my Dad. What it is to hold His hand through this journey of self-discovery, highs and lows, ministry, community, and self-discipline. And most of all, what it is to be loved with an undeniable, unchanging, perfect love throughout all of this!!
No matter how many times I may stumble along the path, He’s still leading me, He still has my hand to help me up, and He still loves me just the same.
That’s crazy.
One of the places that basically every member of my team loves to spend their quiet time in is the sanctuary. The sanctuary of this church is massive, with a crazy high ceiling, lots of windows to let the Costa Rica sunshine in, and the comfiest chairs we get to sit in all day long. When I come to this place to have my quiet time with my Dad, there’s a specific chair I sit in every. single. time.
It’s the aisle chair in the very back row of the sanctuary—on the left. Until today, I didn’t know why I would be drawn to this chair every time I came to be filled by the Spirit. I even considered not sitting there once and immediately disregarded that idea because it just didn’t feel right if I wasn’t in THAT chair.
Today I was stretching in the very back of the sanctuary and saw a sign hanging on the back of THAT chair. Not a single other chair in the entire room had a sign on it except for THAT chair. It was a handicap sign with the word “Exclusivo” at the bottom. In that moment, the Lord just spoke over me that for awhile now I’ve been in a wheelchair healing while
He’s been fixing what is broken; and as I continue to return to THAT chair to seek intimacy with Him, I’m sitting in that exclusive wheelchair while He meets me where I’m at to heal me.
But that’s ok.
My brokenness is welcome here.
Eventually I will be able to step out of this wheelchair, this season of life, healed and made new by the Great Physician Himself. For now, He’s holding my hand, loving me, healing me, teaching me, fixing my brokenness.
The Father wants to hold your hand too. YOUR hand. How cool is that? Don’t leave Him hanging. Grab onto that hand with the fierceness of a child who never wants to let go. Because you shouldn’t ever want to let go either.
He loves you.
Even the broken parts too.
Love you guys!
-Brianna <3
Love this post!! So good to hear what the Lord is doing in your life on the WR. ??
I am very proud of you Bri.
God bless y’all there as you continue to learn more about him and bless those who are around you who did not know Christ yet . In Iisa name amiina
So glad to hear an update. Continued prayers for you, your team, and the lives that God will reach through you!
Praises & Prayers!
Sounds like you are enjoying the Lord’s love and guidance to lead you on this journey and keep you in His care. Love and miss you ??
Love how God is showing you that you are so loved even in your brokenness. This is such a great reminder of our fathers love for us. I love hearing about your ministry and how you and the team are growing. We can’t wait to see you all in a few weeks
Stephen and Teri Jernigan
Hello sweet niece! Blown away by your post…He absolutely revels in our brokenness because He gets to show up and do awesome things! Praying for your continued growth and for those sweet moments with Him. Love you!