Dear Friends,
It has been a little over a month since I arrived in Costa Rica. The time has flown by! My weeks have been packed with speakers, events, and activities. The school I am a part of, the Children at Risk School, has been challenging me in many areas of my life. The speakers have had great messages that are bringing me closer to God’s heart and the plan He has for me.
One of our speakers encouraged us to THINK LIKE GOD THINKS - ACT LIKE GOD ACTS. She spoke about the value of children and how close they are to God’s heart. Something I learned about as she shared was a charge that we have as Christians to “Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the week and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” -Psalm 82: 3,4. The reason I am in Costa Rica is to receive training so that I can be of better service to the children that have lost their voice because of injustice. I have been hearing of the importance of children and how much help they need to find their way back to God’s intended purpose.
Those I want to serve, are children (0-18 years) who because of their environment (family, political, natural), are denied basic human rights such as food, housing, security, education and identity causing them to be in critical danger of missing out on the future and hope God intended for them. I believe with all my heart that God wants to restore these children; He wants them to be able to go back to their childhood and dream again. I want to be a part of the process.
Jeremiah 30:3 says, “for behold, the days are coming,’ says the LORD ‘that I will bring back from captivity my people Israel and Judah,’ says the Lord. ‘ And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall posses it.” I believe God wants to free all of the children from any danger. I am excited to be used by God this next three months.
God has given each and every one of us different gifts; I believe that these gifts are given to us according to the purpose and calling that God has intended for us. You see, Jeremiah 29:11 says we have all been created with a purpose, a plan. This plan is to give us a future and hope. I whole-heartedly believe that this plan is not only for us as individuals, but that we are part of a much bigger plan that involves all mankind.
These gifts provided by God are the tools He has chosen for His purpose; to not use them will be a sin and a waste of our lives. Something I’ve realized is that we must be willing to use our gifts, and then we must be willing to use them correctly and appropriately according to God’s guidance.
These tools are meant to aid in the abolition of violence, abuse, and corruption. We can be ambassadors, teachers, rescuers, or shepherds. We all have a role to play in the process of achieving justice. Something that I found to also be a gift from God, that helps us towards achieving our goal of helping the less fortunate, are the different attributes you can develop as you grow in your relationship with God and you further the calling that He has given you. The attributes that help most as you work with injustices are: humility, we must remember that we are merely humans. We do not possess the answer to many questions the victims may have. And whenever we see deliverance, we must never take credit for it, because it most certainly did not happen because of us. We were simply tools used by God to fulfill His plan. Also, we must always remember to be respectful as we battle in different cultures, with different people and in different countries. We must ask God for wisdom as we encounter the difficult situations around the world, because we should always be operating underneath God’s guidance. Always seeking God’s will and not our own. We must never lose hope, hope that the battle we are fighting is a step closer to the victory our God has already delivered to us. We must never stop loving and never stop speaking words of love, words of encouragement, words of freedom and words of life. All of these teachings have helped me as I talk to the abused women on the street that sell their bodies so they can feed their families or play with the children that run to us whenever they see us coming. It has helped me be a better counselor and listener. And it has helped me represent God in a more genuine and true way.
I know without a doubt that God has called me to “ seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan and plead for the widow” -Isaiah 1:17. And I feel confident in my mission because my more than capable Father will carry me the whole way, and I follow Him with the reassurance of His calling as I boldly say “the Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” -Luke 4:18. As I do that with the children and their families here in Costa Rica I feel God’s blessing and prosperity.
Thank you for supporting me as I continue my walk with God.
God bless always!
Brenda Luna
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