Category Archives: life by the Spirit

In the shadow of His wings

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A few weeks ago the picture that kept coming to my mind is of the Altar, the Ark that David made a tent for. The Ark representing the very presence of the Lord. What comes to mind is a Psalm.

Psalm 17:6-9:

6 “I call on You, O God,for You will answer me.Incline Your ear to me; hear my words. 7 Show the wonders of Your loving devotion,You who save by Your right handthose who seek refuge from their foes. 8 Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings. 9 from the wicked who assail me, from my mortal enemies who surround me.

In thinking about this, I remember that David did not have a temple yet, although he wanted to build God a house, he did not get to build it. So he pitched a tent for the Ark.

2 Samuel 6:17

17So they brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it. Then David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.

A tent for the Ark of the covenant, the presence of God was in a tent and David would go frequently to only bring his worship but also often to ask for direction and thus ‘inquire’ of the Lord whenever he was facing hardships. He would seek His direction on what to do.

I am sure David did not only inquire of the Lord or worshipped Him there, but would also find refuge there. Especially as a leader, he probably needed a place to run to. How otherwise would he write and tell God to hide him in the shadow of His wings.

We need this refuge today. We don’t know what to do in the face of this crisis. Our leaders need our prayers for wise decision making, but more than anything we need wisdom and direction and refuge.

I love using my imagination and picturing the rays of sun shining through and perphaps the wings of the cherubim would cast a shadow on the ground and David could actually literally find ‘shelter’ in the shadow of those wings.

However you would like to picture those words, for me it is comforting to know that those wings are His very presence. He wants us to run to His presence. Especially in the time in which we live. I want to run there don’t you. Some of us need a physical place to run to, but do you know we can run to Him in our words, our expression, our ‘prayers’.

This is not the time to come up with opinions on how we think our leaders should do better in protecting us from this virus. This is the time to run to the presence of God, to ‘inquire’ of the Lord. To sit still, to listen, to hide in the shadow of His wings.

So many have brought up Psalm 91 and why not. It is a beautiful reminder of where we are allowed to run. A beautiful reminder of a promise. That is what we do when we find ourselves in times of trouble, in times of hardship. We remind ourselves of what was said, what was promised adn Psalm 91:4 brings it beautifully.

Psalm 91:4

4He will cover you with His feathers; under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and rampart.

How amazing is that. He will cover you with His feathers, under His wings you will find refuge. Here it talks about how God is a protector of His people. His faithfulness (which is who He is) will be a shield and rampart. A rampart is like a walled city surround the city to protect it. This is what the faithfulness of the Lord does for those who believe in Him, fear Him and follow His ways.

Friend, in the midst of this very grim looking situation we are facing in the world today. This virus that seems to go after us like an enemy. Let us be more like David. Let us inquire of the Lord, let us ask Him for His insight, let us hide in the shadow of His wings. Let us find refuge under His wings, refuge and protection in His faithfulness.

How?

Rehearse how God has been faithful to you. How has He shown you His faithfulness?

“But You O Lord, sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generation.” (Psalm 102:12)

“But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear Him, and His righteousness with their children’s children – with those who keep His covenant and remember to obey His precepts.” (Psalm 103:18)

“The Lord has established his throne in heaven and his kingdom rules over all. Praise the  Lord, you his angel, you might ones, who do his bidding, who obey his word. Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord, O my soul.” (Psalm 103:19-22)

Psalm 103 starts out with David expressing His praise to the Lord with his whole heart and soul. He is understood that we could never give enough praise and worship to the Lord.

“Praise the Lord, O my soul and forget not all his benefits.” (Psalm 103:2)

I don’t know about you, but these days I find myself longing to run to the Altar, the presence of the Lord, to find refuge. Not in fear, but in my need for Him, my need for His view on things, my need for greater understanding, greater peace. I believe that it can only be found in Him, Jesus in me the hope of glory. I am going to join with David in saying:

“Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being praise His Holy Name.”

The Cabin of Grace

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Being a mom is a full time job, quarantine or staying at home does not change any of that.

We are a family of 5. That makes me a mom of 3 and this mom loves every one of them. I am a woman who leads a ministry with her husband (full time) and is passionate about that, and whose wonderful husband truly is a very sacrificial person and loves serving others. I am a foreigner in the nation I live in, though they have accepted me as one of their own citizens for a few years now. I’ve learned to speak the language, have learned to love this culture, and have “almost” accepted all of the things I can’t change in all these years of living overseas.

I am a foreign national, a world citizen, a woman who was born and grew up in a European nation, served as a missionary in East Africa as a single woman, found love in North America, married the Costa Rican I found there and embraced his nation as my own. My travels have taken me through Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, South America and Australia all for the sake of the person, the Truth I love and want to share with the world – Jesus.

When I first became a mom I also lived in a foreign land, the beautiful nation of Nicaragua. Though my husband is from Costa Rica and knew the culture, I was still learning to adjust to my new life in Central America.

With a little baby on the way, we packed our bags and 6 plastic boxes and waited patiently for Tica Bus (Busline in CA) to take us to our new home. New adventures were around the corner, a new home, a new ministry to be part of, a new family to embrace. So many memories of those first years.

God was with me every step of the way in becoming a mom, provided for every single detail, despite the fact that I never had any of my kids in my homeland (The Netherlands). All three were born in Central America and I have never regretted it. God provided, He gave peace about the decision every time.

Now our oldest is almost 18. I still can’t believe it has been almost 18 years since we lived in Nicaragua and walked into that brand new little hospital in Diriamba. I must have been the only patient that night as I was well taken care of and our little one was the enjoyment of the nurses with her bright blue eyes and puffy thick blond hair.

 

2004 when she was almost 2

Being a mom than was easy, I wasn’t leading a ministry, I only had one little one to take care of, we lived in a small 2 bedroom house and thus easy to keep clean.

Now 18 years in, 3 kids later (ages 17, 15, 10) and leading a full time ministry, being a mom is very different.

Moms are always busy, and it is not because they always want to be, life just happens and there are things to get done.

During this mandatory “stay home” rule from the government I thought; Finally I will get some time to do certain things, but I have yet to find the time to do them.

The first few days I had to come off this mayor energetic sprint in which we had to make sure all things for the ministry were taken care of before I could ‘stay home.’ Once that was done and I finally had my first full day at home, I never sat still for more than 20 minutes.

Woke up, showered, drank coffee, got kids settled with school work, put in a load of laundry, swept the floor, took clothes out of the washer to put them in the dryer, gave my kids a snack, mopped the floor, sat down for a moment only to realize that it was now almost lunch time. So I did that, ate lunch, did the dishes, cleaned up, took the laundry out of the dryer, folded the laundry, cleaned up my desk in my room (which had been a months long project on my list), drank coffee, spend the rest of the afternoon squeezing about 300 lemons, put them in ziplock bags so we can freeze the juice and have vitamin C juice for weeks (maybe)!! Then it was time for dinner again so did that, washed up, and finally around 7:30-8:00pm sat down on my bed ready to ‘rest’.

If you are a mom, you can relate, right? Today is day 5 and I realized moms in quarantine are still moms, still do all that needs to get done, don’t really get to ‘slow down’ or just sit and do nothing as some might think quarantine is.

Life is different, for sure, having kids at home all day is different for me, they are very responsible with their school work, which helps as they are also a little ‘older’. I am so blessed, it gives me the time to get the ‘other’ stuff done, but now I just want to rest.

I write all this to say; it is time to rest! How about you, if you are a mom, are you finding your rest?

If you are like me with so many things going on all the time, how do you find this rest? What can we do to find our new normal but also find deep moments of resting our heart and soul in the Lord.

Friends, this is a new season, none of us were ready for this, none of us were expecting this, but here we are. Here I am and find myself having to re-think how I do things, among the many things I normally do.

Last year the Lord allowed me to build this little Cabin. I call it my Cabin of Grace. When I go there I am entering into this special place with God. It is where I meet with Him, where I talk to Him about the deeper things. Where I receive grace to go through the things I walk through.

The Cabin of Grace

This momma needs some time in her Cabin of Grace this week. There is a gift that rarely gets given and that is the gift of time. Especially as a mom, this is a precios gift that when it is given, you tend to fill it with what needs to get done.

This season we are in right now can be filled with working from home, and trust me I can fill it with many important and good things, but this week I am going to take this gift that so rarely comes, to enter into the rest I believe the Lord wants to give me, but I am quite sure He wants to give it not just to moms, but to all His people.

So when you get a moment this week, I invite you to receive this gift of time and rest…

Rest in the arms of your heavenly Father…

More later on this subject of rest as I enjoy my scheduled visit to the Cabin of Grace this week and the weeks to come….

 

An enemy to humanity

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Is it really a virus the one that is a posing an enemy to humanity? Seems that way doesn’t it?

Fear, troubled hearts, worry, uncertainty, anxiety and dread have all become part of so many lives where before perhaps there was none.

Today I was reminded of a group of people that faced these things for several years between 1940-1945. I walked over to my bookshelf and pulled out a very well known book. “The Diary of a Young Girl” – by Anne Frank. 

Remember her story? Remember history? If you don’t, it is time to take advantage of this ‘quarantine’ or ‘stay home’ time, in order to catch up on your reading.IMG_5232

Anne Frank, the Dutch girl whom, together with her family and several others, hid for 2 years in the secret annex behind her dad’s office on the “Prinsengracht” in the heart of Amsterdam.

As I opened the book, browsing and turning the pages, it was as if I was taken back in time. The personal stories of a 13 year old, penned down for the world to read. That wasn’t her plan, but it soon turned out that she herself realized that it could be published one day. Little did she know it would, but she would live to see it.

After reading a few pages I came across this part in which she describes what her people “the Jews” were no longer able to do: forbidden to use trams, ride cars, go to theaters, cinemas or any other form of entertainment, swimming pools, tennis courts or other athletic fields. They were only allowed on the street in the day, but after 8pm they had to be inside. Allowed to shop only between 3-5pm. Many things were now forbidden to them.

Today, all over the world, we are told a lot of “do nots” these days, due to an enemy out there that is coming after us.

Of course there is no way we can compare today with the suffering of the Jewish people during the World War, in which millions lost their lives at the hand of evil, expressed through human beings. That suffering was something we should never ever allow itself to repeat, yet are we paying attention to what is happening in our world today.

While there is a real threat to humanity with a virus that is causing physical casualties and bringing deep fear, worried hearts, anguish and uncertainty, it is also an enemy that is making us realize we have no control over it. Our fear doesn’t help us to control the spread, our worry doesn’t change the pattern of where it decides to go, our troubled hearts don’t cause this enemy to stay away. So what do we do?

How do we face this enemy to humanity? We stop doing things we normally do. We are told we can’t do this and we can’t do that. And we agree, right? We do what we are told, “wash your hands.” We do our best to protect those we love, praying it won’t ‘reach’ or ‘catch’ us. And yet we can not really see where it goes, we just know what it does and how it decides to travel.

Try to catch the wind, how do you do that? It goes where it wants, blows as hard as it wants, unannounced, unexpected.

Mankind has gone through so much, there has been so many enemies, some we rather not talk about or should we?

Today it is not an enemy, in the form of an army, seeking to kill one people group. Today we are faced with an enemy that seeks to take down humanity. Our lives as we know it. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, from this continent or the other. It just goes where it wants. It is disrupting life as we know it.

Don’t go here, don’t go there. Stay put, stay home, stay calm and change the way you clean yourself. If you washed your hands before, wash them again then wash them some more. Stay away from each other, keep a distance.

Not only lives, but the way we do live has changed within a matter of days. Jobs lost, social contact face to face lost (except for online), community lost, perhaps even relationships lost. How do overcome, how do we keep moving in this ‘new normal’? Or is there another enemy we need to be looking at as we try to stay ‘away’ from the one we hear about?

I ask, is it the virus that is the real enemy to humanity?

Hate, evil, anger, slander, gossip, murder, greed, idolatry, lust, power, pride, and probably a whole bunch of other ones, aren’t these a daily threat to mankind, to humanity?

Do we deal with these the same way we deal with this virus, do we look at how evil, anger and hate spreads? Do we try to stop it? Do we change the way we do life to stop evil? To stop murder, to stop greed, to stop pride? Do we?

I ask, is the virus the real enemy to humanity?

Agreed, the virus is a real threat, an enemy that needs to be stopped, before it stops us. But I would like us to remember that there are many deeply rooted issues in us, in mankind, in our lives that spread like wildfire, that cause death, that cause suffering, that cause affliction every day.

What if we worked on that as well? What if we changed our lives, instead of hating, we would love. Instead of greed we would be generous? Instead of pride we would practice humility? Instead of being right, we would ask for forgiveness?

Is that even possible? Yes it is.

There is an answer to those threats. His name is Jesus Christ. He lived his life in full view of man, humble, not self-seeking, full of love, giving up His life, so that we might have life.

We might not be able to stop a virus from affecting our broken lives, but we can stop having broken lives, by allowing Jesus to heal them.

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He heals. He restores. He forgives. He raises up. He redeems. He saves.

May we take time, during these days of obligated ‘rest’, to reflect on what really tries to attack who we are, what poses a threat to who we are, what is a true enemy to our humanity. May we find grace and favor to go through these days. May He bring us fresh revelation on who He is, so we know who we are.

We are created by our Creator, one of a kind, unique. Loved by our Creator and anything that goes against how He created us is an enemy to our humanity.

Jesus is the only way, the truth and the life. He is the Word, He is alive. His truth penetrates our lives, our souls, our spirits and the attitudes of our heart.

Let’s allow Him in….

save-image

 

 

My Peace I give to you

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We write to you, our friends and family who are just like all of us going through interesting times. Amazing how things can rapidly change and how, what you used to do, all of a sudden goes to the back burner and the concern for your family and those around you becomes top priority.

Here in YWAM San Jose and our immediate family we have experienced a great working together as a ministry and leaders to make all the necessary preparations to face the situation that our world is walking through.

Writing of protocols, walking our community through safety procedures and guidelines of the ministry of health took quite a bit of energy.

At this moment we have suspended all our activities, we stay in our houses or rooms and we have entered into a season of ‘seeking, praying, interceding, worshipping and resting.’

As we released our students to be with their families at this time we were able to close this season with them and God reminded me of these wonderful words of Jesus in John 14:27.

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As I read these words I was reminded of the disciples being somewhat distraught about the fact that Jesus was leaving. They weren’t really ready for that at all, but it was necessary. But like a normal greeting at that time they would wish each other ‘Shalom’, which is more  than just a ‘peace of mind’. True Shalom refers to an inner sense of completeness and wholeness, it has to do with the entire being, not just that you are at ‘ease’. A great article on the subject if you are interested in further study is here https://fullerstudio.fuller.edu/shalom-as-wholeness-embracing-the-broad-biblical-message/

As I shared with our ‘departing’ students, they weren’t expecting their journey to be cut short so abruptly, neither did we. This virus has caused so many ‘unexpected’ moments for so many around the world, but this is exactly what Jesus was leaving with His disciples. The peace that we need in times where things would be difficult, hard, challenging, unexpected. The kind of peace that would settle things in our inner being, a completeness, wholeness that the things that happen around us can not touch or take away.

Not just the work of Jesus on the cross, the inheritance He left us to purchased by his blood but He gives us Himself. He says “MY” peace I give to “YOU”. He gives us Himself. He himself is OUR peace. Not just what He did for us and the gift of salvation brings us peace, but He Himself, His presence within us, through His Holy Spirit, brings us this completeness and wholeness in the midst of chaos.

As a family we are at ‘peace’ about where we are, where we live and what we are doing. We know that God has called us to raise up a generation, right here in Costa Rica, to not just know God, but to walk intimately with this Jesus, who is Himself peace.

Though things around us are challenging, they take our energy, they call for us to trust in His grace, that He gives generously when needed the most, which is now. We are experiencing His grace.

Our kids are experiencing school through a virtual platform, we are experiencing a new way to be a community as we are all ‘separated’, but internet makes it possible to stay ‘connected’. We are calling our leaders and community into a time of deep prayer and seeking God for what is to come. Will you join us?

In the mean time we have progressed in another step with the building and sooner than later we will be able to host hundreds of people yet again to come together to seek His face, to worship ‘together’, but in the mean time we will worship him together while apart. Praise the Lord He is not contained to a building, He lives within us, His people, now that is powerful! A personal God, who has given us Himself, His peace.

In such uncertain times we know we have one certainty and that is that He is Lord, He is seated on the throne and He has not changed. He has not stopped knowing what to do, how to speak to us.

 

The world can not give the way He gives, it can not provide us with the happiness, the way He gives it, neither can the troubles of this world take it away. So receive the gift of peace that Jesus has and listen to his words: “Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Shalom to you and your loved ones

 

 

A life lived by the Spirit

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There are many things to do, to attend to, to organize, to take care of, but there is only one place that can provide ‘you’ with what you need, to be ‘you’, to be filled, to find your place…

That is in His presence, in Christ. To be found in Him, to be led by the Spirit. Today set your mind on allowing the Spirit to lead you, fill you, move you…

A life lived and led by the Spirit of God is a life that is alive. Walking in the flesh brings forth things that will die.

Living for God means allowing Him to choose the direction of your every day, your projects. If they are not led by him, they will not have the same outcome.

As Romans so beautifully shows us that the Spirit who lives in us brought about our adoption as sons and daughters. We will live, and not live in fear of anything.

Need an encouraging read today: romans 8 will help you further meditate on living life in the Spirit.

Be blessed…choose to live!