"The greater part of our happiness depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances."
Martha Washington
I was sent this quote today and it so describes the heart attitude of my friend Carmen who lives in Costa Rica. We went to her humble home last night to celebrate her birthday with her family. Every time I am with her I sense the joy of the Lord in her life. She has nothing of value as far as earthly standards go and has lived most of her adult life taking care of her father, daughter and grandchildren. She has no income and the only money brought into the household is by her daughter, who lives in the same dwelling.
Every time I am with her she shines with the love of God. She loves to tell me how God has taken care of her. When ever she needs something she just prayers and waits for God to provide! She has amazing stories of how God has provided for her! They have been saving for a long time to put a floor into their home and now they have bought the materials and are waiting patiently for God to provide a person to help them install the tile. But instead of being anxious to have it done now, she waits on God for his timing.
Yesterday was Thanksgiving and we were in short sleeved shirts and sandles, how strange it felt until we entered into the home where the turkey was cooking. The smell of turkey brought us right back home for a minute. Our dinner was with new friends here in Costa Rica and it was fun to hear other missionary stories. One couple was just visiting friends. She was telling me that she had just moved to Louisiana to help work with the many homeless that still live there. They help in many ways but one of those is to bring a hot dog cart around every weekend to feed the workers and anyone who is hanging around. They have gotten to share the love of God with a lot of the now homeless people through their hot dog cart! We spent Thanksgiving evening with some friends on the other side of the city, God blessed us with a day filled with His blessings!
A great friend, Terri, came down the week before Thanksgiving and we had the opportunity to take her to a couple of places in the country. One of which was a Catholic Church in Cartago, which has a very interesting history and every year Catholics from all over Costa Rica come to the church to petition God for healing. When they get close to the church they fall to their knees and advance to the front of the church on their knees the whole way. It is quite an amazing process to watch such fervent faith in the midst of the trinket sales out front!
Every time I am with her she shines with the love of God. She loves to tell me how God has taken care of her. When ever she needs something she just prayers and waits for God to provide! She has amazing stories of how God has provided for her! They have been saving for a long time to put a floor into their home and now they have bought the materials and are waiting patiently for God to provide a person to help them install the tile. But instead of being anxious to have it done now, she waits on God for his timing.
Yesterday was Thanksgiving and we were in short sleeved shirts and sandles, how strange it felt until we entered into the home where the turkey was cooking. The smell of turkey brought us right back home for a minute. Our dinner was with new friends here in Costa Rica and it was fun to hear other missionary stories. One couple was just visiting friends. She was telling me that she had just moved to Louisiana to help work with the many homeless that still live there. They help in many ways but one of those is to bring a hot dog cart around every weekend to feed the workers and anyone who is hanging around. They have gotten to share the love of God with a lot of the now homeless people through their hot dog cart! We spent Thanksgiving evening with some friends on the other side of the city, God blessed us with a day filled with His blessings!
A great friend, Terri, came down the week before Thanksgiving and we had the opportunity to take her to a couple of places in the country. One of which was a Catholic Church in Cartago, which has a very interesting history and every year Catholics from all over Costa Rica come to the church to petition God for healing. When they get close to the church they fall to their knees and advance to the front of the church on their knees the whole way. It is quite an amazing process to watch such fervent faith in the midst of the trinket sales out front!
