I am sitting here watching a lizard crawl up the wall. I sat down in one chair, and then pulled another over to put my feet up. The lizard was behind the chair. I can remember years ago if I saw a small spider in my house, I would go get a neighbor to get it out for me. Now seeing lizards, tarantulas, scorpions and giant frogs is a common occurrence. Everything here in Costa Rica grows so big, there are no small spiders.


     When we returned from England/States in January, we had a snake in the house. Now this is not a common occurrence. We see them outside all the time, but not in the house. This one was in our utility room. I had walked in there to put something up, walked out, but for some reason turned around and looked back in the room. There was a snake, standing on its tail and looked like it was dancing. It was taller than me, and was dancing right where I had been. I couldn't breathe, I just stood there watching. The wooden door in the utility room to the outside was open; the door with bars was closed. The snake kind of flipped backwards and went out between the bars. I started breathing again. Not sure where that snake went?


     I love the lizards though. There are some poison ones here, but we don't have them in our yard. We have a wall going down the side of our driveway built of volcanic rock and the lizards run in and out of the holes all day. Many times they get in our house. One day I reached down to pick up what I thought was JohnLuke's toy lizard. It was about 3 feet long and its head sat up about a foot. As I reached down, it moved. I jumped backward and it ran out of the bedroom down the hallway and stopped in the kitchen. I got a giant bucket, put it over top of the lizard and escorted it out the door. And I use to not be able to deal with a small spider?

I am still watching this small lizard on the wall. It is not moving. I think I will see if it is alive. Wait just a minute. Yes, I poked its tail with my pen, it moved up the wall about an inch. Sometime they move very fast, sometime they move very slowly.


     It makes me think of the people here; they move slowly too sometime. Maybe it is the heat? It is really hot here now and as the children and I drove through the town this morning people were walking slowly in the roads, sitting on their porches and leaning on the side of the buildings talking. We had a difficult time driving through the streets because they just would not move.


     I think sometime people get stuck here; stuck in life. I guess we all do. Howard is ministering with this man here from the little church we helped to start over a year ago. It started out with about 8 people and when we left for England and the States there were about 50 coming to the church. We were seeing much life in the church.


     Shortly after getting back, we received a call from the wife of the leader. She was crying and asked if we could come see her. We did and very quickly she told us she was considering leaving her husband. Let's say the man had made some bad decisions. His wife wanted us to talk with him.


     This is a long story, took much time and prayer and had affected the church; many young believers were confused. Howard and I were confused. When we asked Father what was going on, we heard in our heart that this man did not understand his identity. We started meeting with him and this became clear to us. This man told us that what he did was just who he was, it was part of his culture and even his dad had done it.

We have been meeting, counseling and praying with this man and his wife. Through revelation he has seen that he was deceived and it has been amazing seeing someone set free. He just thought this was who he was and he could not change. We cannot change except through the power of the Holy Spirit, but through Him we can. God has shown this man that he is a new creation in Christ, that he is a child of God; loved, accepted and valued by his Heavenly Father. There is much he continues to walk through; there are consequences to our behavior. He has had to lay down ways he has been meeting his needs for love and worth, lifelong habits that are hard to break, but with the power of the Holy Spirit he can and he is doing it right now a little every day.


     It is a choice. Love is a choice. If there is no choice, there is no love. God created us in His image, He is love and love is choice. We are not robots that are controlled. M says sometime he wishes God would just make him do the right thing. I understand that, don't you?


     Thank you for praying for this man and his family. His wife has had to make some choices too. She is choosing to love, but she is scared to trust. She said to us just the other day……my husband is learning who he is for the first time in 40 years, I am learning, this is God and I trust Him.


     That lizard is still sitting on the wall. I love the slowness in this culture; they do know how to enjoy the moment. I believe many of us can learn from them, but let's not go to the extreme…..let's not get stuck in life. We need to always grow in God, learn from Him, spend time with Him and let Him keep us on the right path.

It is easy to get stuck in our culture, to believe we cannot change, to believe that is just the way life is, but I don't think 'stuck' is in God's vocabulary. Life is an adventure with Him, His character never changes, but I do not think we can get stuck in life with God. There is too much He has for us to learn, to see and to accomplish. Thank you Father.


     Ok I am going to help that lizard move on outside…….hey now that is change! Talk to you later…….Teresa

A Cup of Coffee with God

     One of my favorite things to do is sit with friends talk, listen, hear their hearts and share mine.  I got up this morning and had such a desire to have a cup of coffee with God.  I just wanted to be with Him.  The last few weeks have been very hectic; I have much on mind and can't seem to see anything clearly.  Howard, JohnLuke, Georgina and I are flying back to Costa Rica next week.  Suitcases, packing, being overweight, terroist attacks on airplanes, our future, house, education for my children, finances........I just want to lay it all down and have a cup of coffee with Father. 
    

     I get in a cozy chair with my Bible, journal and a nice cup of coffee.  I just sat there, asked God to help me lay all these things down and I listened.  I went to Psalms because I just wanted to praise God.....as the one true God, to acknowledge Him as King of Kings and Lords of Lords.  I went to Ps. 29.  The last verse (11) stood out to me.  I need God's strength and His peace.  
 

     There were several things that came out during the next couple of hours, some pertaining to the issues I am dealing with.  But this is what I saw....God wants to speak to us about the things we need to hear.  I often think I know what I need, but only God knows what our hearts and souls truly need. 
I read Luke 3:22 where the Father spoke to Jesus and said, "You are my Son, I love you and I am pleased with you."  Peter, our pastor in England reminded Howard and me just weeks ago that God is speaking these truths to us too.   
     

     Before Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount, before His extraordinary moments in ministry, God declares Jesus' identity, that He is loved, accepted and approved of.  These things were not contingent on performance and He declares this to us too. 
     

     God reminded me of this truth today:  I am His child, I am loved, He accepts and approves of me.  This is what I needed to hear, it is what I needed to remember.  
     

     As I got up to start with all I had to do, I felt great strength and peace.  I finished my coffee (boy it was good this morning) and asked God; help me be attentive to His presence within my heart and to always listen and obey Him.
     

     I miss having coffee/tea with many of you, but try having one today with Father.

Teresa