Transformed by worship !

What do you do when you will be teaching, giving a speech, preaching or leading a workshop, yet you do not know the direction the Lord wants you go? That is where we were just the other week. Talk about being stressed out! As we spent the week leading up to the workshop, that we were going to teach at First Baptist Church of Limón, Costa Rica, prayerfully preparing our materials, yet we struggled with how to structure the event. It felt like the inspiration from God that we were wanting just wasn’t coming when we wanted it to come. Alas, a couple days before the event, the inspiration from God came! Praise God! The way in which God laid upon our heart as to how to structure the workshop was very different than how we’d structured previous workshops. Again, increasing the stress level. However, we proceeded as we knew God was leading. God’s peace was in our hearts concerning it all, so we headed out to Limón early afternoon on Friday, ready to spend the weekend teaching, preaching, fellowshipping and exploring another Costa Rican city full of history. Our son, Sam, who is in 6th grade this year, is learning a lot of Costa Rican history and wherever we travel within Costa Rica he has an interesting historical tidbit of information to share with us. He told us about how the Costa Rican trans-Atlantic railroad was built starting in Limón.

A little history on FBC Limón: It was founded in 1888 by Jamaican Immigrants, to this day all services and activities are held in English as a way to preserve and remember their heritage. It was the first Evangelical church planted in CR. They sent missionary church planters to share the Gospel and plant churches throughout CR. Their current pastor is a woman, this was a radical step for the culture of the area and the church. She grew up in the church and has been the pastors for a number of years.

Worship is a time for God to transform our heart, one should be transformed by worship. Within our workshop this is what we wanted all of the attendees to learn. That was our teaching goal. And we joyfully share with you that that is exactly what was learned by the attendees. At the end of the workshop, the coordinator of the workshop from the church had all of the attendees stand up and share with us a reflection, something they learned, or how God had used these teachings. Granted the attendees didn’t have too much time to reflect & fully allow everything to sink in before sharing. Many of them shared from their heart and it was a touching and special moment for us. One of the attendees shared that not only did the workshop help her to better understand the reason why we worship God but that it also gave her some tools to be able to look back on her past life experiences and have a clearer understanding of how God has been transforming her heart and strengthening her faith. When she shared this with us, we could see and sense the relief she had received from God. As if God had given her a sense of freedom in her new found understanding of how God has been working in and through her. Another attendee shared that her understanding of what worship is had been totally transformed, that she now understands what worship is and why we worship God. Another reflection from an attendee was the following: Our God is amazing in how He has made each and every one of us unique. And due to that, we all can and do worship differently and we learn from God differently just as God has different ways of teaching different people the same thing.

We praise God for the fruit that has already been produced out of a day of teaching. We praise God that He has the power to transform our heart and mind to be more like Him. We praise God for this group of eager learners, their pastor, their desire to seek God with pure hearts in worship, to help the needy, their hospitality and their love for God’s people.

As always we thank you for journeying with us. We and thank you for giving towards the building of God’s Kingdom! You are a blessing to our family and to the pastors and futures pastors in Costa Rica.

Love in Christ,

Sarah & Peter McCurdy

Global Servants with International Ministries to Costa Rica

To follow our missionary journey more closely, ‘like’ and ‘follow’ us on Facebook: UNOMissions.