When we arrived here in Costa Rica we were advised to hire house help. This wasn’t an easy decision to make but after much prayer, we felt the Lord was telling us to go ahead. We ended up hiring Isabel, a mother of 5 with two still at home, to come to our house 2 days a week. We expected that having someone to help with housework would be beneficial but what we did not know was what an incredible blessing Isabel would be in our lives. We couldn’t have realized how much we really needed Isabel – not just for help keeping this house livable (it is a bigger job here than we ever imagined) but we also needed Isabel for her spiritual wisdom, patient help as we learn Spanish, and advice in everything from how to store our food to where to pay our bills! There have been many occasions when Isabel has quietly and lovingly encouraged us with the simple Truth of the Bible and God’s faithfulness. Other times she says things just as my own mother would – loving, helpful advice that we so often need!
Isabel is a great woman of faith. She loves the Lord and this is obvious in all she does. She works harder than anyone I have ever met. She provides for herself and her children by working for two families (ourselves and another family) that are studying Spanish. But that is not all. She is also currently leading two discipleship/Bible study groups through her church, working through her church to start new churches and working to unite the Body of Christ, taking weekend mission trips with her son, Andres, helping her daughter, Deborah, study for high school exams, attending prayer meetings and conferences and preparing to become a missionary herself!
God has called Isabel to Monterrey, Mexico. There she will work with impoverished families, teaching them about Jesus and discipling them in the Word. She is studying and “practicing” both evangelism and discipleship, applying for visas, and raising her support in order to go to Mexico as God has called her. Her task is not easy but Isabel has a smile on her face and a faith in God – after all, He has provided in miraculous ways before, He will do it again. I wish I had the space to share some of the awesome testimonies of God’s work in Isabel’s life – her stories of God’s faithfulness and miracles in her life could fill books. We have seen what God has done in her life in just the past four months that we have known her! And even when things have looked very badly for her she was still saying “Dios tiene control” (God has control). And she is right, God has complete control!
I want to ask you to pray for Isabel. She is working hard and certainly needs God’s strength and grace as she continues to work toward the goal that He has called her to. Her current plan is to head to Mexico in the next 4-6 months with her daughter Deborah. This all depends, of course, on the necessary funds being raised* as well as the visa process going smoothly. Pray for Isabel’s daughter Deborah, 15, who will leave friends to join her mom in Mexico. Isabel's son, Andres, will stay home to continue his studies as a seminary student. Her three older, married children will also remain behind in Costa Rica with their own families. This family will go through a big transition and will need an extra measure of God’s grace to go through the upcoming changes. And we’ll need your prayers as well as we will be saying “good-bye” to a new friend and will be without her help for our last few months here!
*If you think you’d like to help Isabel financially or would like to know more about her, her family, her ministry or her specific prayer needs, please contact us at holy_man77@msn.com (this is not our MAF email account but is set up for this type of use) and we will get you the necessary information.
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