Everyday Is A Mission

Author: Samantha Benko
October 28, 2019

Everyday Is A Mission

I know it sounds so cliché to say, but getting to come alongside Casa Transforma in Costa Rica with our Wholeness Journey team changed my life.

 While we were there we had the opportunity to lead daily workshops/mini retreats for the local women to share about having wholeness in Christ in mind, body, and spirit. I have a hard time fully putting into words everything that happened as we got to interact with the women and as we debriefed as a team last night so instead of trying to convey it all, I’m going to do my best to break down the top three things that the Lord taught and reminded me of that week.

First, I learned that we can ask the Lord to help us to truly see people the way that He does and we can bring the Kingdom into ordinary moments.

 There are two moments that stood out to me a ton that were totally separate from the times we were doing full on ministry. The first moment happened on our last day in Costa Rica which was also our “adventure” day, and a group of us went on an ATV excursion in the jungle. We were out for a few hours, and our guide, Roy, was a born and raised Costa Rican. We were chatting with him while hiking and getting to hear more of his story, and before we headed back to our ATVs Jess asked if we could pray over him right there in the jungle. The second moment happened with our interaction with our cleaning lady, Adriana, when we were in Jaco. She was there doing her job right before our group was about to do yoga when Christina pulled her out into main space to ask her if we could pray over her. Adriana went on to tell us more about her story, and tears were shed as she conveyed in Spanish how much this touched her that we would even ask. Even more so, she expressed how much it meant to her that the girls in our group took time to greet her and tried to communicate with her while she was there rather than looking at her as “just the maid.” Both of these moments happened outside of our time of focused ministry, and they reminded me that as believers we are called to bring light and Jesus with us everywhere.

Second, I was reminded again that our God is a very personal God. Meaning that He truly does see and know and care about the details.

 This was shown to me in a few different ways throughout the week. During our time with the women at Casa Transforma, we were able to spend time doing activities with them that gave them the chance to share more of their stories. Some of the women became very vulnerable opening up about the tough things going on in their lives, but all of them also had specific instances that showed God all in the details. There was also time every day where our team spent debriefing and preparing for the next day. These times were powerful, as we worked through various activities and shared what the Lord was bringing to the surface. Everything was so specific for each lady, and God often used one of the girls in our group to speak a specific word of encouragement or prophecy to another lady. On the surface, these things might seem random or insignificant to someone else, but not to the person receiving it. The Lord truly does care about the details and is intimately personal with each of us.

Lastly, I was really impacted by our team of women who didn’t know each other personally prior to this trip, but came together and truly became like sisters.

 It was a reminder to me the power and unity that we can share as believers. It was the coolest thing to go from essentially being strangers to doing ministry together and really sharing some of our deepest hurts and visions with each other. There was no shaming of each other. There was no competition. There was no belittling. It was all because of Jesus that we were able to come together, and spur each other on, but also bring God glory as we interacted with the women in Costa Rica.

Prior to going on the Wholeness Journey, I had an idea of what we would be doing, but I had no clue how much it would really transform my own life. It wasn’t just a short term mission trip experience where we went and God did amazing things, and came back home to resume life like nothing ever happened. I came back home with tangible ways to live on mission right here where God has planted me in Clovis, New Mexico in this season, and I know every other woman on our team can say the same. 

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