Freedom

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What I learned from Leila

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It was a cold, rainy night in San Jose the night we met Leila. I still remember where she was standing and how she liked her coffee.

Our team, along with another organization, had just started visiting the red light district and zones. We would bring coffee and cookies and hangout with people living and working on the streets of the capital city.

Over the weeks and months of visiting Leila, I practiced my Spanish and she would practice a few words of English. We settled into a rhythm of sorts in our conversation topics. Our team van would pull up, she would recognize it and walk over with her coffee order ready. I would climb out and we would chat about the weather, music, Costa Rican food, etc.

One December night I found myself alone in our drop in center that we operated at the time-setting up a Christmas tree. I was homesick, exhausted and wondering if the decision to live and work in Costa Rica was the right decision.

It had been a rough year and the ups and downs of running a non-profit organization combined with living far from home and familiarity were taking a toll on my heart. I figured throwing myself into decorating the Christmas tree would help because I LOVE Christmas!

I had just started decorating when I heard a light knock on the outside gate of the center. To my surprise, there stood Leila with a shy smile as I opened the door. She had never visited before. As soon as she entered, she grabbed me in the biggest hug. It was as if her pain and loneliness was reaching out to mine in comfort. We stood there in a fierce embrace, no words, no explanation needed. Somehow that hug transcended both language and culture.

Leila changed my whole world that night as she shared with me and I with her. Eventually other staff joined us and she opened up about her story and life on the streets. Leila gave me a picture of a world I didn’t know or fully understand. Her story is not mine to share but what I can tell you is that her life was beautifully hard.

Weeks turned into months and months turned into years of our tradition of the van pulling up, me climbing out and Leila running to hug me. We would teach each other worship songs, pray and sometimes just sit quietly sipping our coffee together.

I’ll never forget the night the phone call came that Leila had passed away. My heart-felt shattered into a million pieces. Leila and I didn’t always agree on things but at the end of the day she knew that I loved her and that I was for her.

Leila taught me that I didn’t need to visit people on the streets with coffee in order to solve their life problems or “rescue them.”
I just needed to show up and build a bridge of mutual trust and respect.

Sometimes love looks like just showing up, pouring a cup of coffee and sitting quietly without expectation.

Almost ten years later, I am fully convinced that I made the right decision to quit my job and leave my Kentucky life to live and work in Costa Rica. For me it was never about what I was building but about who I was meeting. 

Jesus was about the process of the journey. He knew that every person I would encounter would change and shape what we were doing in Costa Rica. He knew we would go on to work in other nations. He knew that women like Leila could impact our team which would in turn impact nations. All because we shared coffee on the streets.

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SENDING LOVE ACROSS THE GLOBE: THE ENERGY IN COMPASSION

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The room was filled with whispers and giggles. As I looked around me, the kids were all sprawled out on the floor of the church sanctuary. Some had concentrated looks, others were squealing in delight at the progress being made-yet others were waiting anxiously for me to come and see their poster boards they had just finished.

You see they had all just learned about other kids across the globekids just like them. Except there was a huge difference, the kids they had just learned about were living in refugee camps, or fleeing as refugees to other countries-leaving behind clothes, toys, friends, a life.

My friends-the kids in Tres Rios community do not have it very easy either. They are growing up in a neighborhood where poverty, drugs, and crime are the norm. But I wanted them to know that the atmosphere surrounding them does not have to define them. They can be world changers, right where they are- even in this neighborhood.

We explained as gently as possible the crisis in the Middle East to all of the kids. At the end, I asked them their thoughts on what they had just learned. One child raised their hand and said- “We need to pray for them.” Yes, oh yes how spot on.

I asked them if they knew of ways we might help make a difference amidst the crisis. Shouts of ideas began to bubble up out of them as they took turns talking over one another. “They need clothes, we can fill a big truck with clothes for them!” Others said, food, toys, water, medicines, etc.

I was grinning from ear to ear as I heard their ideas. I loved them all. However, one very sweet voice suggested the one thing we all know is needed most. It’s the one thing that makes all the difference. It’s the one thing that shatters darkness.The sweet voice called out ever so simply- “love.”

Doesn’t that just mark you? No long winded answer on love and how and why-just simply stated. It came from a place of pure innocence, a perfect resting place of hope.

So we got out the poster board and crayons and let their imaginations take them away.Tears sprang to my eyes as they were met with smiles, enthusiasm and creativity.

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I was so impacted. They weren’t sad, scared or consumed with a dooming sense of helplessness. There in the midst of glitter and glue, crayons and markers- change was happening.  A change coming from little minds working away and I saw what God sees- faith like a child.

To a child, faith is so easy- so simple. In one child’s mind, why not drive a truck full of clothes to Syria from Costa Rica?! To him, this child-distance, money and time have no factor. Their hope was contagious. They were not focussing on their own lack of clothes, some even suggested they could run home and grab (what little they had) of their own clothes to give away.

What would the world be like if children were consulted more on world affairs? The innocent responses while so simple, are often the most accurate. We forget that some of the greatest answers are found within a simple idea.

Oh I know there seems to be a lot of complexity in the world today. Between social media, world news and local news-anger and hate are loud. But not this day, this day the kids chose hope and love. At the end of the day-hope and love are louder.

The energy in the sanctuary was exciting as the kids of all different ages were full of ideas, of hope. And there, I felt it. I mean I really felt it-the energy in compassion. It’s transformational. We stop thinking about the sadness and the despair. We stop thinking about the lack and the worry. We simply start thinking like Jesus. Our hearts beat hard for Him-for His hope.

We are praying and loving our family in Iraq all the way from Tres Rios Cartago, Costa Rica. And we are excited to announce that in December, we will be sending our small gift of love over to our friends at Love Does to sponsor their work with kids in Iraq!!

 

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Post by Executive Director, Anna Carroll

Pornography and Roadtrips

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The highway has always been a symbol of fun, adventure, and new places. However, lately I’ve noticed the other side to the highway symbolizing one thing. Sex.

My husband and I just returned from our honeymoon, and we took a roadtrip to Tybee Island, Jekyll Island and he surprised me with a trip to Universal Studios for Harry Potter World. Yes, I know, I am a nerd. So, as you can imagine, we spent a lot of time driving on the highway and passing by billboards for, “ADULT WORLD EXIT 12”. After the first trip driving by these billboards, I didn’t think much of it. But, we drove by one billboard in particular with a woman’s silhouette on a pole which read;

“NAKED WOMEN! TRUCKER DISCOUNT! TRUCKERS WELCOME! TRUCKER PARKING!”

When I saw this my heart broke. Maybe it’s because I now work for LFI and therefore I am more sensitive to the sex industry. One thing I knew for certain was even if I personally destroyed that billboard, there would still be another one just like it a mile down the highway. I wanted to cry, my mind was racing with questions and solutions to making the highway less sexualized. The worst part was I couldn’t stop thinking about all the families driving down the highway, who are also going to Universal Studios and young boys seeing the billboards. As a young boy would this spark something unhealthy? I didn’t know. Or a truck driver who has a family, did this billboard just alter his marriage? I don’t want to know.

As I was sitting in the hotel room in Orlando, I was crying out to God because I felt so troubled over what was pressing on my heart and didn’t know how to fix it. I said, “Lord, what can I do?” and He said to me, “You can pray for them.”Pray for them? I was hoping the Lord would say, ‘Spray paint over the billboards and burn down what’s remaining whenever you run out of spray paint!’ or ‘Start an organization and riot!’, but instead He wanted me to pray. Perplexed, I opened my bible to, 1 Chronicles 5:20:

“They were helped in fighting them, and God delivered the Hagrites and all their allies into their hands, because they cried out to him during the battle. He answered their prayers, because they trusted in him.”

The battle is against the sex industry and I am praying for the individuals involved, whether they are working within the industry or visiting. Praying for the sex industry littering our highways all over the world seemed hopeless. How do we pray for something so huge and expect the Lord to get the victory? Can’t we just chop down each billboard? Nope. Then, the Lord reminded me of a Children’s Church lesson I put together last year. The lesson was on ‘The Armor Of God’ and so I turned my bible to, Ephesians 6:10 ‘The Armor of God’

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand….And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

The sex industry is not just a battle against flesh, but it is an entire ruler/authority/power itself and because of this we are supposed to put on the full armor of God. Then, after we do put on the armor we must pray for “all of the Lord’s people”, not just the families on the highway or the truckers, but for everyone involved. The more I have been praying for the industry as a whole, the better I feel and the more encouraged I am about the situation. Perhaps, God wanted me to be burdened by this in order to have one more person praying for everyone.

So, pray. Because, our God always gets the victory and no good will come from chopping down a billboard.  The Lord will answer our prayers just like he answered the Reubenites prayer in 1 Chronicles, we must trust in Him and continue praying.

Psalm 65:2 “You who answer prayer,
    to you all people will come.”

POSTED BY STEPHANIE CARLSON

Defined

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How Am I Defined? | LFI Blog

How am I defined?

I have been thinking about this a lot lately since there are so many things out there that try to tell us who we are. The circumstances we live and work in, our family and friends, and the expectations of our employers and employees. It is seen whether we spend our nights on the streets or days in corporate America. There are even expectations that we place on ourselves and who we think we should be or what we should achieve. No one is exempt from these definitions it is just how we respond to them that determines our lifestyle and outcome.

Christ is the one who defines me. He continually speaks truth about who I am and what I am capable of doing and being. He knows who I am from the inside out and from top to bottom. He has seen my good days and bad days. He loves me unconditionally and calls out the best in me. He desires my love and not my expectations. He knows where I have been but more importantly sees where I am going.

I know I don’t deserve anything and yet Jesus gives me life. I know I am not strong enough and yet Jesus gives me strength. I know I am not smart enough and yet Jesusgives me wisdom. He is my ultimate definer, refiner, and love. He has called out my beauty and strength while laying down His life on my behalf. He defines me and that is all I need to know.

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