by Grace Torres-Firpi

It’s day 25 of a 30-day mission trip to Costa Rica and I still can’t believe I made it this far. I have 5 more days and I am back home, on the grind and outside of the missions bubble I’ve been in. My friends have asked me (in different iterations of the question), what I’ve learned. I’ll use this platform to tell all of you what I’ve learned. 

I believe one of the worst phrases a believer can say is “I am good.” That’s what I’ve learned during this season. I’ve said this more times than I can count and 90 percent of the time it has been a lie. The thing is that every time you say “I am good,” it’s like saying “I am good, God, the grace that has brought me thus far is enough. I can take it from here.” 

How dangerous of a place is that! We are not good, we were born into sin, so our nature is not good. 

Before I boarded a plane to Costa Rica as a “missionary” (that’s too big of a title for me) I went through a season where I was “good.” I wasn’t, though. I became comfortable with where God had brought me and felt like I could handle whatever came my way, because…well you know it — I was good. The truth is that I made decisions that led me to the most difficult season of my life, both emotionally and spiritually. If you were to ask me how I got to day 25 of my mission trip I have one answer, God’s grace. His grace has brought me to this point. He brought me out of an incredibly dark place, so dark I can’t put it into words. Yet, every single day I must remember that I deserve nothing, yet He gave me everything. C.S. Lewis puts it this way “Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.” Every morning I bring I have to bring my “good” to Him. 

Jeremiah spends the first twenty verses of chapter 3 in Lamentations telling us of everything he has suffered as a result of obeying God. But then in verses 22-24 he says:

‘It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, Because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: Great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; Therefore will I hope in him.’

You should never be “good.” You’re held by the mercy he poured out for today and sustained by the grace He chose to give you on Calvary. I pray that my soul always says that the Lord is my portion. May it say it when I feel lonely when I am broke, sad, and ashamed. But more so, may it say it when I am amongst the best company, succeeding, in abundance, and walking in the fullness of His call for me. That is my prayer for you and me. May we know that His mercies are new EVERY morning and that we need Him at all times. 

I’ll end with Jeremiah’s words: “Great is thy faithfulness.” 

Stay Loud, 

Grace