EL DIA Recap

EL DIA was truly amazing this past weekend. Thanks for your prayers.
I had been looking forward to this event all year.
I lasted for 19 hours.
We started around 8 p.m. on Friday night and I made it to 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon before I crashed.
19 hours of non-stop praise and worship.

I really needed this opportunity to just stop and worship God. And although my goal was to just praise Him and not ask for anything, God still gave me some pretty strong encouraging words during the event.

One cool thing was that He used other people to speak to both Paola and I and confirm that He has great plans for us as a couple. It was yet another confirmation for both of us that it is God’s will for us to be married. And it is His will that we serve Him as missionaries. It was great for us to get similar words of encouragement separately from different people. That was big for us.

Also, God gave me a very strong encouraging word personally. I felt Him speaking to me early on during the event, like during the first three songs.

I was just praising Him when I felt Him speak to me and say “Thank you Curt for this year in Bolivia. I really appreciate what you did. You left your life behind to come here and serve me and I want you to know that what you did this year did not go unnoticed. I saw.”

He said He knows that I stumbled and fell many times this year, which is so true. I had some serious low points here in Bolivia this year. But He also told me that He knows that I got up each time.

The issue is not whether we fall but how often we get back up. True failure would be to fall and not pick myself up. It is was a great word of encouragement that I received from God. And I’ll admit I broke down a little because I know that I can always do more. I know that I can always work harder.

But I felt God telling me that He appreciated what I did this year.
And it is just like God to do that. To tell me “thank you” and make me just want to give Him everything I got. It makes me want to serve Him so much more.

This event was a great bookend to my first year in Bolivia. Now I am preparing to come home, share what I have seen and experienced this year and then head back to Bolivia in January for year two.

Thanks Father for telling me “thanks.” It makes me happy to know that you are happy. I should be the one telling YOU “thanks.” You should not be the one telling me.

But “thanks” for telling me “thanks.”