Gift of God

God has extended His immense grace upon our brother, Jonathan – a man struggling with addiction whom we met earlier this year at his mother’s restaurant. He is getting intimately close to our Lord and recognizing His gentle hand in all of this. As he is sharing his beautiful insights with us, we are renewed as well. There is nothing more encouraging to others than fresh fire from the Holy Spirit, and I can tell you he has it!

Each day, the men are required to have an hour of personal prayer. Many have Bibles. Not all are Catholic or even Christian, but they are aware, before they decide to stay, that Casa Emanuel relies on the Holy Spirit to fully recover.

Not only do they have prayer each day, but they also have different groups come in to speak: Alcoholics Anonymous, Drug Addicts Anonymous, and a volunteer psychologist who teaches techniques to stay clean and how the brain works.

The men are required to pray before meals. They have praise and worship in the mornings and evening prayer at night. Umeke, the director of Casa Emanuel, also speaks to all the guys as much as she can to help guide them (a spiritual director, if you will). She tells us she invites the Holy Spirit as much as she can, and we certainly see the fruits of this in Jonathan!

Before we returned to Costa Rica, Umeke told us that Jonathan wanted to surrender his past to Jesus, so he asked to make an appointment to talk with a priest and receive the sacrament of Confession. When we returned from the States, he asked to go to Mass with us again.

Usually, when we first see him, we a have Scripture that speaks to us about healing, but these days he is beating us to it! When we went to Mass, he got in the car and shared some Scripture that spoke to him in prayer. Another time, when we went to go get glasses for him (thanks to a beautiful benefactor), he shared more Scripture and told us how he has shared the love of Christ with his brothers in the rehab center. He recently showed us his latest plan to share the Gospel with the world!

Each person in Casa Emanuel must pay for rent and personal items. To pay for this, there are different jobs the men can do. They can make concrete fence posts for farms (and there are many around us), make cajetas (a sweet coconut bar), or if there is a trade the men have, Umeke will help to get what they need to make their goods.

The men stand in the busy street outside the center with their goods, and people will buy these things. Jonathan has put stickies with Scripture on his cajetas, because he says, “Maybe people need this encouragement today.” 

Every Sunday visiting hours are from 12-5. We go each Sunday with some food, a puzzle, a game, or something we think he or the other guys may need. Each week we see more growth in his healing. We leave encouraged, uplifted, and amazed as we witness how God is moving here. How amazing it is to be part of this beautiful experience! God is SO limitless! As He is healing one person, He is teaching and refueling another, and everyone is being guided closer to Jesus’ most loving and merciful heart.

We have heard the name Jonathan means “gift of God.” He has certainly been a gift to us, and hopefully this is encouraging for you as well. PLEASE keep praying for our brother and all the guys at Casa Emanuel (no matter how long they are there). May God bless, guide, and heal ALL our brothers and sisters who currently struggle with addiction.

“His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Thus, he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust and may become participants of the divine nature. For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love. For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ,” (2 Peter 1:3-8).