God Provides

by Lisa Buscher

During the week of June 28 – July 4, 2025, eleven individuals of various ages, backgrounds, and from different parts of the United States travelled together to Costa Rica to lead vacation bible school in two communities served by Beautiful Feet International pregnancy ministries.  In the months leading up to the trip, we planned stories, songs, arts, and crafts, praying that God would use us in a mighty way.  Our desire was that through us, someone might come to know Him as their Lord and Savior.

Despite all our preparations, as we arrived in Costa Rica, we had a lot of unknowns ahead of us.  How many children would we have at each location?  What would the age ranges of the children be?  How many mothers might stay with their children?  What would the weather be like?  Did we bring enough supplies?  Would we find suitable snacks and drinks for the children for each day?  Would language be a barrier for our non-Spanish speakers.

As part of our team devotion the first night of our trip, I shared Philippians 4:19:

 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

I had already seen God’s provision at work before we even left the United States. 

·       My hope as trip leader was to have one fluent Spanish speaker on the trip.  God went above and beyond, with over half of the team speaking/understanding Spanish, most of them fluently.

·       Every member of the team had some portion of the cost of the trip covered through a church or ministry sponsor. 

·       We received a request for several items that would assist the day-to-day operations of the pregnancy ministries throughout the country.  An Amazon wish-list was created in hopes that a portion of the need would be met.  Every item on the wish list was purchased.

·       The tickets for our flight allowed each person to bring two checked bags.  This gave us eleven checked bags we could use to bring supplies for VBS as well as baby clothes, diapers, ministry books, pregnancy tests, etc. for distribution to the ministry centers throughout the country.  Every suitcase was filled to capacity, and every supply we were provided was taken.

I saw God’s continued provision as we arrived in Costa Rica and made our way to our hostel in Jaco:

·       Costa Rican customs agents questioned why we had so many suitcases filled with baby clothes and diapers.  A letter explaining our ministry’s purpose eased their concerns, and they let us through with all the supplies.

·       As we were working to accommodate the requests of the customs agents, a member of the team sat her passport down.  She realized that she did not have her passport as we were loading our luggage into our van (provision number 1 – we had not yet left the airport.)  After explaining the issue to an airport employee (in Spanish – provision number 2) and a brief wait, a security agent (named…. Jesus) took her back through customs and located her passport right where she had left it. 

·       When arranging transportation for the week, I confirmed that there would be 11 individuals travelling to Costa Rica.  What I neglected to advise was that we were each bringing two large suitcases.  The van was much smaller than what we had used in the past, but God assured that everything fit, even if it had to be held in place by a few members of the team!

God had already provided SO much for us, but I knew there was no limit to how much more He could (and would) do for and through us during our week together.  As part of our first night’s devotion, I challenged the team to look for God’s provision throughout the week. It was no surprise to me that every time we turned around, we saw glimpses of God providing for the team and the communities we went to serve. 

·       A week before the trip we found out that the summer break that was supposed to start before our arrival would not begin until the week after our trip.  We were afraid this change would limit the number of kids who could attend VBS.  We did not know at the time that the community center where we were holding our morning sessions of VBS was right next to a school.  On all three days, we had teachers bringing their classes to attend a portion of our VBS activities.  We were told after we finished the last session of VBS at this location that had school not been in session, we likely would not have had many children, as they would not have had transportation to attend.  We were also told that they have never had teachers bring kids to any activity held at that community center.  What we thought was Satan trying to prevent us from sharing the gospel message was God providing us the opportunity to share more than we could have asked or imagined.

·       It rained every day, but always after we finished with VBS and on our way back to the hostel.

·       Our driver found a flat tire on the van as he was leaving to pick us up on the final day of VBS.  The day before, we had decided to leave earlier to stop for a group picture on our way to the morning VBS location.  The time we built in to stop was the exact same amount of time that was needed to change the tire.  We postponed the group picture until the following day – we arrived to VBS on time, and the weather was better for the picture the following day.

·       One of our younger team members was experiencing some anxiety and was really missing her cat, who helped ease her anxiety at home.  A member of the staff at our hostel overheard some of the team talking about this and realized that she lived within a short walking distance of one of our VBS locations.  She had her daughter bring their cat to the center so our team members could hold her, easing her anxiety and allowing her to continue ministering through the remainder of the trip.

·       The pastor and his wife who served the one of the pregnancy ministries and communities where we were holding VBS had limited transportation, as their vehicle needed repairs.  Without reliable transportation, their ability to provide ministry service was limited.  Through our team, God provided the exact amount needed to repair their vehicle and allow them to continue serving the mothers and children in the area.

These are just a few of the ways God supplied every need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus during our trip.  And because of this provision, we had 14 decisions made for the Lord and planted 100+ more seeds with both children and mothers in those communities.  Thank you to everyone who prayed for our team and this trip.  To God be the glory for it all!!!