Just keep walking...

(Me disculpo por adelantado porque el escribir en castellano no es mi fuerte….pero ahi voy…)

Marcos 5…

²¹ Jesús regresó en una barca a la otra orilla, y como una gran multitud se reunió alrededor de él, decidió quedarse en la orilla del lago. ²² Entonces vino Jairo, que era uno de los jefes de la sinagoga, y cuando lo vio, se arrojó a sus pies ²³ y le rogó con mucha insistencia: «¡Ven que mi hija está agonizando! Pon tus manos sobre ella, para que sane y siga con vida.»

 ²⁴ Jesús se fue con él, y una gran multitud lo seguía y lo apretujaba. ²⁵ Allí estaba una mujer que desde hacía doce años padecía de hemorragias ²⁶ y había sufrido mucho a manos de muchos médicos, pero que lejos de mejorar había gastado todo lo que tenía, sin ningún resultado. ²⁷ Cuando oyó hablar de Jesús, se le acercó por detrás, entre la gente, y le tocó el manto. ²⁸ Y es que decía: «Si alcanzo a tocar aunque sea su manto, me sanaré.» ²⁹Y tan pronto como tocó el manto de Jesús, su hemorragia se detuvo, por lo que sintió en su cuerpo que había quedado sana de esa enfermedad. ³⁰ Jesús se dio cuenta enseguida de que de él había salido poder. Pero se volvió a la multitud y preguntó: «¿Quién ha tocado mis vestidos?» ³¹ Sus discípulos le dijeron: «Estás viendo que la multitud te apretuja, y preguntas: “¿Quién me ha tocado?”» ³² Pero Jesús seguía mirando a su alrededor, para ver quién había hecho eso. ³³ Entonces la mujer, que sabía lo que en ella había ocurrido, con temor y temblor se acercó y, arrodillándose delante de él, le dijo toda la verdad. ³⁴ Jesús le dijo: «Hija, por tu fe has sido sanada. Ve en paz, y queda sana de tu enfermedad.»

 ³⁵ Todavía estaba él hablando cuando de la casa del jefe de la sinagoga vinieron a decirle: «Ya no molestes al Maestro. Tu hija ha muerto.» ³⁶ Pero Jesús, que oyó lo que decían, le dijo al jefe de la sinagoga: «No temas. Sólo debes creer.» ³⁷ Y con la excepción de Pedro, Jacobo y Juan, el hermano de Jacobo, no permitió que nadie más lo acompañara. ³⁸ Cuando llegó a la casa del jefe de la sinagoga, vio mucho alboroto, y gente que lloraba y lamentaba. ³⁹ Al entrar, les dijo: «¿A qué viene tanto llanto y alboroto? La niña no está muerta, sino dormida.» ⁴⁰ La gente se burlaba de él, pero él ordenó que todos salieran. Tomó luego al padre y a la madre de la niña, y a los que estaban con él, y entró adonde estaba la niña. ⁴¹ Jesús la tomó de la mano, y le dijo: «¡Talita cumi!», es decir, «A ti, niña, te digo: ¡levántate!» ⁴² Enseguida la niña, que tenía doce años, se levantó y comenzó a caminar. Y la gente se quedó llena de asombro. ⁴³ Pero Jesús les insistió mucho que no dijeran a nadie lo que había ocurrido, y les mandó que dieran de comer a la niña”

Yo no se tu pero el solo leer esto ya me deja sintiendome chiquitita…todos los dias tenemos que usar nuestra fe para algo, aveces chico aveces muy grande….pero no se cuantos de nosotros vivimos en situaciones como estas personas, al borde la de la muerte de un ser querido o en una enfermedad incurable que nos acosa por lo que parece un tiempo interminable. Pero sin embargo, cuando estamos en nuestro mundo y nuestros problemas se asoman parecen aveces hasta mas grandes que estos. Yo no se tu pero hoy yo me siento asi…mas que cansada, en un estado como que Dios si tu no haces algo hoy…de veras que no puedo mas. Casi casi como la mujer del flujo de sangre, su desesperacion era tan grande que ella empujo e hizo lo imposible para siquiera tocar a Jesus. Pero aveces nos sentimos tan abrumado que parece que ni podemos hablar con Jesus, y mucho menos tocarle, pero la Fe de esta mujer me deja sin palabras… Ella ni conocia bien a Jesus, nunca le habia hablado, al parecer nunca se habia sentado a escuchar sus sermones, pero la fama de Jesus y su poder habian capturado su atencion y ella sabia que tenia que ser El quien la sanara. Y lo hizo, solo con un toque, ni la miro, ni le hablo, solo fue un segundo en la presencia de Jesus y un toque de su ropa para poder darle a esta mujer la sanidad que ella necesitaba. Quiza se pueda decir, bueno yo no puedo tocar a Jesus, facil si yo lo tocara tambien mi vida cambiaria radicalmente, o mi problema, o mi situacion, pero porque no? porque no podemos tocarlo? Porque no podemos estar tan cerca de el que parece que estamos en el mismo cuarto? Yo creo que si es posible, y aveces no tienes ni que decir nada. Yo se que aveces te sientes que ni puedes hablar, pero aun ahi Jesus escucha lo que tu corazon esta diciendo a gritos, aun cuando no puedes ni levantar la cabeza el puede ver dentro de tus ojos y saber lo que necesitas. Es en este momento donde tenemos que aprender que el correr de Jesus no soluciona nada, si no que el correr a El, aunquesea para tirarte a sus pies es donde todo encuentra solucion, porque un momento a sus pies puede dar vida a cualquiera.

Y si miras mas adelante, la historia que estaba sucediendo paralelamente a la de la mujer era tambien bien pesada. No se si tienes hijos o no pero el solo pensar que mi hija pudiera estar en su lecho de muerte me da dolor de estomago y me pone mal. Yo no se que es lo que estas esperando de Dios, yo si se lo que yo estoy esperando y aveces parece que Dios llega casi casi tarde, o ya muy tarde pero como vemos en esta historia…Dios nunca llega tarde, aunque a nosotros nos paresca que si. Este hombre habia hecho lo que podia para traer a Jesus antes de que su hija muriera porque ahi si ya hiba a ser muy tarde. Pero al llegar a su casa se da con la triste sorpresa de que Jesus se demoro mucho y su situacion al parecer ya no tenia reparo. Pero que bueno que Dios no ve las cosas como nosotros las vemos…me encanta lo que Jesus le dice en ese momento a Jairo ,“NO TEMAS, SOLO DEBES CREER” yo no se como reacciono Jairo pero yo ya hubiera estado en pleno llanto…pero Jesus no solo le dice no tengas miedo, si no que le dice creeme, yo se lo que estoy haciendo. Amenos que tengas nervios de acero, el tener esa actitud en medio de problema o momentos dificiles no es algo natural a los humanos…es algo que solo Dios puede dar. Pero lo que ese hombre vio le cambiaria para siempre la vida, y aunque todos pensaron que Jesus estaba loco y llego tarde…El les demostro que El nunca llegar tarde y solo tenemos que confiar….

No digo que es facil…porque de verdad que no lo es, pero aunque no tengas ni las fuerzas para hablarle o si quiera llorar, sientate a sus pies, escucha su voz que te dice…No temas, solo debes creer.

What good at all is it to succeed if we do so at things that don’t matter at all?
Or as Francis Chan puts it ” Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that really don’t matter.”
Doesn’t that just hit you like a ton of bricks? What does that mean? What doesn’t really matter? What if all you’ve worked towards in life doesn’t really matter? Well you could say of course it matters, but if we look at life as God sees it and the time on this Earth is nothing but a teeny tiny dot on a long long rope that goes on for eternity then maybe just maybe it wouldn’t look so important after all. We spend most of our lives worried about money, recognition, fame, success, life on this earth being so darn pleasurable that we honestly forget what it is all about…forgive me if I don’t tickle your fancy but I’m on a bit of a mission here and I want to get it right. I truly,honestly don’t think God sent His one and Only son to earth to die so we could live a perpetual party life down here, attempting to find whatever pleases us the most and expecting to live in His house forever more when really we could not have made Him a smaller priority down here. Yes I said it, I think He had a much more life altering motive behind his Son’s sacrifice. I don’t think his aim was towards fancy lives and easy days, nor rock star statutes and busy lives. I believe He made it so that we could learn to love every second of life by his side, so that when we actually got there to His house ….we wouldn’t be eternally bored and disappointed. I mean why would you want to spend your forever with someone you barely know and find somewhat boring? Because isn’t that what we are saying with our distant and self-sufficient attitudes? We may say that He is our all, and we love Him so, but our hearts desire and treasure could not be further from it.
Don’t be fooled just because you think you are working for Him doesn’t mean you know Him. I can go to work everyday and go about my business without even knowing my employer. You may think you are doing things for Him. Ut really a lot of times we seem to make even that all about us… Its not about you or me or the church or the charities or the help ….its all absolutely all about Him and through Him and for Him…if not nothing makes any sense at all! Or does it? Because if it does then you should be more worried than you are. If you take God out of your daily equation and it still works and flows smoothly then yes by all means panic… Because you are headed in the wrong direction.

It’s Christmas time again! yup its here and it came quite fast if you ask me….I can’t even believe we are heading into another year!

This time of the year is nice, everyone seems to feel cheerful, generous,caring, you know the holiday spirit overcomes everyone… but it also got me thinking…why is it that we wait for this time of year to become these lovely people?

And even more so, if you we do perform some sort of good deed why is it that we feel the need to tell everyone about it? Is it not enough that God saw it?

Seems like we have become oh so confused with what this so called Holiday is about…giving things to the poor is great, and sharing with other is also great…but what is this time all about? Is it not to celebrate the most humble person of them all? The One that left his glory and throne to come save us all? The One that did not think himself too good to come live amongst us and make a way for a new life?

And if that’s the reason…why is it that we have strayed so far from this?….and why do we only do it once a year? Shouldn’t every day be memorable enough to be reminded of what an amazing gift we have been given?

Yes, maybe this year there are not as many gifts under the tree….but I think we got our biggest gift from the one who hang on the tree for us a long time ago. It’s not about the gifts, or the food (as good as it may be), or the people (as much as we love them), its not about us….its about HIM. And if we go by this holiday season without really remembering that then…whats the point at all?

Shouldn’t we try to imitate him more?…He was born on a manger, but He could have been born on a King’s palace, He lived among us, when he could have forgotten us,He could have been pretentious and wealthy but He didn’t even have a place to rest his head….He loved us and forgave us when He could have left us to die….

Nothing else really matters if we don’t remember Him…not just this season but everyday.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas…and may you really live the reason for the season this year.

This past week was to say the least quite unbelieveable… as we are nearing the end of my pregnancy, so many thoughts and fears are starting to surface. I find myself doing math in my head that I didnt even know I could… planning, calculating and trying to figure out how its all going to work out. I would be a liar if I said that I have not seen God’s constant hand of care and provision over our lives…but I will confess that it takes but a brief thought to make me lose my balance on the tight rope that sometimes it feels we walk on. And so, I realize how totally human, and needy I truly am.

 I know that many people think we are rather crazy to have chosen the life we have. Its hard to understand why we would live not really “knowing” where the next bill paying check is coming from, or why we wouldnt just take up “normal” jobs instead of what we do. And of course many have had no reservation in telling us that they would never or could never do it. Well, to be honest I never thought I’d be here myself….(never say never huh?…) But as I find myself living this life I’ve chosen, I do believe I wouldn’t do it any other way. I came to realize since I have trusted God with my entire life…my husband’s and now our baby…it’s finally not up to us to take care of ourselves…its up to Him. My “job” , if you will, is to simply obey, follow, and trust in Him. How much better taken care of could I possibly be?

 The God of the entire Universe, the Creator of everything, the real owner of all that is and will ever be…the One that has called us by name…HE  is the One watching over me…now seriously how is it that I manage to forget that more often than not?

…to be honest I do feel ashamed for being such an “unbeliever”…but I so thank God for His neverending patience, mercy and grace. Time and time again He comes to show us that we are certainly not alone, and that we didn’t chose him, he chose us…therefore He will take care of us…and everything we need.

If there is ever something I feel like I need and he says wait…or he simply says no…then I trust that He ultimately knows best and sees the big picture…and I don’t.

Trusting God is not a one time lesson…actually it seems to me like we never reach a point where we can’t learn anymore. But we do learn to trust Him more and more each day and for the rest of our lives.

^{Matthew 6 :}

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[e]?

   ²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Oh yes…He knows, I just have to follow , trust and obey…He knows my tomorrow better than I could ever even know myself…so I’ll just worry about today.

 Exodus 3 & 4

” 4 So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”
And he said, “Here I am.” ^“9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. ¹⁰ Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
¹² So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” ¹⁰ Then Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”
¹¹ So the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? ¹² Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.” ….¹³ But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”
¹⁴ So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and He said: “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵ Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do. ¹⁶ So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God. ¹⁷ And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.”

I don’t know about you but this whole scene just seems almost too unreal to me. The God of the whole entire universe calls out one man by his name, then this man (obviously) replies yes! here I am. But after seeing the task set before him starts to chicken out…(not too uncommon, if you ask me)…but wait, then God again seeing as he is just a simple human like all of us, reminds him that he is not only being sent by God but that God himself would accompany him. Now, you would think that would be the end of that argument…wrong…of course our man wasn’t done yet. He goes on to remind God that well…he is not that great of a man and he has some major flaws (like God didn’t already know that…). By this time, I can see God getting a little more intense with Moses, kinda like he did with Job when he tried to act like he knew more than God…(Job 38 -40…read it…sometimes we get such interesting thoughts in our heads…). And so, God tell Moses (basically) uhmm, Have you forgotten who you are talking to? I made you, I made your mouth, I made your tongue, and I know why I picked you!…Now lets go! there’s no time to waste! So you would think now the argument would be over right?…yeah no…wrong again. Here’s goes Moses and this time he even goes as far as to tell God to please send someone else! Now what was he thinking?! But this time around God just gets angry (I would have been angry alot earlier than that to tell you the truth…) and tells him, You know what, I’m sending your brother with you to help you, but you are still going! I chose you! Case closed, Moses you are going.

Now what in the world do you think would poses a man to talk back to God and tell him how he is making all these wrong decision by sending him and to please just send someone else? I have no idea…but is that not what we do pretty much all the time? Don’t we “pull” a Moses when we tell God how crazy our situation is, or how inadecuate we are for his call upon our lives? I have found my own heart wondering about this time and time again…”Lord, but how are you going to pull this off?”  And we can’t deny that we have all done it at some point in our lives, the list and the shortcomings vary but truly it is all the same in the end. We are basically telling Him, “You don’t know what you are doing, maybe you should reconsider this or change your plan.”

But I can just see God, looking down at us with so much love and patience saying, “Listen, have you suddenly forgotten who I Am?…It doesn’t matter who you are, or where you come from, or what you have or don’t have…I have it all, I know it all, and I will fulfill everything according to my plan…just trust me and GO!”

I love this part of the conversation…:

¹³ Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
¹⁴ And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” ¹⁵ Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’

This is just amazing to me, not only does God sent Moses , but He promises He is coming with Him, but now only that, He also reminds him and clarifies it for him…I AM is going with you. But what does that mean? well we could think of it as something like this:

I Am The center of everything

I Am running the show

I Am your keep and provider

I Am the same everyday and forever

I Am the Lord

I Am the owner and creator of everything

I Am the Savior

I Am More than enough

I Am inexhaustible and immesurable

I Am God

and with Moses we can gladly say well…I am not but I know I AM and he is coming with me.

How can we then refuse to follow Him? How can we then not trust in his unending love? How can we then forget how is eternally and consistently in control?…We can but lets remind ourselves…this is not about us…it’s about Him. He is running the show, He is in control, I just have to hold on and keep walking and He will work it all out…and yes, He will.

So, if today you think you won’t we able to make it anymore, or if life just seems to complicated, or if you feel unfit to serve Him or obey…whatever your circumstance may be…just remember, You are following the Great I AM…and he knows what he is doing, just keep walking…

“For You have delivered my soul from death.Have You not kept my feet from falling, That I may walk before God In the light of the living?” Ps. 56:13

Woke up this morning to the alarming news of another devastating event in our world. How can we define tragedy…well I would consider what is happening in Japan as a tragedy, but nonetheless there are many more things I would consider tragic. As I turned a year older yesterday I was faced with many thoughts and decisions. This past year has been filled with a mixture of emotions, moments of great joy, happiness, to moments of sorrow and confusion. I have learned many things but this year is one that I will never live again…and consequently I should have learned the lessons that came with it.

As the 23rd year of my life starts I find myself in a rather weird place, to say the least. I am pregnant so I am very excited but also very much afraid. There have also been many difficult situations surrounding my family and my own home, that have brought me to tears and also have brought with them a sense of insecurity that I wish would go away as rapidly as it came. Everyday of this past year has been an absolute step of faith, our wedding, our decision to stay in Lima, our baby on the way, our moving to another house, my husband starting school again…we can honestly say there is no way we would have made it this far without the overseeing hand of God on us.

Yet I find myself at times feeling like I’m just surviving, or trying to make it through. What is so tragic about my life, or your life? What is it that makes us feel so absolutely hopeless at times and feel like we won’t make it another moment, far less another day? Well, the honest truth is we have lost our vision.

Our sight has been far removed from the only object that should hold our affection oh so dearly. But it does not. Just like Peter in the middle of his stepping out in faith, found his eyes wondering around him, considering his circumstances just a little to much, and finally losing all the ground he had won.

I can say I very much comprehend his feelings. I have been there myself, I have felt the waves crashing down, and the cold, wet air on my face, and it has made tremble, shiver and fear.

It is so easy for us to say,” Oh but how could anyone lose sight of Jesus, when he was right in front on him?”…Well I ask you the same thing…how can you? how can we?

The exact answer I don’t really know, but I do know its in our inherent nature to be so easily distracted.

You might say that we cannot compare Jesus physical presence with a sense of simply “knowing” He is there. But can you compare actually standing in the middle of a stormy sea to your situation? Can we really compare our situations to those of the apostles and the heroes of the faith that came before us?

I’m not going to say that there haven’t been days were I thought I was not going to make it, or that I haven’t cried sometimes so hard I thought my heart was going to burst, but there is where I remember this very special promise, I have held on to for a few years now:

So let’s be honest, it does not say, if you fall, it says though or when he falls- its going to happen! But the great part of this is that we don’t have to stay there, even when we think there is no way we can get up , we have to remember God is still holding us up.

But as I heard a great man of God once say ,” Those who God uses greatly, He must also hurt deeply…” If we take a look at the lives of those that have impacted the world before us (check out Hebrews 11) we can see a very clear pattern, their lives were not easy but they all thought it worth paying the price. Anything that will ever be of value and precious has to go through a process that I’m sure its not as glamorous as everyone thinks. So do we, if we have decided to make our lives count for something eternal, then we must allow Him to have his way with us…no matter what that may mean.

Just like it says in the book of James 1 : 2-4

The only way that Peter was able to do the impossible- walk on water- was because he kept his eyes fixed on Jesus and as long as that was his only focus he was alright. That did not mean that his circumstances were perfect, or that he wasn’t in the middle of a storm, but it meant that he was fully aware of the powerful hand that ultimately had everything under his powerful control. This is what we are called to do, no matter what we are walking through, no matter the situations in our lives, we are able to do the impossible if we simply keep our eyes fixed, solely fixed on Jesus alone.

Jesus said we were going to do even greater things that what he did while he was here,

but the only way that will ever come about is if we allow God to take us through the storms looking at Him, and we just keep walking, we can’t stop, we can’t look around or we will sink.

But can you just imagine, all that God could do with us and through us if we just trusted him? If we just allowed Him to do his work?…Yes Lord I believe, but help my unbelief! It does not matter if you feel afraid, it is not about not ‘feeling” afraid, its about just keeping on. And remembering that he has promised :

We may lack many things in life, but we will never lack, His strength, His presence, and His promise to carry on.

The true and most common tragedy in life is a wasted life. Don’t let anything stop you, even when things look dark, keep your eyes on Jesus. And if people think you are crazy then well…welcome to the Club…they always have thought that about the true followers of Christ.