learn to love the rain

because the rain makes you grow 

i love it when the sun shines though=-D

butterflies are the best 

so masterfully designed 

a song for help in troubled waters, written one year ago today

April 19, 2014

You fill me with confidence.

You fill me with peace.

You wrap Your arms about me when every man in sight is gone,

When life is tormented and there is no song,

When the dance is a lie

And the move a desire;

When the world is a cold place devoid of fire;

When all is bleak and dim and sad

When I feel like one thing would make me glad;

And I stumble here

And I find there’s no one else

Only a bloody, running tear

Dropping down from the splintery cross;

I reach for You

But I find You gone

Away from the misery,

Yet in my midst still

As much as I promise,

As much as I will,

There is no victory for me alone.

I cannot win

At Your cross I bow

But I cannot stay there and weep;

Now the light is coming,

Oh Lord wake me up

Shake me

Break me

From the earthly sleep.

Take me, Lord,

Humble me low,

So I will drink the heavenly flow;

Lead me on, from this torturous symbol

The cross, and the pain, and the fears

That crumble.

Jesus,

Only

Jesus

True

Jesus, You love me

When lovers are few;

And the darkness is coming

And I feel the world groan

And I know, in an instant

I’ll be going on home.

Take me,

Transform me!

This body isn’t me;

I know I will find You in eternity…

And there, fully known,

I will recognize You

what a glorious view!

Finally,

No worry

So hold me, I  cry

Fill me with peace, in Your arms, while the song

of Your confident love

pours on and on…

forever and a day, forever and a thousand years!

You’ll be the One who dries my tears.

So when you feel the cold, when the fire dies

Bask in the Son

And let your spirit rise. 

Joy like Heaven

Sometimes, life is difficult. 
           Ok, most of the time. 
God never promised life would be easy, but He did promise that we would find joy in Him through every hardship, if we ask Him for the joy.
    My prayer for you today is that in the middle of the ugliness, the nastiness of this out-of-control world, that you would find a place of peace and rest.

Knowing Jesus is here, among us still in the form of the Holy Spirit, we can have sweet assurance. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine--oh what a foretaste of glory divine. Those are not just words. This is a promise. 

We're truly fortunate. 

If we think of all that Jesus has done for us, and how we are actually 

created in His image, 

it opens our eyes to more than the surface pain and suffering. 

If, after the wars inside, we keep going back to that sweet place, 

we find solace. 

No matter what happens, Jesus is sovereign. 

His ultimate plan is no pain, no death, no despair. 

I expect we'll be a bit like this baby in heaven at first--

just peacefully resting in His amazing home for us. 

But then we'll wake up, start moving around...

....start realizing how fantastic everything is! We won't be able

to contain our joy! 

There will be gardens, more beautiful that these ones in Japan, 

the Kawchi-Fuji wisteria gardens. 

And mountain ranges....

...for those of us who like to run around exploring all day...

rivers and places where we can really have adventures...

maybe it'll be weird at first, 

jumping off cliffs without getting hurt at the bottom, 

just getting back up, or 

better yet, flying straight off into the sky...

because in heaven, there'll be no death...

we won't be able to die. 

I'm sure we'll be so delighted,

we'll just walk around laughing and saying hi to everyone

the first 1000 years. 

I'm sure we'll have jobs to do, places to go...and 

God to worship!

There won't be any more working for the sake of money,

position, 

prominence, 

fame. 

Everything we do will be done out of pure joy

love,

and worship. 

He decidido sequir a Cristo

He decidido sequir a Cristo

he decidido sequir a Cristo

No vuelva atras

no vuleva atras

I have decided to follow Jesus

I have decided to follow Jesus

I have decided to follow Jesus

No turning back

No turning back. 

So if you're having a bad day

or just a time of longing

for rest

for comfort

for a place to call home

Take heart, 

child of God.

Be still, and know,

that He is who He is. 

And He always will be. 

 >>Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.<<

luke 18:17

Let's be kids. 

Let's be free. 

Paradox of following Christ: 

the more we grow into Him, 

the more we start looking like a child. 

Closing our eyes,

taking a risk

being blessed 

by surprises 

closing our eyes

feeling the wind in our face

being content. 

child-like faith

This is a poem I wrote back in 2012. Much has changed since then, including my outlook on life, but this reflects the feelings I have sometimes in this generation, as a young adult. 

            The cobwebs bounce in the breeze,

            The breeze is still, because summer says “calm”—

            The cat is content,

            Or seems to be—

            The dogs are tired,

            They squint like me;

            The birds keep up,

            As if bound to sing

            To the joy-lit flowers,

            As an offering.

            But there’s more than that;

            Over, through, and in,

            Every wonder note

            Is a secret hid;

            There’s a grander force, and a grander hope,

            And the grass is growing,

            By a genius stroke;

            Herbs in upward thriving

            Seem a quiet proof

            Of the Spirit guiding,

            With the deeper truth,

            Can’t we all discover,

            Under neath the grass

            How the clay is rocky,

            How it’s our own fault;

            No amending is done,

            Yet approval must come

            Tiny race, so bold,

            Is the human—cold

            Seeps the expectation of our own rights,

            Causes, dreams, entitlements;

            While the daisies starve;

            Baby’s breath, once strong,

            Withers by the heat,

            Procured by our ovens,

            Our precious cement habitats—

            Yet below the soil,

            Where the earthworms struggle,

            All is hard as stone,

            When the top-coat’s gone;

            So the cobwebs bounce,

            Who sees them spin?

            We’re off playing games,

            Watching concerts begin;

            Marching up and down hallways,

            In stiff self-made suits

            Our plastic is melting

            While the sun burns our roots;

            Yet we’re still cold as rocks!

            “Never, ever regret”

            Is the mantra proclaimed,

            So we never repent. 

"For this people's heart has grown dull,

    and with their ears they can barely hear,

    and their eyes they have closed,

lest they should see with their eyes

    and hear with their ears

and understand with their heart

    and turn, and I would heal them."

Matt. 13:15

Back from COLOMBIA

Coming back from Colombia seemed like a dream.
During our bus-ride to the airport, I was  zonked from waking up at 4.00, having slept only two hours in the wee morning because I had been discussing wonderfully important things with friends....besides, I didn't want to sleep the last night I had in Formando Vidas. So there. On account of my dazed sleep-state, however, (pretty sure I was in the REM sleep stage, only AWAKE...if you could call what me awake at that point...) I just couldn't seem to cry. Those tears just wouldn't come, even as we were driven carefully through the city of Bogota to the airport. I saw some crazy joggers up and running, along with shady figures here and there and business-people, nibbling on either mango or bread, I speculated. Bread. I wouldn't miss that aspect of Colombia. In Cartagena, all the people seemed to eat was white bread, white cheese, and white frothy juice drinks (ok maybe I'm exaggerating...but maybe not!)
Nevertheless, leaving Colombia is leaving Colombia. Even Cartagena suddenly became a place worthy of being missed, as I walked in a stunned fashion through the airport, wearing my tourist pants and remembering all of the sweet, on-fire-for-Jesus people, young and old, that I met there in that sandy, dry city. As we boarded the plane, the rain began to fall. Overwhelming homesickness took me by surprise, and the song "This is Home" began playing in my mind. Of course I could only remember the chorus, but then I looked it up when I got back, and the whole song encapsulates the feeling I was having at the moment.

I've got my memories
They're always inside of me
But I can't go back
Back to how it was

I believe you now
I've come too far
No, I can't go back
Back to how it was

Created for a place
I've never known

This is home
Now I'm finally where I belong, where I belong
Yeah, this is home
I've been searching for a place of my own
Now I've found it, maybe, this is home
Yeah, this is home

Belief over misery
I've seen the enemy
And I won't go back
Back to how it was

And I got my heart set on what happens next
I've got my eyes wide, it's not over yet
We are miracles
And we're not alone

Yeah, this is home
Now I'm finally where I belong, where I belong
Yeah, this is home
I've been searching for a place of my own
Now I've found it, maybe, this is home
Yeah, this is home

And now after all my searching
After all my questions
I'm gonna call it home

I got a brand new mindset
I can finally see the sunset
I'm gonna call it home

This is home
Now I'm finally where I belong, where I belong
Yeah, this is home
I've been searching for a place of my own
Now I've found it, maybe, this is home

    The tears didn't come till later. Much later. All I could do was wave and whisper good-byes while staring out my little airplane window (which reminded me of a little submarine port-hole) and gazing on the landscape: green green green all over, with bushy trees, sweeping mountain ranges, and the city perfectly grand and huge and bustling and hued in gray, brown, and black to off-set the beautiful scenery. 

So this is Bogota, the above pic from Monserrate, which is a famous mountain that devoted Catholics climb up to the top on their hands and knees to kiss the cathedral of the fallen Christ. We just went up for fun and were praising God for the absolutely drop-dead gorgeous scenery!!!!
But here are some pics of the other places, Leticia and Cartagena=-D

This is a typical Leticia port. Kinda miss it=-(

Ok so these pics are not my pics, nor were they taken by the team, I found them online, but they capture the essence of what I saw. Actually this pic is a very accurate sunset. Soooo stunningly beautiful. Because we had no technology there, we watched sunsets instead of watching movies, and we talked, read, or wrote instead of doing social media. It was the hardest, best week of my life. Oooh, or we'd go swimming in the pirahna-infested Amazon! That was the best, .diving off this little floating dock into the lovely brown water. Could do that all day with my little friends Estaban and John. They were awesome diving buddies=-) We'd say "Uno, Dos, Tres!" and then jump into the water! Haha, it was a blast.

Classic scene, especially with the dog in there itching himself...the dog population is out of control in Colombia, and the majority in places like Leticia are not cared for; they are full of ticks and fleas and who knows what, and I saw some going about with broken legs=-( If you're a vet with a mission, go to Colombia! Haha, not that I'm twisting your arm or anything...

Fruit! We looooove fruit in Colombia! You think you've tasted a mango, but wait till you taste a mango from the jungle of Zaragoza. Yum-yum. And there are so many unique jungle fruits that are marvelous. Interesting note: I hated guava, till I tasted one from the jungle. It was like tasting something an angel would make for breakfast. And the aroma was just soooo sweet. The fruit of our good works tastes that sweet to God! Puts a whole new spin on "bear fruit in accordance with repentance". We're not talking genetically engineered, contrived fruit here! We're talking authentic, wholesome, out-of-this-world delicious fruit!!! Also bananas are everywhere there, and plantains, which are fried up in oil; guanabana is a great big green fruit that is so hard to describe---and there are plenty more that I can't remember the names of at the moment. But the kids liked to show us the fruit and go up the fruit trees to knock some down for us--they were so sweet! I wish I could have spoken Spanish to them, but hey, this is incentive to learn!=-) I have so much to learn from the simplified, down-to-earth way of jungle living. Being content with yourself and your family. Big lesson to learn! 

  I like one of those pics above because it has a red cross symbol on it, which looks like the symbol for a lifeguard. Currently, I'm training to become a lifeguard for a summer camp beginning at the end of May. Pray for me as I embark on this journey, to help others and to follow Jesus wherever He leads in this life! 
Everywhere with Jesus is home to me. So I'm very excited, slightly nervous, and mostly thrilled about what lies ahead! 

>>Envia tu luz y tu verdad; estas me guiaran; me conduciran a tu santo monte, y a tus moradas. << 

Salmo 43: 3

"Oh, send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your tabernacle."