Category: Life

Life is all about relationships.

Life

Deceived to Holy Matrimony

Today I heard a beautiful sermon about relationships. Follow this link if you would like to hear it: https://audiover.se/2oQBd8g

Someone recently advised me, “now that you have seen the options, (that there aren’t any), wouldn’t you reconsider him?” I smiled, and kept silent. But it made me wonder… is one supposed to choose quickly and marry fearing single old age? It seems peaceful and safer to be single and in love with God, than married to the wrong person. 

My only hope for singles contemplating marriage is to really seek God and search for wise counsel. If one is not at peace with a particular relationship, he/she should seek God before hurting and wasting someone else’s time.
I forced myself to be in two serious relationships (when marriage was the goal) and both of them ended. This idea of settling down sometimes deviates our purpose in life. To live fully, is to be happy within one’s own situation.

I’ve witnessed unions that were troublesome from the beginning who moved forward with marriage. Most of the time it seems like, marriage made the relationship worse.  The verse found in Matthew 6:24, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other…” reminds me of the union we ought to establish with God before anyone else. If our relationship with God is weak, we will place our partner before God, contradicting the meaning of true love.

I believe with all my heart that marriage is about serving God. I’ve concluded that the devil matches people all the time – pushing them to marriage, to interfere in the goal that God had for one of them. Does it make sense to you the reader?

Time, time, and time again, it seems like we are all rushing into decisions because of time. Life on this earth cannot be compared to eternity. People advise me, “You have to be intentional! Tell them that you like them, seat by them, talk to them, become friends with his friends! Do something about it… you are running out of time…” I say, “I’m going to die as one (hopefully happy) old maid.” It seems really easy to choose the one you like and make conversation with him, search for him, catch him by the neck and force him to like you back. But it is actually pretty terrifying for some of us. I was born in the wrong era, I still hope that if a man finds something positive in me, he will make an effort to make his interest known. Sometimes I lose faith in what I hope, but the Bible reminds me of the promises of eternal life and I consider how beautiful life already is. God is love, I think of how I could have matched myself up when I felt lonely, but that would have brought pain to the other person. So I knew I could only be strong in the Lord to make someone else happy, not to be a burden. See the Bible says, “It’s not good for man to be alone,” I agree, because we never are, God is always with us, and His time is always perfect.

Life, Short Stories

la macchina

“Who controls who?
the machine controls man?
or does man control the machine?”
Those were the words of my brother
as I stalled his car for the second or third time
I had started to look a bit frustrated prior to his questions
“man controls the machine,” I said…
“ok, so let’s go,” he said

My brother was my hero through my childhood
I remember wanting to do everything with him,
I played with marvels on the dirt,
climbed on trees and hanged out with him outside
I even wanted to dress like him and wear his handy downs
and then the day came, “you can’t come with me,” he said
I was confused, “why?” I asked, “they’re all big guys”
he was going to play soccer at the park
and I couldn’t come because I was a little girl

Years later, I was ready to go to college and went downstairs to wake him up
He said, “you can take my car, my class is cancelled”
Shocking! “I don’t think I’m ready yet!” I said
He rolled over, ignored me, and went back to sleep
“OK,” I prayed prior to departure an off I went
What now? My mentor wasn’t by my side…
For the sake of the slopes I pulled the handle brake a few times
but I did not stall or hit anyone’s nose
I felt quit victorious as I pulled in the school’s parking lot
And as my last class ended, all I could think about was driving back home

It was my brother who implanted my “love” for machines
He believed and trusted in my skills, he had taught me to “control the machine”
And as I got older speed became part of the passion
My first car, a 2000 VW Jetta manual grew my desire to race
My loyalty to the law betrayed my desire to go 100 mph
but I managed to squeeze in a few of them at times

Then came the boat! The experience “takes your breath away”
There’s the breeze of the Atlantic Ocean,
or the green lush of the New England forests shining on the water,
and the perfection of the sky, with the most beautiful sound of splashing water,
all in one speed!

Then came the plane! I was flying over the hills of Vermont
In a small yellow training plane, “it’s your turn to fly,” I was told
My teeth almost fell out because I couldn’t stop smiling
“What do you think?” the pilot asked… “I love it, this is amazing!”
Up and down we went, until my pilot said it’s time to go back.

As I drive through the streets at night and see that shiny green light at the distance…
off I go and ask God, “Will I die of joy as we fly over the New Jerusalem?”
I have yet to drive a ship, a train, an eighteen wheeler, a motorcycle, and a few more trucks!
and my conscious perhaps forbids me to go on a race track
But I know that none of these will suffice the greatest adventure of all
to fly from planet to planet once Jesus rescues us to take us home on the clouds
What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see!

This text is dedicated to my brother, Luis Miguel Tapia Ramos
the one and only who gave my family three more bundles of joy, his three children

Life, Short Stories

ragazza malata

Each one of us experiences pain, some may experience more than others but for each the feelings are the same, it’s exhausting and we urge to get rid-off of it quickly.

I experienced deep pain on my chest while in college, every breath that I took was so painful that breathing turned into a sword. It punctured my chest with vibration. The nurse asked me to lay down on my back and I screamed of pain. Crying was no longer shameful but it made me breath deeper, it was my own enemy. I didn’t want to breath anymore but I did want to live. Sickness has always been the worse scenario in my life, and I didn’t want to anticipate the results but I still concluded… I’m ill. Why were there so many foolish questions, couldn’t she tell I couldn’t breath. “Honey, I’m sorry, I know it’s painful but I still need you to answer these questions,” said the nurse. Once she left, I found pleasure in breathing and was perfectly capable to think extra negatively, I started to ignorantly diagnose myself of the possibilities of this extreme pain. I got an x-ray and was asked to wait for my results. I could sense the pity in the nurse and the doctor, it increased my ignorance. Am I dying… slowly? Is my heart failing? Positivity was so foreign at that time, that only the worse could be in my body. And then… the doctor entered the room, “You’re heart looks perfect! …we have eliminated the worse, you have pleurisy!” Whatever that was, it seemed to be a good thing, and it brought relief. All of a sudden he turned into the top doctor in the state of Massachusetts or perhaps the country. He continued, “this is caused by the inflammation of the pleura, the skin around your lungs. When the pleura gets inflamed it causes extreme pain on your chest. Any healthy youth can get it, the cause is rare, some get it after a cold or some other virus going around. The pain will slowly go away, I can give you anti-inflammatories to reduce it.”

Well… I smiled. All I needed to hear was that I would be ok, scratch the drugs, I’ll bare the pain I thought. This was the first time in my adult life that I realized how cruel it is to be sick, how hard it is to be nice when ill, and how negative one can be. I was finally happy with my pain, it belonged to me and I could bare it because I knew it would go away.

These body aches, as hard as they are, reminded me that vulnerability is the struggle to live. That struggle turns into dependency on others’s words, encouragement, care, and love. When we loose the ability to think straight we think too much of ourselves, and thinking about one’s problems is depressing, pitiful. Whatever the condition may be we have to be there for the ill, and we have to be at the best of our state to help others overcome what once may have consumed us. Paul says, “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

May our walk be that of Paul, to be content in whatever state we are, understanding that our redeemer and savior will be by our side even in the worse of our conditions, and his infinite love  will rain over our passing suffering for there is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear! 

Verses taken from Philippians 4:11-13 & 1 John 4:18

 

Life

1 Corinthians 13

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing.

 Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Life

Yet Not I

I dream of the day when I may boldly say, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

Loving God is the best choice, the best solution, the best investment, and the most wonderful time a person can gain after accepting him into his/her heart. And this is my prayer, that you may ask, God, if you are real, reveal yourself to me and show me your way. Amen.

Life

Expectations far beyond comprehension

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

Verses taken from Isaiah 55

Life

Internal Dialogue

The twenty rush settled one particular ideal, “por tanto id y haced discípulos en todas las naciones”

All through the teens it gravitated towards, ‘those who go’

Then like a sudden ray it pierced my own ideal, for life is but a brief trailer of our future

Almost ten years have gone by and I pray that my desires and dreams may align with yours

According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

Verses taken from 2 Peter 1

Life

The Beautiful

A man is not measured by intelligence or beauty, he is measured by his pure existence

A woman is not measured by beauty or intelligence, she is measured by her heart

She who patiently awaits as the rain covers and splashes over her pool of dreams

She who rises and contemplates her child breathing and overjoys as the toothless child smiles at her

She who suffered at the cross as stained drops covered the ground…

One’s beauty is internally developed for each is measured by the mere essence of existing

Our weaknesses have been washed away by the blood of the lamb and our opportunity to live was sealed at the cross

a beautiful heart is only found in Christ, conceived by God alone

Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place… And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

For the will of God, we bear the cross, for in it we find life.

Verses taken from Revelation 12

 

Life

“Failure” is in One’s Favor

“Be strong and of good courage, and do it” were the words of king David to his son Solomon. These same words can be applied to our daily decisions and feelings if lead by “a perfect heart and willing mind.”
A few years ago, speaking to a friend, I said, “Life would be so simple if people openly shared their thoughts and feelings with one another.” However, would such action lead to disaster, relief or both?
Analyzing the situation, I realized that what prevents us from sharing our ideas and feelings freely is shame. We are afraid of human rejection and our own failure. Shame and/or embarrassment  has trapped us to live scrupulous lives. This shame can engrave in our minds  so deeply  that we may not even live but remain in a slavery stage of guarding our image. Nonetheless, humans were made resilient and called to live fully. Jesus said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Nothing can separate us from the love of God except ourselves.

Failure is in one’s favor, it makes us stronger and courageous to get the job done.  I precisely recall the times when a “no” as an answer helped me move on to the next step. Happily a “no” leads to greater opportunities. Being in a state of perplexity, wondering what could happen can dwarf the possibilities of life. God calls us to be strong and courageous because He is our father and king. No human being can tell us otherwise, we are meant to live, experience, move on, but most importantly claim the promise of life as children of our one and only heavenly Father.

And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. 

Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?

And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; 

Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.

Placing God before men allows us to fully live. Be of good courage and do what God calls you to do, for it is Him that gave His life that you and I may live forever.

Verses taken from John 10:10, Revelation 3, and 1 Kings 3

Life

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38, 39