Wow! Mt. Tikimani is huge!

A beautiful and powerful story in the bible is the one when David confronted and killed Goliath. God gave David the opportunity to trust Him and to faced a giant. What I think was the core of victory? What come to my mind is faith and risk! In1st Samuel 17:45 David says: "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty... and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give all of you into our hands." Wow!

Let praise the Lord for that! A week ago I went backpacking to Uma Palka, a trail that Randy (my brave boyfriend) loves to explore. James and Julie, my really good friends went with us. We had great adventures, beautiful landscape and amazing conversations during those three days. Please enjoy the pictures.

When Randy told me that we were going there I was so excited though I never imagine what I was going to face. I have problems with hights which means that I couldn't find a better place to face it. At some point I was shaking, and even though the landscape was gorgeous my head was saying you can't do it, you are going to fall, this is a big fear to face. Two interesting things I thought those days: The first one was that when Randy was saying all the time: "Ada girl (I don't know If I spell it right, but it means well done), for me it was as he was saying: "You can do it", "You see, another step and you are almost there", "it is not as impossible as it seems. The second was that that I felt that every step I was making was the result of God making me do it but also the risk of believing in Him. Trusting that he will guide me if my eyes, heart and mind were focused on Him. After such an amazing experienced I remembered David and his giant. And asked the Lord to tell me what that meant in my life. Sometimes fears, problems, dreams, society, people, my past, present or what the future is asking of me, even my church are big giants in my life. When I was meditating in this especial trip, I come to realize that I have more giants in my life that I could ever imagine. Giants that are there for the simple purpose of not let me grow in Christ. Giants that the enemy puts in front of my path so I can get discourage and with the desire of giving up. Giants that in whom I put my trust instead of the Lamb of God. Something beautiful is that giants are not as bad as we think they are because they teach us how to trust, love and walk in righteousness with God. They are part of a deep growth in Christ. They are there so I might face them and give the Glory to my God. and so he can reveal his divine presence and power to me during this journey. The problem is not the giant, the problem is when I don't trust God, and it is even worst when I try to do it alone and lean into my own understanding.

Hal Abelson said: "If I have not seen as far as others, it is because giants were standing on my shoulders." Giants are everywhere, in my daily life, but also is God, and the battle is His as our brother David the psalmist said once.

I fail a lot my friends, I would say most of the time, especially when I see those giants in my life and I get so discourage and want to walk away. John Ortberg said: "It is willingness to risk failure that helps us to grow," he also said: "waiting on the Lord is the hardest part of trusting . It is not the same as -waiting around- it is putting yourself with utter vulnerability in his hands." That weekend I learned that facing my fears are in God's hands, that weekend God used Randy (a wonderful leader and godly man) to help me faced my fears (my giants) and keep trusting in God and in the abilities that he has given me. When the trip was over, I was so happy! I not only have fun, good chats, delicious food, wonderful landscape, and the honor of getting to know more Randy, but also I had the privilege to understand the power of Christ over my life, and his victory over my fear!

I was so happy because I made it. It sounds better to say, I am so happy because we made it! I think it is much better to say, YOU MADE IT AWESOME GOD! because at the end of every single thing in my life is for your Glory and it is all about your precious son! UMA PALKA SEE YOU SOON!

Leap year! What?

When I was 9 my mother cut my hair very short and didn't wear earrings, which means that I looked like a boy, I also have to mention that Danielle is not a girl's name use in Bolivia, people think it's a boy's name. The result of my parents great idea of giving me "boy's name" and having short hair, made me be the clown of my class. For a while my friends made fun of me because of those reasons, it was embarracing!
That same year, my parents decided to make a big party for my b-day. Everything was going great but before we cut the cake my mom had a great idea, I don't know if I could call that " great idea", at that time and age. She said: "Girls and boys, Dani was born on a leap year". Of course most of them didn't know what that meant but some did so did I. Can you imagine what happened the next day at school? I was not only the girl that looked like a boy with a boys's name but also the freak with no b-day. Unbeliavable! (I believe that is funny for you guys and now is funny for me as well but at that age it wasn't)
So I pierced my ears, and started to make them call me Daniela ("a girly name") and never mentioned again about my b-day. As the years passed I became very popular at school and nobody made fun of me again, and they never did indeed! But thanks the Lord those things left no trumas in my heart, but it was painful!
It was with time that that I started to appriciate that I was born on a leap year, in fact, I have made some research and found that this days is very special, because Leap years are needed so that the calendar is in alignment with the earth's motion around the sun. and with out this day the calendar would not work at all! hahahaha (there is more information about leap years, if you want more information, go to www.leapyearbeautifuldays.com avaiable for everybody, Just kidding!) It is not that I am a freak with no b-day, I am special, I wished I knew that when I was a child!
I remember this funny and educative story because I just celebrate my fake b-day- 1rst of march- and I found out that some of my new friends enjoyed that was born on a leap year, in fact they were hoping to meet someone like me, also my sweet boyfriend, Randy, likes it.
Isn´t ironic that now that I am a grown up I would not mind being bother with people making fun of my b-day but when I was a child I cried and was ashamed. Anyways I want to give thanks to the Lord for leap years and I hope every child that was born in this day feels loved and special (in a good way)!
Come on people make feel special to everyone and not only for leaps or not leaps b-days but for the only and most important reason that we are special in God's eyes (Randy, reminded me that) and that we can celebrate the gift of being brought to earth so we can say that it is only about JESUS!
Happy b-day to all of you

You give and take away! AMEN!

During the last few months many things have happened in my life, I might say around my life! Many dear people have been through very hard times, and by God’s grace I could be with them.
Let me tell you some of their stories and how they have affected me.
A friend’s wife died before she had a surgery and left him two kids; My oldest sister Monica, (a godly woman that I respect and love very much) was diagnosed with severe endometriosis that caused infertility; One of the shoe shiners was hit and lost his left eye; other friend’s mom was diagnosed with Cancer and gave her only six months to live; Other friend had to take to his child to hospital because he had a small accident and left the tip of his finger.
I saw pain and grief; life can change in the blink of an eye for good or bad. I had and will continue to face hard things in my life as well all the time, but that it doesn’t matter how they come to be that way but what matters is how I will react when those moments arrive, and what should I do with the time that is given me to live those moments, because God let that happened.
All those situations had one thing in common, JESUS! Like I said before my friends cried and grief but also they pray and at the end they gave thanks to God, can you imagine that! They praise the Lord because they knew God was in the midst of what was going on.
Today, I was sleeping and heard my sister cry because she is in so much pain, and minutes later I heard both Monica and Cesar (her husband) singing:” blessed be the name of the Lord blessed be His glorious name, you give and take away, my heart will choose to say blessed be your name.”
Today I sang and hope I will learn to say those exact words, I pray that I will learn to choose Him above everything!
Thank be to our God for situations we don’t expect because he is always there with us and the Glory is for him forever and ever, AMEN!

"Though the fig tree does not bud and t
here are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails and the fields
produce no food, though there are no
sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls
yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to tread on the heights.
For the director of music.
On my stringed instruments.
Habakkuk 3:17-19

By God's Grace...

Through out the bible grace has been spread to all God’s creation, the most beautiful gift from God, and it is a gift indeed! In 1 Samuel David found grace on God’s eyes. In Ephesians says that “by grace we’ve been saved, in Corinthians says: “That by grace I am what I am”, I Titus says: That by grace we have been justified.” I could quote Grace forever, but I would rather live it and rejoice in it.
Well, by grace we can have a relationship with Him and by grace we will see Jesus again reigning over all.
Sometimes or maybe very often, Grace for me is very hard to grasp, understand and live it. Maybe because I am still a sinner that has been forgiven, maybe because of my insecurities, or maybe because I rather focus on myself than on Jesus or maybe because I always ask: “why me, Jesus?” No matter what is reason but that is what happens in my life.
That is why I believe that one of the most amazing things that happen in a man’s life is to see Jesus in person. I call that grace as well. That happened in Stephen’s life, he was preaching in the Sanhedrin and the guys didn’t like the truth about Jesus and the decided to do “justice” by his own hands and stoned him to death, but meanwhile they were doing that Stephen saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God” Wow, praise the Lord for that! He saw Jesus, he saw grace and felt it!
Well, I always said that I saw Jesus in his creation and every time I see street children or a prostitute or a baby I also see Jesus just because he created them, also I see Jesus when I read the bible and also when someone is preaching him, but I also though to me self what it meant to see grace now in this days!
Well, let me introduce you someone, his name is Randy Davis, he is a missionary for Youth for Christ who lives in La Paz, Bolivia. He works with shoe shiners, he couches basketball with international students, and he does backpacking with young people, only for one reason, TO INTRODUCE JESUS TO THEM! To introduce them grace so by faith they can believe in Jesus. He is a follower and I had the privilege to serve a long side. I could say more things about Randy but I will keep it for myself =).
Now, we are dating! God is blessing me by showing me His grace through this man. I am learning that Grace is beyond my comprehension and closer enough to my heart. I am learning that God forgives and forgets and that He is always ready to keep walking with me. I am learning that Grace is unchangeable and that Jesus loves me unconditionally.I am learning that Grace is a priceless gift that has to be treasure. I see Grace in the person of Randy and I am thankful to God for that!
What I like the most about this relationship is that besides what ever God has planned for both of us I am growing in Christ and that in this relationship it is all about JESUS!

My First Post!

I want to apologize with you because of my grammar and all the mistakes I have made. But don’t concentrate on that but on what my heart wanted to share with you.

There is always a first time for everything. The first time we go to school, the first time you learn how to ride a bike (Oh! How that hurts), the first kiss (a wonderful moment), the first steps, the first job. Some of them are painful other brings to your life joy and happiness but all of them teaches you amazing things and are worthy to share.
I want to share with you the first time I went climbing with my dad. My brother and I were so excited... spending time with him was the most incredible thing to do. When he told us that every Saturday we would go to Mallasilla (I will try to describe it a little bit. Mallasilla is a place where you can climb colorful Rocky Mountains. When you get to the top a beautiful landscape lays before you. In spring time the mountains are covered with wild green plants. People say that it is like walking on the moon, by the way, I don't know how they know how it feels to walk on the moon, anyways that is not the point...), we went crazy. The first morning he woke us up at 5:00am and walked to the lower part of the mountain. My first impression was how on earth I am going to make it, my brother and I stood there and saw the gigantic peace of rock before us and were so discouraged to climb it but my dad said don’t worry we will make it I will take you to the top. We said how dad you have never done this before and he said I have been there already. I complained at the beginning because I fell many times and it seems I was never going to get to the top but at the same time we were having so much fun that falling became meaningless, he started to tell us many stories and we sang and rest and kept going. When we got to the top we started to dance (I love to dance by the way) and yelled as hard as we could because we made it and my dad said: “I told you I was going to take you to the top). Then we had some sodas and went down again and later he took us to eat Empanadas de queso (I have no idea how to say that in English). It was a precious moment!
One thing that caught my attention was that when we got home my dad had pretty bad wounds in one of his knees, when I asked what happened he said that a couple of times when me and my brother couldn’t climb he helped us he hurt himself and he said this thing: “I told you I was going to take you to the top not only by cheering you up but by doing whatever it takes to accomplish that”. For him this first time meant hurting himself too.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” This simple story brought to my mind MY AWESOM JESUS! And the first time I truly understood the meaning of His perfect and magnificent sacrifice and friendship. We are about to celebrate Christmas and for me remember what he has done since the first time and still doing in my life is essential.

I still think why God has giving me the chance to belong to his kingdom, why he has put his eyes on me and why wants a relationship with someone like me and Grace comes to my mind. My dad wanted to takes to the top not only because he wanted to be with us but also because he wanted for us to enjoy the top of the mountain even though he knew it was going to be painful but he also knew what was waiting for us at the end of it. So is Jesus (in a greater form), he loves me so much that he wants to spend time with me and he already made the ultimate sacrifice (by hurting himself) so we can enjoy eternal life.
Every Saturday was special for me because I got to know my dad and I was getting better and better at climbing. So the long in my heart is that every single day of my life my relationship with JESUS could grow to the point that pain or big rocky problems that I might face are not enough to give up.

Abba Father I love you and I am so thankful for what you have done because at the top of the mountain it will always be about you.

Thank you for reading me and Merry Christmas!