Tag Archives: Women

There’s something about nothing

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It was a physically draining pain. Her body was aching and her spirit was tired. Twelve years had past already and there was no sign of anything getting any better. To top it off, there was no more money left, it was all gone. There was no doctor that could help her, and since she was now broke, the desperation grew bigger and bigger while her hopes dwindled down even further. Her physical condition meant that she was ceremonially unclean in her culture. To better say it, she was an outcast because of her illness and it made no difference to the religious leaders, whether she’d had financial resources or not.

Who knows what she was thinking. In her last attempt to get healed she would do whatever was necessary, even public ridicule. At this point there was no other option. There was nothing more left. And as her frail body and even more broken spirit made her way to the road, she gasped when she saw the multitude. “How will I get to Him?” she said to herself. But in that same moment of an apparent disillusion, an even greater hope emerged in her spirit. A determined woman with an unexplainable faith made her way through the crowd. For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.”

And as she was shoved back by those in front of her, determination grew in her soul. As the path continued to narrow in front of her eyes, faith created a highway for her to cruise. She was not deterred by what she saw or felt, the promise of a healed body and for the same means, a healed soul was bigger than the obstacles in front. Her condition was nothingness but she was walking towards the One who fills everything.

The women in the story not only got healed instantly, but Jesus himself felt it. It was that evident that he stopped and asked, “Who had touched him?”, virtue had come out of him. When your faith is in the right place and you’re down to your last effort or your last cent, there is something about nothing that moves the hand of God. You might be facing a similar circumstance. A broken body, a financial disaster, a disrupted relationship or even shattered dreams. What you see in front of you is just closed doors and many obstacles that even those that are around you are telling you, stop and take another route. They have lost hope in the name of reality. But just as this woman faced the unavoidable obstacles in from of her, you can do the same. When reality tells you, “those doors are closed, there is a wall in front”, faith screams, “I will open doors or make them if I need to.”

Regain a new hope, walk towards that which seems impenetrable. The One that has the virtue to change everything is waiting. You might hear those same words this woman received, “…your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.”

Remember, there is something about nothing, that moves the hand of God.

“BREATHE expectantly, LIVE confidently and MOVE Boldly”

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© Copyright Danny Maldonado, 2013

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Come to the well

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She was thirsty. More than she really knew or wanted to admit. Her broken heart was pounding in her chest faster and faster. She could not understand why she felt the way she did. So she sat at the table. Her eyes glancing to nowhere, but her mind traveled back in time, wondering, wishing. She questioned everything. What was it that made her the way she was? Was it the lack of love created by the constant rejection of her parents? Could it had been that the religious teachings ingrained in her past, created this void? Rules, restrictions and no relationship? She had learned about love in the way many others had, but no true love. Perhaps the lack inside was the force that had her looking for acceptance in all of the wrong places. The pain resurfaced as she realized that she had searched for love in all of the dry places.

Suddenly, the voices from the road snapped her out of this inside glimpse. So she looked out the window, making certain that everyone had already returned. Her shame had refrained her from venturing out to the well. In a corner, the empty waterpot, the utensil she had depended on so much. And then the road to the well, the road she knew by heart. That path mimicked the story of her life; always wanting, always needing more and more but at the end, an unquenched soul remained. “There is no point,” she said to herself, “this will never end”. As she left, the door made a squeaking sound as it closed behind her, and with very step came a memory, and with every memory came more pain.

Every unsuccessful attempt in her life to be loved, to be filled and to be accepted, would end today. This day would be remembered for ever. Love was waiting by the well. Life was waiting just for her. It was that day where her soul spoke the words she had wanted to say all of her life. The words that would changed her life finally came out like a prisoner set free: “Please, sir, give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.” That day she left her waterpot behind because, she left a life of emptiness and rejection because she went to the well.

Today your life can be changed too. That embrace you have been longing for is at the well. The man from Galilee that walked on water, raised the dead and defeated sin, is waiting for you with his arms wide open. He will quench that deep thirst you have inside you and no matter what you have done, all will be new.

This is the day, just come to the well.

“BREATHE expectantly, LIVE confidently and MOVE Boldly”

You can purchase a beautiful song called The Well or the album Come to the Well, written and perfumed by Casting Crowns following this link.

Want this inspiration of coffee by email every morning? Enter your e-mail to subscribe at the top right of this page under the box for “Subscribe”. Like this writing and want share it? Just add your comment below on “Leave a Reply” or share it on Facebook, Twitter, or by email using any of the buttons next to “Share this:”

© Copyright Danny Maldonado, 2012
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Happy Mothers Day!

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by DP

The day is about to end, her head rests on the pillow, her body is tired of the day and yet her heart is still well awake. Questions are filling her mind and gripping her heart. Questions that only she can make and answers that will be deferred for years. Answers that will take long periods of time to be pieced together. Through her mind, thoughts rushing back and forth. Thoughts of the possibilities, the future, his smile, what will he become? Will I do it right?

Upon the slightest sound she hurries in the middle of the night to check. She has an eye for the most intricate detail, every part of him is known to her. She doesn’t take any chances and checks and rechecks every inch. And she glances at him once again, just like if it was the first time, moves her hand between his hair and kisses his forehead. There is no imaginable explanation of the immense devotion she is able to experience. This intense love that cannot be explained with mere words; it has to be lived. Starting with the surrendering of her entire body, to be used as a vessel to create life. She was willing to be changed, and she did.

Time has passed. Lunch boxes, field days, recitals, presentations, graduations, weddings, the scenery her life was filled with, has passed, yet it is still alive in her and she relives it as if it was happening today. Her skin is not the same, her hands showing the toll of intense labor, yet unquestionable love, are always extended. There is never a bad time to call, there is no wrong moment to ask, even when she has been wronged by who she loves the most. When his steps takes him out of her sight, her heart goes walking with him and the thoughts rush back again. And she prays, and she trusts, waiting for the moment for another embrace. And the moment it takes place or her voice heard, everything feels safe, everything is ok.

It is understandable, because the day he was born to life, she was born to the greatest calling of any other. And it doesn’t matter the age, be it one month, one year, forty, fifty or seventy-five, she remembers and loves as if it was the first time her eyes saw your face. She is a mom.

To my mother, and to all mothers today, Happy Mother’s Day!

The strength of a woman

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by DP

“Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” Esther 4:16 NIV

There is something incredibly special about the strength of a woman. It is birthed in the most intricate place of her being, it is evident in every step she takes. It can be seen in the most trying times. The strength of woman makes her incapable of backing down; they stand up for what they believe. It is the strength that makes her a determined individual in all that she does, in purpose, in life, in sacrifice and in love. A gift God himself has deposited in every woman alive.

Esther, a young jew in a foreign land, had a burning desire to save her people. She was in a privileged position, a favored position, she was going to marry the king. But when presented with the choice of maintaing her status quo or saving those she loved, love was triumphant. But this was not an easy decision. It was a moment in which her own life was at stake. If anyone appeared before the king uninvited and he did not extend his scepter towards the visitor, he or she was killed. So Esther knew very well was she was facing. She understood that she had a choice and could easily stay put and not move. She had been enjoying for months the oil treatments and perfumes destined to the one who would become the wife of the king. She had been given the opportunity to stand in a high place and could walk along and maintain her peace.

But something bigger than herself stirred her spirit. So much that she was willing to give everything away for it, even go against of what was established. She was willing to die. “And if I perish, I perish!”. So where does this quality comes from? It comes from the indescribable essence of the One that created her. Love. The strength of a woman is birthed in love. It is not an emotion, but a motion, a fuel that will make her do anything her heart pushes her to do, no matter the consequences, or even death. Women don’t care if they look weird, if they look or appear foolish to everybody else if they have to defend what they love. The honor of their house, her husband or her children, wherever her love is, her life will follow. Esther was triumphant, she accomplished what her heart had moved her to do. Love always wins.

Look very closely, it is natural for a woman to be this way. So it is not strange that God would express his character through, the strength of a woman.

“BREATHE expectantly, LIVE confidently and MOVE Boldly”

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© Copyright DP, 2011