Bye 2017: You got to the other side

What a year!

Many things happened in 2017! It started with a very hot summer which was alongside with an even hotter politic situation: interpellations, accusations, debates for the gender ideology, ex-president Toledo's capture order, among other things. Right after that, mudslides in different parts of Peru leave desolation and pain for whatever they went, whose consequences are still far from being restored.

Then a tragic fire touched many Peruvians because it revealed the slavery situation that many young people endured. The politic world didn't stop getting tense. In the middle of the year the ex-president Toledo and his wife were put in custody. Thousands of students were afraid to loose the school year because of the constant strikes of their teachers.

The interpellations to the state secretaries continued and corruption accusations reached the current president of Peru. The cabinet fell. The year crowned with the request of presidential impeachment.

And this is just in Peru. I have said nothing about Venezuela, the Middle East, the fear of a nuclear war, the earthquakes devastating different places, slaughters and shootings, etc. And of course, all of this is just the frame where all our personal problems took place.

But, you know something?, 2017 finished and we're still here. We got to the other side. The marks that 2017 left you are not of failure, but the prove that you got to the other side.

I explain it to you with this story: One mom watched over her kid from afar while he played in a river. Suddenly, a crocodile appeared, grabbed the boy's arm and started taking him inside the river. His mom run to him with all her strength while crying out loud for help. Surprisingly she got just in time to grab her other son's arm. The boy was pulled in one side by the crocodile, and in the other side, by the her mom. Thanks God there was a hunter in the area that heard her crying out for help and quickly approached to help and killed the crocodile with his weapon. The boy was taken rapidly to the hospital.

Once the boy was out danger, his mom allowed a journalist to interview him. The journalist asked him: "What do you think when you see the marks that the crocodile left you?" The boy answered: "Those marks mean nothing to me". Then he showed her his other arm and said: "This marks are the ones that do have a great value to me, because they represent that my mom didn't leave me and saved my life".

Maybe this 2017 left you with some marks, but those marks aren't of failure, because if it was so, you wouldn't be here. But you are here! You got to the other side! Those marks are the ones left by your Heavenly Father because He didn't let you go all this time. It was hard, but you got to the other side. And your Father promises you that He will be with you in 2018 no matter what it brings! Will there be difficulties? I'm positive that there will, but you won't be alone, He will keep holding your hand, and you can be sure that NOTHING will make Him to let you go.