Diana Leaney López Ruano

They lied when they said that the past doesn't define you. Of course it defines you. You are a compilation of all of your pain, all of your difficulties,  all of your trials, all of the mistakes and all of the loss you've experienced up until now. You are also a child of God. For that reason I remember, sitting in an interview with an ecclesiastical leader I was presented with a question that changed the way I see myself.  He said, "What would you be; without the sexual, physical, and emotional abuse that you use as shields...  without the mistakes and fears that you use as masks...  without the racism, judgement and mocking you hold as a torch?  What would be left behind without all of that?" The answer was simple. A daughter of God. To some that may mean nothing.  To me it meant that I was not my pain.  I was simply a person that learned how to love their companion so deeply that I endured the darkest of hells while waking that I coul...

In the Japanese language there is no future tense.  To ask about the future,  one would say something along the lines of "From this time after,  where are you currently going?"  The respondee will then answer with what they will do after the current time. In the Mandarin Chinese language,  there is no future or past tense.  When I introduce myself to a Chinese person I usually say a translation of "I am an English teacher at China."   Obviously we are not in China at the moment so to make the statement true,  a past or present time frame must be inferred. How would we speak if we had no future or past? If we did not know who we are becoming or where we came from? If we all hustled around in right now , not then , or when  we would simply be ;  culture and history-  it would all cease to be.  What if we had no means to change our ways;  if we were permanently stuck in our current decisions,  without a ch...

Hola nena,  it's been a while!  Just looking back on when we used to think that Heavenly Father painted each mountain and sunset every single day,  remember that?  Remember when we would skip instead of walk because it got us to our destinations faster?  Remember flying off to faraway magical lands whose entrance was only attainable through the highest jump on our trampoline?  Remember reading about the outside world and wondering what it would be like once we grew up? I'm still trying to figure that part out.  Growing up.  Let me tell you that the real world is different than our books,  yet exactly the same.  There are bad guys out there and maybe they don't steal away princesses,  but opposition is real and there will be those that want to steal our true identity as a Daughter of God.  Heavenly Father might not get out a paintbrush every day,  but He orchestrates our lives in the most beautiful of connections and hap...