When the Ground Shakes, What Holds Your Heart?

By Javier & Alba

There are some stories we do not simply read: we feel them in our bodies. When Colombia shakes, something inside us shakes too. Even though our lives now unfold far away, there is a part of our hearts that never packed its bags. It is still there, in the cities we know, in the voices of our families, and in the friends we left behind with the hope of seeing them again. When images arrive from the places that have been affected, our thoughts immediately turn to family and friends. Suddenly, the distance feels enormous. As husband and wife, we look at each other, send messages, and ask the same question: “Are they okay?” And we realize that a person can live thousands of miles away and still belong deeply to a land. We are Colombian. Its joys are still our joys, and its pain still finds an open room within our hearts. Perhaps that is why the words of Jesus carry a different weight in moments like these: “For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Luke 6:45). In times like these, life reveals what we truly carry within.

And what we hope to find within us is not simply nostalgia or concern. We want to find Jesus. We want to discover that beneath the fear, faith remains; that behind the tears, hope is still breathing; and that even when we cannot be physically close to those we love, God is there. We cannot reach across the distance and embrace every member of our family, but God can hold them. We cannot walk every affected street, but no heart is ever beyond His sight. Proverbs 13 reminds us that, through its fruit, a life reveals what has been cultivated deep within. Perhaps the hardest moments are the very ones in which our roots become visible. And so we pray: “Lord, let what comes out of us be the fruit of having known You.” May our words bring peace, our phone calls bring companionship, and our resources become expressions of love. May our concern not turn into despair, but into prayer. Because we believe in a God who is still God when the ground moves and when we cannot understand what is happening.

Today our hearts are turned toward Colombia, toward our families, and toward so many friends who are part of our story. It hurts not to be close to everyone, but our confidence does not depend on distance; it rests in the nearness of God to each one of them. We do not claim to understand all His ways; we are saying something deeper: we trust Him. We believe that nothing slips from His hands, that no tear goes unnoticed, and that even what we cannot put in order remains under His care. Jesus closes Luke 6 with the picture of a house built on rock: the waters rose and struck with force, but the house remained because it had a foundation. That is our prayer today for Colombia, for our families, and for ourselves: deep roots, a house built upon the Rock, and a heart filled with Christ. Because in the end, your life reveals what is truly in your heart. And if these days are going to reveal ours, then we want people to see how deeply we love our homeland and our people, but above all, how deeply we love Jesus and how fully we trust that, even when our eyes cannot see it, everything remains in the hands of God.

Javier & Alba