God, My “Fortaleza”

When Fred and I adopted Heriberto and José, we determined that we would do the best we could to keep them exposed to their native culture, make it our business to pursue more friendships with other Latino people than we had at the time, so our kids would grow up with role models who “look like them,” and that we would do everything we could to preserve and then build upon the little bit of Spanish they spoke.  Oh yeah, and parent them well in all the ordinary things at the same time.

With two 5 year olds in the house, I’ve found that as much as I’m committed to learning Spanish and building new relationships, I’m just not able to crack out the Rosetta Stone for an hour (or even a half hour) of uninterrupted time very often at all.   And most of our new relationships with Latino people?  Employees at the local stores we frequent.

But I’m doing the best I can.  And I’m learning to incorporate Spanish into what’s already going on.  For the boys, it’s one of their school subjects (we homeschool).  And for me, it’s the Bible.  Having grown up with it, I have a fairly good grasp on its contents, but can always stand to learn more of that, too.  So I’m trying to double-dip by  reading a passage in English and then picking one or two verses to write out in Spanish and then look up what words I don’t already know.

And so today, I found myself translating Habakkuk 3:19 which starts: 

Jehová el Señor es mi fortaleza  [The Lord God is my strength]

I knew that “fortaleza” was a substitute for “strength,” but the word implies a “fort;” so I went ahead and looked it up.  And according to my handy Random House Spanish-English, English-Spanish Dictionary, “fortaleza” means “vigor; fortitude; fortress; natural defense.”

Yes, yes, knew that… wait.  “Natural defense.”   Natural defense.  How often to I think of God as my natural defense?  Super-natural defense, sure.  But if I’m honest with myself (and this afternoon I WAS in one of those rare moments), I must admit that I think of God most often after I have exhausted my own efforts.

How different would my day look tomorrow if I actually defaulted to relying on His strength before running out of my own?  What would that feel like to have something left over even as the busyness of life keeps rolling on?  How would it seem for those around me?

Just some light pondering for my Thursday afternoon.    

But as I try to do the things I “need to” do, then add on top those I’d “like to” do, I’m fairly sure I’m going to need my “Fortaleza” in every sense of the word. 

So we’re taking a slow day tomorrow, the boys and I.  Some time to focus on what God has already done in our family’s life – just in bringing the four of us together for starters!  And what He’s done for his people throughout history.  We just finished reading the story of how the Israelites bucked going into Canaan because the people were giants and their cities well-fortified.  Even though they had already seen so many examples of God’s strength in their story up to that point.  And so they were turned back around into the wilderness to wander for 40 more years.

Since I have no interest in turning our family life into a 40 year desert-trip, I’m sure that I need to grow in the area of looking back to my Source of strength before just deciding what can or can’t be done on my own.  ‘Cause let’s face it, Fred’s not home all day, so I really DO set a lot of the tone around our house.  Is God my Natural Defense?  Really?

[Can tell you ONE thing for sure: gonna keep up this "re-read the Bible in a new language" thing - it's great for new understanding!]