Busca La Forma
In our first year of marriage, Morgan and I went through a lot of transition in a very short amount of time. To begin, we spent December and January five hours apart after I graduated college and until she moved down to Dallas from Tulsa after getting a job. Then, after initially settling in Rockwall, we only managed to stay there through April before I got a job across the metroplex, forcing us to move to Addison.
Throw in a search for our church home, Morgan adapting to now being a Texan (in terms of necessary documents, having to change your last name is not easy on a woman) and simply navigating the early months of marriage, that first season was not a walk in the park.
Through it all, though, I continually felt incredible peace that my situation was completely in control — not because of me — but because of God. In that season, the same phrase encapsulated that feeling: Busca La Forma.
Translated from Spanish to “Find the way,” it was my calling card and a way for me to succinctly express to Morgan no matter the what situation we found ourselves in God was working on our behalves, plotting a course for us, already knowing the path Himself.
While I took the moniker from words etched on the walls of FC Dallas’ locker room, its meaning to me was an Ebenezer of sorts that reminded me to not look in fear or anxiety at my situation, but to be reminded of God’s past faithfulness to me and know He will again lead me into calmer waters.
The importance of using what God has already done to remind ourselves of what He will do is so vitally important to the Christian life. It’s why we celebrate Good Friday, Easter and Christmas and why the Old Testament is riddled with the Israelites constantly reminding themselves and others of how God rescued them out of tribulation.
7 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the LORD has helped us.”
1 Samuel 7:7 ESV
After bringing victory for him and his men in battle against the Philistines, Samuel rightly acknowledges God’s provision in that moment, leaving a stone at the place of battle to remember the work. What I love most is how Samuel views the intervention of God, saying “Till now the LORD has helped us.” For Samuel, because God has provided for him and his people time and time again, he has no reason to believe that would ever change in the future.
Looked at it this way, in a phrase I heard from a pastor this past weekend, it’s looking back in Thanksgiving, then looking forward in faith.
What ebenezers can you point to in your own life that give you faith and confidence to Busca la Forma? I’d encourage you to dwell on that today, maybe even write those down in a prayer, and remember them going forward when you find yourself in difficult circumstances once again.