Dad Daniel T.J. Mom Me
I have two wonderful parents and two amazing brothers. My parents meeting alone shows God’s amazing hand on our little family. As you maybe can tell by my name, which is pronounced Ro- see- o = ta-da Rocio, my mom is from Bogota, Colombia. She came to America as a foreign exchange student in her twenties and met my dad and they got married, and had my older brother T.J., Me, and my younger brother Daniel. I grew up in Des Moines, Iowa. My parents were new believers raising us and my mom says she was on her knees praying to God the whole time. If there was anything I remember from growing up is reading God’s word as a family in English and Spanish and going to church consistently. Both of my parents today acknowledge they knew nothing about raising a family and it is only by God we all love Him.
I have two wonderful parents and two amazing brothers. My parents meeting alone shows God’s amazing hand on our little family. As you maybe can tell by my name, which is pronounced Ro- see- o = ta-da Rocio, my mom is from Bogota, Colombia. She came to America as a foreign exchange student in her twenties and met my dad and they got married, and had my older brother T.J., Me, and my younger brother Daniel. I grew up in Des Moines, Iowa. My parents were new believers raising us and my mom says she was on her knees praying to God the whole time. If there was anything I remember from growing up is reading God’s word as a family in English and Spanish and going to church consistently. Both of my parents today acknowledge they knew nothing about raising a family and it is only by God we all love Him.
In April/May of 2001 my younger brother, within a matter of days, was diagnosed with tumors along his spinal cord. My parents immediately sough out to find a doctor who would remove them from my brother’s spinal cord. The surgery lasted forever it seemed and my brother was in ICU for a while. The doctor did not remove all of the cancer. My family went to many different doctors around our city and surrounding area and no other doctor would operate on my brother. We went to Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and the doctors would only perform radiation on my brother. Finally in September we flew to New York City to have a well-known doctor remove the rest of the cancer tumors on his spinal cord. When we got to Manhattan the doctor met us all and we decided on the date of the operation. My mom prayed earnestly and decided on a date, September 13, 2001. 2 amazing miracles happened in this short period of time. My brother’s tumors were all removed and he recovered after surgery. The doctor that performed the surgery two weeks later was in an accident and never performed a surgery again. My family was in Manhattan and God protected all of us This was a turning point in my relationship with God. I was a Christian, I went to church, and I prayed to God but my relationship with God became deeper and more intimate. I realized after this trip how in an instant our lives can be gone. After coming back from the trip God showed my family His hand on our trip as the doctor since has died. I experienced God during the next 3 years in a radical and close way as my relationship with Him growed.
Towards the end of my senior year in high school God no longer was the driver, I had taken control and God was in the backseat. My actions were the only thing separating me from my non believing friends and that too soon changed. As I experienced college for the next three and a half years I lived with rarely saying no to my flesh. I experienced a lot of hurt and sadness from my choices that had driven me away from my Heavenly Father. The world and its desires had drawn me in and I lived unfulfilled. I strangely enough continued to attend church on Sunday mornings and my heart would just hurt as I did not ever know if I could ever be close to God.
I have been attending Grace University for the past 2 1/2 years and God has dramatically changed my heart with a 360 degree change. It is hard to even explain but I desired Him more and more. I began praying that God would change me and make me more like Him. It is not something that occurred over night as I waited and kept praying, I remember wishing it would have happened over night but it didn’t, it took time. I asked God to bring back my passion and adventure for a life that He has called me to. God has used my friends, my parents, my mentor, my bible study group and even my classes and book assignments to challenge my walk and growth with God to where I am now. Change is hard and I’m so thankful God has put a group of accountability around me so that I may never become complacent. I was so excited to graduate in December and go to graduate school in January to start being a therapist. Everything was great, I liked the school, the city, everything but God said no. Through hearing of the Race through friends God showed me what He had called me to for the next year. As I look back on these past months I see a little part of the once confusing puzzle God has called me to For Such A Time As This.
