Alma Ovalle is a wife, mother, Menno Latina, Spanish teacher, and writer.

I remember singing a corito (chorus) when I was growing up that said, “Si no hubiera sido por el Seňor, mi alma se hubiera perdido, si no hubiera sido por el Seňor.” Translation:  “If it hadn’t been for the Lord, my soul would have been washed over/lost, if hadn’t been for the Lord.”

These are powerful poetic words that remind me that without God on my side, as David said in Psalm 124, I would be in deep water without a way to escape. His name alone is the one I can look to for hope.

When I remember difficult times in my life, Psalm 124 runs through my mind and I say it out loud to help me remember that, if it hadn’t been for the Lord, our 3 year old son, at the time, would have fallen off of the outer side of a 20 foot escalator in Washington, D.C. to his death.  If it hadn’t been for the Lord, our daughter would have drowned in a six-foot swimming pool with no one around to help us. If it hadn’t been for the Lord, our oldest son would have never recovered from his surgery. If it hadn’t been for the Lord, I would have never been able to have the strength to endure the pain of the loss of a loved one.

The times when I have cried out to the Lord for help because I felt like I was in an unescapable place were the times when I sensed his abiding presence always with me, always by my side.

This Advent season, singing the corito out loud again gives me blessed hope and assurance that no matter what I am going through, the God who created the heavens and the earth is the name I can depend on for help. “Si no hubiera sido por el  Seňor…” Translation (If it hadn’t been for the Lord…)

My hope is in the one who sent his son to be my Savior. My everlasting hope is in Him. Emmanuel, God is with us this Advent season.

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