This is a list of Costa Rican Christian rock bands that have been active during 2014. Although a few of these bands are calling it quits after this year, they will be remembered and their legacy will live on for a long time.
If you click on the name of the band you'll be taken to their Facebook profile. If you'd like me to add or modify a band listed here, just comment below. Enjoy!
I try and I try, but I just can’t stop. I mean, I see how bad it hurts everyone, even me. I know it’s wrong and that all it brings is destruction - physical, mental and spiritual destruction - but I just can’t help but to like it. I’m attracted to the sickness of self-destruction.
It feels like somebody else is in control of my actions and my body. I give the command in my head to stop, but my hands and feet continue to make their way to the trap that my enemy has set for me. It’s like I am a slave to myself, to my flesh and that I can’t sit on the throne to rule my own decisions, my own life. Lies, other people, alcohol, porn and anger, depression and suicidal tendencies, self-mutilation… So many things have sat on my throne, but not me, never me. Then I understood that word I had always heard about: addiction.
Me? An addict? I never thought I would be one. I didn’t do drugs as often as my friends did. Only drug users are to be called 'addicts', but not me, my friend. It just didn’t click in my head that I could be addicted to something, but I was. As a teenager I got kicked out of my home because of my anger and abusive drinking. Now I look back and I see that I was just a kid. I still am. Now I look at my younger brother who is 16 and I cannot imagine him holding a drink, much less getting as drunk as I used to. Or smoking cigarets the way I did.
How blind was I? How weak? I just kept crawling back to pain and emptiness. I had nothing left to do but surrender to it.
If you are fighting an addiction you will understand that it turns into a never-ending cycle of submission to whatever it is that’s keeping you captive. It only takes you to one end if you don’t stop on time: death.
How can I defeat my addiction?
You can’t do it alone, that’s for sure. It takes so much more than your own willpower. It’s not going to be enough because you are weak, you have been for the last several years, haven’t you? You need someone to walk through this with you. Maybe a friend, a pastor, someone that will not judge you when you fall, yet won’t baby you either. If you are a new Christian, I would highly recommend you to not go to your old friends for this because it’s only going to drag you down again eventually.
Now, what you CAN do by yourself with your own willpower and discipline is to pray… hardcore. Make the decision, be brave and do not be dismayed. The only way I could’ve ever overcome any of my self-destructive habits was through all the time I and people who loves me spent on our knees asking God to give me the strength to be free of all of those chains. And you know what? It worked.
I still fight my flesh on a daily basis and that’s not going to change, but I am not ruled by self-destruction anymore. I AM FREE. I have been delivered by Christ, for Christ. He is the only thing worth living for, the only person worth being ruled by.
He holds the answers and the power you’re looking for to overcome and get the victory that we desire so much.
My band recently released a new album and the first song I wrote for it is called “Libertà”, which is Italian for “freedom”. The song is in Spanish so I have translated the lyrics to English so you can understand what it says.
You are not alone, if you’re reading this you have been prayed for. You can do it, there’s freedom available for you in Christ. Come get it!
Libertà (Freedom)
I have been lost in very confusing shadows
But I’ve decided I won’t make any more excuses
I want to be free today, I want to know who I am
I want to live in You today, I want to know where I’m going
I want to fly, I want to feel Your freedom
And to be awaken by the light of Your truth
I want Your peace, to breathe in You again
I can’t anymore, without you I can’t go on
I have been hurt by very profound things
But I ask you today: “Set me free from my tortures"
I want to be free today, I want to know who I am
I want to live in You today, I want to know where I’m going
I want to fly, I want to feel Your freedom
And to be awaken by the light of Your truth
I want Your peace, to breathe in You again
I can’t anymore, without you I can’t go on
I will not hide behind a thousand addictions
I’ll leave my chains behind and I’ll break free from my prisons
I’ll be brave today and I’ll make decisions
I’ll believe in Your promises, come for my afflictions
There are two types of testimonies
in the life of a Christian: that of one’s life before meeting Christ and the
testimony of God’s work after meeting Christ. In this post, I’m going to share part of my life before Jesus saved me. So
just know my after-Christ story is a bit more glorious. So, here it goes…
My birth was neither planned nor wanted. My parents got pregnant with my older brother
when they were 17 years old and were obligated to get married. Twelve months
and 2 days later, I arrived. By the time I was 5, violence in our home finally
tore my parent’s marriage apart. With my dad out of the picture, we grew up poor
and without luxuries. The shoes I wore were not my size and I never had cool
clothes or toys. Sometimes mom wouldn’t eat so that my brother and I could have
dinner.
My dad was absent for a big part of my life
after the divorce. During that time my mother had to work to support us so while
she was gone, my brother and I would spend all afternoon at my cousin’s house.
I was in kindergarten and too young to know what was really happening when my cousin abused me. It was supposed to be a secret and a game so, in my naivety,
I believed it. It lasted a few months and I didn’t understand what had happened
until years later when, in a sexual education class in elementary school, they
explained to us what molestation is.
My mom didn’t
believe me when I told her and I had no father to confide in. Sure, I had a few
stepdads throughout my childhood but never a father to provide shelter or a
safe place for me. I had no one. So left
all alone with my shame, I started hating myself and everyone else. I quickly
became depressed, angry and felt so unloved.
I heard about God a few times before - from few
different religions. So many rules and restrictions to receive love from God
made as much sense as to blame Him for everything I felt. So I decided to
become an atheist.
I learned to drink my pain away by following
my second stepfather’s example. Finally, my alcohol problem got out of control
at age of 15. That got me kicked out of home to start finding my way through a
life that went on and on into a self-destructive cycle.
Suicide seemed the only way out many times in
my life. It became more and more appealing and almost became my final path
until I got saved. Not by a religion or a church but by a loving Father. I’ve
never been the kind of kid that a parent would feel proud of, but this wasn’t
like any parent I have had. He took away my shame, my hate, and my solitude. My
life made sense. Pablo Olivares’s testimonial movie made me understand that if
God could restore someone like him He might as well restore me, and He did! I
had to get rid of my pride and accept that my life was going nowhere without
Him. That wasn’t easy at all but from that point on my life has been worthy. It
was not easy but He was there all the way through the profound healing and the
deep restoration with His endless love and forgiveness.
A few months after I accepted Christ I wrote a
song. While it may not be the best song ever written, it has significant
meaning to me. Music has always been an outlet for me and when I was an atheist,
I wrote and sang about my hatred to God so writing this song was
the first time I remember worshipping God with all my soul. I really hope that my testimony and this song speak to you in your walk with the Lord. Remember, whoever you are, wherever you are, no matter what you've done, God's will is to forgive you, love you and heal you. I have translated
the lyrics since it’s in Spanish so that you can comprehend better what it
stands for. You can play the song at the bottom of the page!
Clamor (Cry Out)
Take what’s hidden in this
heart
I’m exhausted, can´t deal with this pain any more
Forgive
me for saying I didn’t need you
Give me your peace Lord, you’re what I was looking for
I’ve walked for so long, come carry me
Wipe my tears away, come hug me
Heal my past, come touch me
I’ve never missed you so much
Show me the way out of this
maze
You know I’m not lying, I am sorry
Take
this heavy mask off of me
Give me your strength Lord, without you I can’t go on
