The girl who wrote it all down: meet Asli Marveli

Introducing Asli Marveli — scholar, writer, and a voice we think the world needs to hear.

I have known Marveli since she was three or four years old. I watched her learn to read. I watched reading become something she loved. And for years after that, I watched her disappear quietly into books — not because she had nothing else to do, but because something in her was hungry for words in a way that not everyone is.

In Honduras, reading for pleasure is a luxury that many families simply cannot afford — not because books are expensive, but because when economic survival is urgent and constant, the idea of sitting down with a story feels nonsensical. Time is for working. Time is for eating. Time is not for fiction. Marveli grew up understanding that reality. And she read anyway.

What I didn't know — for a long time — was that she had also been writing.

The Thing That Was Truly Hers

Marveli grew up in a large household. Privacy was not something that came easily. And so her diaries — which she began keeping in middle school and has filled ever since — were the one thing that was completely, entirely her own. She kept them that way on purpose. Not out of shame, but out of a need to have a space where she could be fully honest, fully herself, without anyone finding her words and using them against her or making her feel small for having them.

She wrote prolifically — through middle school, through high school, and now into university. She wrote through some of the hardest seasons of her life, including the loss of a close friendship that still marks her. A kindred spirit from those early years who struggled with her own identity and ultimately chose a self-destructive path. That grief is woven quietly through many of Marveli's pages. She has never fully set it down. Maybe writing is how she carries it.

About three years ago, she mentioned to me that she had been writing. I encouraged her, but I didn't pry. Last year, she began sharing some of her work with me. And recently, on a visit, she told me something that stopped me:

She wants to be published.

She has been going back through her middle school writings with the eyes of someone who has lived eight or ten more years. Her perspective has shifted. Where she once wrote from inside the pain, she can now see it from a different angle — with more understanding, more grace, and more hard-won wisdom. She is revisiting those old pages and giving them new life. And she wants to share them, because she believes they might help someone else who is in the middle of something she has already survived.

Who Marveli Is Today

Marveli is currently in her first year of university, studying computer engineering — a practical path chosen with job opportunity in mind. But if you spend any time with her, you quickly understand that writing is what beats her soul. She is also deeply creative in other ways: she loves art, has an eye for design, and we have been talking about whether graphic design might be a more natural fit for where her gifts actually live. That is her decision to make and hers alone. What I know for certain is that whatever path she chooses, she will bring something genuine and rare to it.

Marveli and I have a project together that has nothing to do with academics. We are building a website where she can post her reflections and stories — a place where her words can live in the open and find the people who need them. It is coming soon. And we are very excited.

In the meantime, she has agreed to let me share one of her reflections here. It was written in Spanish, as all of her work is, and what follows is my English translation of her original words. I hope it gives you a glimpse into the heart, mind, and soul of Asli Marveli — one of our scholars, and a writer the world is about to meet.

God Knows All Our Problems

A reflection by Asli Marveli

Sometimes we wonder if God truly sees what we are living through.

We wonder if He hears our silent tears. If He knows the internal battles that no one else notices. If He understands the weariness we carry hidden behind a smile.

And in the middle of the pain, we often think:

“If God knew this was going to happen… why didn't He stop it?”

“Why didn't He send a clearer sign?”

“Why did He allow me to break this way?”

But the truth is that God always speaks.

The problem is not His silence… the problem is that we often do not know how to listen.

God speaks to us in ways we don't expect. Sometimes through people. Sometimes through an unexpected conversation. A piece of advice. A warning. A feeling. He even uses pain and difficult circumstances to try to wake us before we fall.

But we — out of pride, out of stubbornness, or simply because we are distracted by the noise of the world — choose to ignore those signs. We keep walking toward places God had already shown us could destroy us. And when we finally stumble and fall, we feel that He abandoned us. When in reality, He never left.

Because God never lets go of our hand.

It is we who pull away.

And even so… even after we have pulled away, He continues waiting for our return with love and patience.

God did not promise a life without problems. He did not promise perfect days or easy roads. But He did promise to be with us in the middle of every storm.

There are pains we don't understand. There are trials that feel too heavy. There are nights where we feel we can't go on.

And yet, even in those moments, God continues working in silence. Even when we cannot see it. Even when everything feels broken. Because many times, the trials do not come to destroy us — they come to strengthen us, to teach us, and to draw us closer to Him.

God knows exactly how much your heart can bear. He knows your limits, your wounds, your thoughts, and even those tears you never told anyone about. Before you ever spoke, He already knew what was hurting inside you.

And although we may not always understand the purpose of certain seasons, God never allows a battle without purpose. Every difficulty leaves a lesson. Every fall leaves maturity. And every wound can become proof that you survived.

So do not give up.

Maybe today you feel tired. Maybe you are fighting thoughts that no one knows about. Maybe you feel the weight of the world pressing down on you.

But God is still there.

Holding you up even when you don't notice. Protecting you from things you never even imagined. Speaking to you in small ways that we so often overlook.

So clear your spiritual ears. Grow quiet inside yourself. Learn to listen.

Because God can speak to you through a worried mother, through a friend, through a verse, through a disappointment, or even through a door that closed when you desperately wanted to walk through it.

And although we don't always understand His plans, we must trust that He sees much further than we ever could.

As Joshua 1:9 says:

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

No matter how difficult the road…

God is already going ahead of you.

Scripture References

Psalm 34:17-19 — “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Psalm 139:1-4 — “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.”

Isaiah 41:10 — “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you.”

A Prayer

Lord, today I place before you every one of my problems, my fears, and my burdens. You know my heart better than anyone, and you know how hard it is to keep going sometimes. Help me to hear your voice even in the noise, to understand your signs and to trust your plans even when I don't understand them. Give me strength when I feel weak, peace when my mind is tired, and faith so I don't give up. Thank you, because even when I pull away, you never abandon me. Amen.

Final Reflection

Sometimes we believe God forgot us because He didn't answer the way we wanted. But many times, His greatest act of love was preventing something worse from destroying us.

God does not arrive late. God arrives when our soul needs to understand that without Him, we can never truly hold ourselves up.

And even if you don't understand what you are living through today… someday you will look back and realize that God was with you even in the moments when you thought you were completely alone.

— Marveli wrote those words in Spanish, in her own hand, in one of the many diaries she has kept since she was a girl. I translated them as faithfully as I could. But the voice is entirely hers.

Her blog is coming soon. When it does, I hope you'll follow her there. She has a lot more to say — and I believe there are people hungry to hear it.

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