VALidations

I have two dogs, a lab-beagle mix named Penny, and a German Shepard-something mix named Lucy.  Penny, being part beagle, will follow her nose into all kinds of danger and no amount of calling can get her off the trail and back toward home.  Our yard is not fenced in, so we have to attach Penny to a leash every time she goes outside.  I am sure she would happily follow a scent all day and possibly find her way home eventually...that is, if she survived the busy road nearby.  So, for her protection, she is allowed only a certain amount of freedom.  We let her outside, but she can only go so far so that she doesn't get hurt. There are many ways to contain your dog.  A. You can let her roam free and if she gets hit, you are at fault.  B. You can build a fence around your yard, though she may find a way under or over if she is determined.  C. You can keep her on a leash and guide every direction she turns. Or, D. You can bury a wire and put a speci...

I am not God, I am your mother many mistakes I'll make So I pray that it will be His hand that you take I am not God, I am your mother though you cling to me So I pray that onto Him you'll cling more tightly I am not God, I am your mother And my love is fierce But greater love has He than I  for nails His hands did pierce I am not God, I am your mother You are His, not mine So I pray that you would know  that He is Joy Devine I am not God, I am your mother I make this solemn plea That we might be together with Him for all eternity

This is a good year for dandelions.  Lawns everywhere are sprinkled with their golden hue and dusted with their white tufts of seeds.  Every Spring our neighbor across the street takes his weed killer and sprays each dandelion individually.  This always makes me a little sad because each one of my girls has loved picking dandelions, bringing me the soft yellow blossom with its awkward gangly stem saying, "Here Mommy, I got you a flower."  Some wicked person, however, has told my oldest daughter that dandelions are in fact weeds.   Innocence lost.  Still, once the dandelions have seemingly overnight grown tall and turned to white puffs, she picks them and makes a wish before blowing the seeds away.  So as I watch my neighbor labor (probably in vain since my kids are little dandelion seed dispersers) to eradicate all the dandelions from his lawn I begin to wonder what a world free of dandelions would be like.  We love to label things...to classify...

There is nothing more wonderful this side of heaven than experiencing the revelation of God's nature little by little each passing day.  He will use anything and everything to teach us more about Himself, and knowing Him is pure JOY.  So, I had the idea to chronicle these wonderful revelations as God puts them into my heart.  I thought, "I'll start a blog!", totally forgetting that I already had one from several years ago.  Well, it has a new name, courtesy of my dad who is ever so good with words: VALidations.  My nickname is Val, and my initials are V. A. L.  See what he did there?  Pretty clever.  Validation.....that is what we constantly crave, isn't it?  Especially those of us who feel unseen and underappreciated.  I am a stay-at-home mom.  My daily life is one of very little glamour and even less praise.  Who will validate me by saying, "Hooray!  That's officially the one-thousandth time you have washed, folded, an...

Mere Christianity , Book Two What Christians Believe, Chapter 5 The Practical Conclusion "The perfect surrender and humiliation were undergone by Christ: perfect because He was God, surrender and humiliation because He was man."  I would change the past-tense "was" to present-tense "is" but CS Lewis was the Oxford professor of English, not me!  Jesus is God and He is man.  But the point is that Christians who share in Jesus' surrender and humiliation (admitting that we are imperfect to say the least and must surrender our lives) will also share in His victory over death and have new life.  How is this possible?  How can Christ put His new life into us?  Lewis believes there are three things that "spread the Christ-life to us": baptism, belief, and communion.  This is one point from which the many "denominations" of Christianity disperse.  I personally believe that the only way to receive new life in Christ is by simply believing i...

Not a single soul born on this planet has been spared suffering...not even God's perfect and blameless Son, Jesus.  Thank you, Lord, for sending Jesus to suffer with us on this planet, so that we are never alone. The Hurt and the Healer (Mercy Me) Why? The question that is never far away The healing doesn't come from the explained Jesus please don't let this go in vain You're all I have All that remains So here I am What's left of me Where glory meets my suffering I'm alive Even though a part of me has died You take my heart and breathe it back to life I've fallen into Your arms open wide When the hurt and the healer collide Breathe Sometimes I feel it's all that I can do Pain so deep that I can hardly move Just keep my eyes completely fixed on You Lord take and hold and pull me through So here I am What's left of me Where glory meets my suffering I'm alive Even though a part of me has died You take my heart and b...

Mere Christianity, Book II What Christians Believe, Chapter Four  The Perfect Penitent If Jesus was not a crazy person or a liar, then we are left with only one possibility.  He was in fact who He claimed to be: God in human form.  But why?  When He was alive, He did do a lot of teaching, but Christians will tell you that the main reason He came was to suffer and die, and then be raised from the dead.  Believing this is the foundation of Christianity.  Every Christian, regardless of his or her denomination, believes that Jesus was God, and that He died and rose again, and that this single unimaginable act somehow put us right with God.  That, in a nutshell, is Christianity. Now, there are many different theories out there to explain how  Jesus' death and resurrection put us right with our Creator once again, and defeated death (and the devil) for all time.  But please remember that these theories are not  Christianity.  "The cen...