Help my Unbelief - a Poem & a Testimony

     It is no secret to those who know us that we have been wanting and waiting for a second child. It has been hard not to self-diagnose ourselves with terms like 'secondary infertility'. Calculators and charts and even apps have failed as each month we wait eagerly only to be disappointed. News of friends who wanted only one child but were "surprised", only filled me with jealousy and doubt. Was I not a good enough mother to the one child he blessed me with?
     It was after one such time when it seemed like our answer was almost there that I wrote this poem. My mother encouraged me to pray for another couple who were in a similar situation.  I must tell you, I am ashamed to say that praying for someone in a similar situation was new to me. Until then, I had only focused on myself whenever I was in trouble. But I realised praying for someone else when you are so sensitive for the same reasons brings deep healing. It was almost as if my 'prayer lenses' had just been given a good cleaning. I could see and hear clearly from God.
    Around the same time, I was reading from Mark 9:14-29 and this story spoke directly to me. I was asking God the very same thing. "But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us".  Realising my foolishness, I asked, believing He could answer, and He did! A couple of weeks later, my mother called me to say the couple I had been praying for were expecting twins!! I cried. This time there was not one ounce of jealousy. Just thankfulness and hope that He would answer my prayer too.
So... that's where I stand today. Waiting and Hopeful in my God who will!

I Believe, Help my Unbelief

"I know it,
I know it "
I tell myself.
I am trying hard
To convince myself.

"I believe in you Lord!
You made the Heavens and the Earth,
You knit me together in my mother's womb
You know me Lord,
I believe in you Lord!
I'd have no other God before you.

But... If you can, please work this miracle for me Lord! "

In the silence as I wait
Breathless, unsure,

I hear him say...

" If I CAN? My little girl,
  There is nothing I can't do,
  Don't just believe in me,
  BELIEVE ME!

Believe that I can,
Believe that I will
only
Do what's best for you.

Don't just believe in me,
BELIEVE ME! "

I believe you Lord,
Help my unbelief!

Headless in Heaven

Last week, we attended the wake and funeral of Ashwin's beloved grand uncle. We wanted Nanma to witness this.  Naturally, we knew there'd be many questions and Ashwin and I had discussed what we would tell her and how. We are particular that she knows the truth about life and death and we want her to grow up knowing that death isn't the end and of life everlasting to those who believe.

So... we got past all the "Why did he die?" "How did he die?" and the "I won't die". Nanma was fine at the home of the deseased. She played with her cousins there and everything was fine. Then came the time at the cemetery. We reached early because parking would be a problem.  Ashwin showed her the pit they had dug (funerals in India are very different from those in the west. The congregation is present for the actual burial) and explained

Ashwin: "Nanma, that's the pit where they are going to put the Appacha's body."
Nanma: "Why?"
Ashwin: "Because he died. When someone dies, their body cannot walk or talk or do anything we can do. It will soon get spoiled so we bury it"
Nanma: "Why?"
Me: "But then, remember your memory verse? "
Nanma : " for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. Whoever believes in him will not die but have "returnal" life" (she can never say eternal)
Ashwin: Yes. So Appacha is in heaven with Jesus.
Nanma : huh?
Me: "Nanma, his body will be buried. But because he believed in Jesus, his life will be with Jesus in that awesome, super place called heaven"
Nanma: ..... (long pause) ...  but his head will still be here, no? 

She understood "body" to mean everything neck down. ha ha! We laughed, got a few glares from people around, and then set her right.

She still doesn't understand the concept. But we aren't going to dilute what we believe in with watered down lies.

God is Waiting

I read THIS today. I had to share.

Less Like Scars and More like Character

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wtpZfYG1nBs

I found this link over at Aliesha's blog. And it in a way sums up stuff that has been going on in my life.

The feeling of weightlessness after handing over your worries to God is amazing.

LESS LIKE SCARS - By Sara Groves

It's been a hard year

But I'm climbing out of the rubble
These lessons are hard
Healing changes are subtle
But every day it's
Less like tearing, more like building
Less like captive, more like willing
Less like breakdown, more like surrender
Less like haunting, more like remember

And I feel you here
And you're picking up the pieces
Forever faithful
It seemed out of my hands, a bad situation
But you are able
And in your hands the pain and hurt
Look less like scars and more like
Character

Less like a prison, more like my room
It's less like a casket, more like a womb
Less like dying, more like transcending
Less like fear, less like an ending
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/s/sara_groves/less_like_scars.html ]
And I feel you here
And you're picking up the pieces
Forever faithful
It seemed out of my hands, a bad situation
But you are able
And in your hands the pain and hurt
Look less like scars

Just a little while ago
I couldn't feel the power or the hope
I couldn't cope, I couldn't feel a thing
Just a little while back
I was desperate, broken, laid out, hoping
You would come

And I need you
And I want you here
And I feel you

And I know you're here
And you're picking up the pieces
Forever faithful
It seemed out of my hands, a bad, bad situation
But you are able

* Picture from here

After the Royal Wedding.

I watched a part of the Royal Wedding vis Youtube's free live streaming from the Royal channel.

It was beautiful. Kate looked lovely. Both the princes looked handsome and a little nervous. The hats looked ridiculous as always. Westminster Abbey looked lovely and I thought the small trees placed inside for decoration were a brilliant idea.

However, what struck me most was that once the minister started speaking, it was like any other Christian wedding. I loved listening to the Bible passage they had chosen to be read aloud. It was from Romans 12. Kate's brother did a wonderful job of delivering it.

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

He read some more, but I thought I should present just this part, as I do hope, and will be praying that that stand by these words.

One of my single friends posted this as her status on facebook - "A fairytale wedding lasts a day. A fairytale marriage lasts a lifetime. I'd rather have the latter"

Truer words were never spoken!

It Hurts

I learned a lesson tonight.... A big one. And I want to share it with you. I am totally expecting some hateful comments, but I stand by what I say. 100%

This evening, Nanma was acting up way more than she usually does. She seemed to be focusing all her energy into repeatedly doing what she very well knows she isn't to do. Now we have a discipline system going at our home. At our home, the natural consequence for what cannot be corrected after 3 time outs is an adi. (spank)(Don't jump at me now!) .

Now Nanma got one adi. She cried. It was hard for me. And she was warned that doing the same "bad thing" again would result in another adi. She told me she wouldn't do it again. And then, barely 5 minutes later, she was back at it!

This time, I was more upset than angry. I hate having to cause my one precious daughter pain. But I knew I couldn't let it slide with just a warning because then she will understand that she could get away with anything if she does it again. I told her I was going to give her an adi. I saw that look of fear cross her eyes. It was p.a.i.n.f.u.l to see that. But then again, I knew I had to do it just to make her understand that I mean NO when I say no!

My eyes teared up as I told her that her defiant behaviour was making me sad. I reminded her of my warning and told her I love her. But I have to give her an adi. I cried. It truly hurt me more than it hurt her to give that adi. ...... I know. Because I have heard my own mother tell me that "adi chufying" me as a kid hurt her more than it hurt me. I never understood it then, but I do now. I've felt my heart being wrung out as I watched Nanma go through an illness or even cry at vaccinations, but this one hurt far more than all those!

And as I held my crying toddler close, and whispered in her ear that I loved her more than she'd ever know, and that I was happy she wouldn't do it again, something suddenly dawned on me.

This is exactly what God was feeling like about me... or even worse! How many times did he watch in sadness as I committed the same sin over and over again! And it probably hurts him far more than it hurts me to watch me face the natural consequences for my actions! And oh my goodness, if I love my daughter so very much, how much more does he love me!!!

Gosh! This is what He means by "The Father's love" !!!!!! God - my heavenly parent!

This blog post might seem ridiculous to you if you don't believe in disciplining your children, or even if you don't have kids yet. But trust me. I feel it, and Its real!

P.S. Appa & Amma, I know you're reading this. I'm so so sorry for the pain Ive put you through. I never understood what you meant till now. Love you so so much!

My babies

I am a mother.

Even as a toddler I was mother……to my dolls.

At 16, I preferred rocking our neighbor’s baby to sleep rather than prepare for my board exams.

I have one daughter, and faith that God will give me more.

But….

I also have many ‘children’ scattered across the globe. Babies I’ve played with, become a part of my life. My mother used to find it amusing that every baby I played with would be the “cutest baby I’ve known”.

Some of my babies are all grown up now…That’s because I was 5 years old when I first started feeling a sense of ownership over the babies I regularly played with. My first baby will soon become a dentist!!! My second baby now volunteers with children living in poverty in the Philippines. ( I had the pleasure of having her at my home for a couple of days last week) Another baby, now in her teens is admirably strong at holding on to her faith and values amid peer pressure. She dreams of being a mathematics professor in Oxford!!!

The baby of the whole T clan is now finishing high school (though she calls it pre-university) and writes a blog where she comes across as someone wayyyyy beyond her years.

And me? I’m so grateful that these kids know me and acknowledge me as a part of their lives. I am proud of all they’ve accomplished and pray that they will continue to shine their lights for Jesus!

I am grateful for the community where I grew up. I know I am the product of my parents’ reliance on God and the investment these babies’ parents and others put into my life.

It truly takes a village to raise a child!

a rooftop, stars, a song and God

I am currently teaching the solar system to my grade 4 class. I have always enjoyed this particular unit because we get to talk about the sheer ‘awe-factor’ of the universe. This year, since I am also reading the book ‘Crazy Love’ by Francis Chan, I showed my class this video. How awesome is our creator God!!

Talking about the solar system and the stars and the “wonders beyond our galaxy” reminded me of this song that is such a dear song to my family.

It's a song from the 60's by Ralph Carmichael. But of course, I grew up in a place where time walks slower and so I grew up singing this song.

In the stars His handiwork I see,

On the wind He speaks with majesty,

Though He ruleth over land and sea,

What is that to me?

I will celebrate Nativity,

For it has a place in history,

Sure, He came to set His people free,

What is that to me?

Till by faith I met Him face to face,

and I felt the wonder of His grace,

Then I knew that He was more than just a God who didn't care,

That lived a way out there and

Now He walks beside me day by day,

Ever watching o'er me lest I stray,

Helping me to find that narrow way, He's Everything to me.

My family had a little tradition. Any time there was a serious issue that needed to be sorted, my parents would take me up to the terrace (roof) in the night and we would sit down on the floor and talk about it. Of course, there would first be denial, then tears, repentance, hugs, kisses, new resolutions, prayer and then after it all, we would lie down on the floor and watch the stars. One of us would eventually break out into singing “In the stars his handiwork…” and the other two would join in. These were such special moments and I learned lessons for life here.

At that time, I never bothered to know what the words of the song meant. All I knew at that time was that I wasn’t too crazy about the tune and it was a song about God creating the stars and the wind and stuff. But now, that I have this song ringing in my head, I’ve stopped and actually listened to what I was singing.

Yes, God is the awesome God who created the universe, and he does live in splendor beyond compare but my parents showed to me then that he is also a God who cares so deeply about a little girl’s deeds, and who is full of grace to forgive her once she has repented.

And I can’t stop thanking God for giving me such wonderful, godly parents!

Everything!!!

Every experience God gives us,

Every person He puts into our lives

Is

The Perfect preparation

For a Future

Only He can see

-Corrie ten Boom

Have you heard of Corrie ten Boom? If you grew up in a family like mine, you would have. (My friends and husband laugh at the fact that "Bible Trivia" was one of the games my cousins and I used to play!!) . We used to have her biography as a comic at my grandparents home. (we even had "Christian" Archie comics!!...yes, they exist!!! LOL!!!

Anyway, I came across this quote by her sometime ago,(May 27th, 2009 to be exact!), saved it on my blogger page so that I could write a post on it sometime in the future, and then forgot all about it. (people don't call me a scatterbrain for nothing!) Today, as I was looking through the 20 odd posts I started but never finished, this one stuck out from the rest. Imagine a young woman, a holocaust survivor, meets one of her tormentors who comes to ask her forgiveness many years later, and then is able to say this! What a life!

And I thought I'd just share it!

* After I posted this, I went on to Google Christian Archie Comics, and I found this. I have no idea how my Appacha got a bunch of those comics, but we had them all... I remember reading Johnny Cash's biography in comic form and 'The Cross and the Switchblade', one about a seagull and more.

Mirror Mirror!

'The scariest moment in parenthood is realizing your child is turning out to be just like you.'

I read this on a blog today, and I know its true of me!

Our lil angel has tried testing our limits from the day she was born, but never with as much intensity as she has over the past two weeks. Paunch and I have been to a parenting workshop, and read our fair share of books on it. We get parenting advice from our parents, experienced and inexperienced friends and even strangers in the supermarket! Basically, we are fed up to our teeth with advice!! But nothing has prepared us for this battle of discipline.

The most difficult part of this battle is looking into the eyes of this little girl we helped create and seeing ourselves in her! How I wish children inherited only the nice things from their parents! When I tell her not to do something, I realize I am guilty of the very same things I tell her off for!

It's humbling.

baby see, baby do.

I've always been the Big Sister to all my cousins, and have always been the 'pleasant girl' who my Aunts would ask their daughters to follow after. But my own daughter sees me for what I am, and she imitates me. As she grows older, I feel like I am mother to mirror. Well, that's just a metaphor. You get it right? ha ha

So, over the last 2 weeks, I've come to realize that the most important thing I can do as a parent, is to make my life one that my precious daughter can model hers on.

Wish me luck!

P.S. This is a oooold picture, taken when lil girl was 10 months old. She will soon be 18 months!

Stepping Stones

This is a post I wrote a little less than a year ago. For some reason I couldn't complete it, and so I didn't publish it. Today, I think its the right time. One of our dearest friends lost their unborn baby this week and as they and we come to terms with the loss, here's something that spoke out to me. .........Read on.

Two months ago, we went on a trek to the waterfalls near where my parents live. This is not a regular tourist spot, but is tucked away between a farming village and the Palani Hills. There is no road leading up to the waterfalls, and so getting there is a long, dusty and ardours climb.

We like it that way!!

No proper road means no tourists. The only people you'll encounter along the way apart from the people in your hiking group would be wandering goatherds or sometimes...just sometimes,a bunch of college students looking for a quiet place to drink/smoke/gamble/and whaterver else they do on the sly, without being spotted!



It is a rocky place, and you pass big, beautiful boulders the way. You have to cross the little stream running down from the waterfalls in two places at least before you reach your destination. The stream runs on a rocky bed, so crossing the stream would be very tricky and dangerous if not for the stepping stones. In fact, whenever we trek up there, I've always marveled at the wonderful way in which these rocks have been placed by God or some person in just the right places to enable us to cross the stream and reach our breathtakingly beautiful destination!

And then soon after I came home, I read this on some blog. Since I'm completing this post almost a year later, I dont remember which blog to offer the credit to.

"No moment from my God is a rock of burden, it's just a rock waiting to be broken apart into stepping stones."

How true! As I look back on my life, I see the big boulders that came my way, I see things I used to value so much, and people I thought were my life, I thought they were my pride and joy, and then they came crashing down the waterfall and were smashed into smithereens. Each little roughly cut rock of memory caused pain. But with time, And the smooth, clear crytstal water of healing God poured over me, as I forgave and was forgiven, these became smooth, rounded, stepping stones. And as I step on these stepping stones, they keep me from falling into the water.

And I will one day reach that beautiful destination!

My dear, dear friends, I am praying for this, for you.

Guilt, Regret & Healing

Writing this post has been difficult. This post had to come up sometime, because I knew it had to. It was hard, because I wasn't sure how I really felt about the things I'm going to be writing about.

I am a normal human being, with normal emotions (OK. maybe a little heightened emotions, but I'm sure there are others like me)

And I have regrets. Some HUGE ones, some not so significant, still they make me go "Cha! If only!"

I'd like to think I am someone who doesn't care what others think of me, but I've come to realise that I do, and that it actually governs what I say and do much more than it should, and much more than I'd like it to.

Here are my biggest two.

Regret No 1:

I am a working mother. All through my childhood, I thought I'd be able to manage being a mom and a teacher. How hard could it be? Then I grew up and everyone around me was telling me the best thin I could do for my child was to stay at home and spend every minute with my daughter. I believed them. But circumstances dictated that I had to be a working mom. My best friend and all the other moms from my church are Stay at home moms (SAHM). Though none of them ever said an unkind word to me, I felt like I was shortchanging my daughter. regrets, guilt, regrets.

Regret No 2:

Might seem strange, but I always was a supporter of breastfeeding. Even as a teenager. I knew and believed it was the best thing that I could feed my child with. I never thought it would be a problem for me. But it was. right from day one. It was painful and my little girl just didn't take to it. I bore the pain amid well wishing aunts and other women intruding upon my privacy, trying to "teach" me the right way to nurse. In time the pain went away. But I couldn't nurse beyond five and a half months. People around me said "If you really want it to work, it will". I really wanted it to work. I believed bottle feeding was bad. I took natural medication to help. But it just didn't work for me. Eventually I switched my baby over to formula and bottles. Big regret. Felt terribly guilty. Made me cry each time I thought of it.

In my effort to be known as a "good christian girl", I have been doing just what Jesus doesn't want us to - look to others for appreciation. I am just realising that I do so many things, even like dragging myself and my sometimes reluctant husband to church, just because I want people to see that I'm going to church. I wanted to be a SAHM because I'd fit in with my christian friends, and because people I cared about thought it was the right thing to do. I found it hard to reconcile with bottle feeding because I was brought up to think it was wrong.

What a farce!

I am in the process of dealing with these regrets though. And as I begin to give up these guilty feelings and regrets I have into god's hands, I am beginning to see the lightness his healing brings. Once again, I am in the process of finding my healing in God. Every now and then I pull back and want to lick my own wounds. But I am learning. And I think I am finally moving in the right direction. Soon there'll be no more wounds to like. I'll be healed.

And I just wanted you to know!

The 3 R's

I believe, like the Bruderhof community does, that the 3 R's of education are not the traditional

Reading
wRiting
&
aRithmetic


but,

RESPECT

RESPONSIBILITY

and

RESOURCEFULNESS.

A lesson from my teacher and a lessons from my students

I had the previlage of doing two courses for my masters, under the former Vice-Chancellor of my university- Dr.V.Ganeshan. I was known for bunking classes in college, but his was one of the few I hardly missed. If I remember correctly, I did a paper on teaching public speaking skills and another basic one on Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. What I loved most about his lectures, were that they weren't lectures but more like anecdotes from his experiences as an educator. I value the lessons learnt here far higher than those from my "Theories of Language Acquisition" or "Promoting Learner Autonomy in the Classroom" classes, because his lessons were life lessons. Today, I received an email from him, where he signed off with this.

As a teacher, I do believe in these words of Forest Witcraft (slightly modified by me!):

"Twenty years from now It won't matter

What kind of car I drove

What kind of house I lived in

How much money I had in the bank

Nor what my cloths looked like

BUT

The world may be a little better

Because, I was important

In the life of a student

Who was willing to learn from me

and

Whom I had the privilege to teach."

Dr.Ganeshan, you have played an important part in my life and I hope I can pass on the good deed to my students!

While on the topic of learning and teaching, here are two lessons I learnt today.

1. Apart from teaching English Language, I also do "content support" where I sometimes 'pre-teach' science/math/S.studies vocabulary to my ESL students. Today, my 4th grade intermediate ESL students were asked to write down some facts they know about electricity - their next science unit.

Here's what one boy wrote :- Elektreecity is a sorce (source)of energe (energy) and it sticks to matle (metal) and water. So, becos a purson will be 70%water and the rest off the body are flash(flesh), mussal (muscle), blood and knowledge, pursons can get shoked (shocked= electrocuted) and be died if elektreecity sticks to them.

Think about it... can you actually separate what you know - your knowledge - from the rest of your body??

2. My kids are just back to school after their Fall break. (yeah... Fall break here in India!!!) Most of them went out of the country for the week. So this morning,during circle time, we were sharing our holiday stories. It was cute lil JH's turn (I know, I shouldn't have favourites, but he's such a cutie!) and this is what he said :-

" First my Mommy said we'll go to Japan for the holiday. But we got late and in Airport we got late again for writing name on some papers so the airplane went off to Japan and didn't take us. But thats ok, because we went to a place that's so much...much much...hundred times better than Japan. We went to Fisherman's Cove for 1 day (a beach resort here)and I saw a shouting star. (shooting star) - a double shouting star and ships in the sea in the night."

Seriously?? A one day trip to the beach is a hundred times better than a trip to Japan?? Aaah! If only I could make such tasty lemonade like that when life throws me lemons!!

Stepping Stones

This is a post I wrote a little less than a year ago. For some reason I couldn't complete it, and so I didn't publish it. Today, I think its the right time. One of our dearest friends lost their unborn baby this week and as they and we come to terms with the loss, here's something that spoke out to me. .........Read on.

Two months ago, we went on a trek to the waterfalls near where my parents live. This is not a regular tourist spot, but is tucked away between a farming village and the Palani Hills. There is no road leading up to the waterfalls, and so getting there is a long, dusty and ardours climb.

We like it that way!!

No proper road means no tourists. The only people you'll encounter along the way apart from the people in your hiking group would be wandering goatherds or sometimes...just sometimes,a bunch of college students looking for a quiet place to drink/smoke/gamble/and whaterver else they do on the sly, without being spotted!



It is a rocky place, and you pass big, beautiful boulders the way. You have to cross the little stream running down from the waterfalls in two places at least before you reach your destination. The stream runs on a rocky bed, so crossing the stream would be very tricky and dangerous if not for the stepping stones. In fact, whenever we trek up there, I've always marveled at the wonderful way in which these rocks have been placed by God or some person in just the right places to enable us to cross the stream and reach our breathtakingly beautiful destination!

And then soon after I came home, I read this on some blog. Since I'm completing this post almost a year later, I dont remember which blog to offer the credit to.

"No moment from my God is a rock of burden, it's just a rock waiting to be broken apart into stepping stones."

How true! As I look back on my life, I see the big boulders that came my way, I see things I used to value so much, and people I thought were my life, I thought they were my pride and joy, and then they came crashing down the waterfall and were smashed into smithereens. Each little roughly cut rock of memory caused pain. But with time, And the smooth, clear crytstal water of healing God poured over me, as I forgave and was forgiven, these became smooth, rounded, stepping stones. And as I step on these stepping stones, they keep me from falling into the water.

And I will one day reach that beautiful destination!

My dear, dear friends, I am praying for this, for you.

Just Another Ordinary Miracle

The internet is just another ordinary miracle that helped me find this song today. 

I've read the book but haven't seen the movie Charlotte's Web, but here's the song from the movie sung by Sarah McLachlan - the one who also sang my favorite 'Angel'

I think the words are simply beautiful. We take the things around us for granted, but a closer look will reveal how intricate a miracle each flower, weed or seed is!

This song is going to join the list I'm making of songs I want my lil one to know.

Here's the youtube link to this song. 

It's not that usual when everything is beautiful

It's just another ordinary miracle today

The sky knows when its time to snow 

You don't need to teach a seed to grow 

It's just another ordinary miracle today

Life is like a gift they say

Wrapped up for you everyday 

Open up and find a way 

To give some of your own 

Isn't it remarkable? 

Like every time a raindrop falls 

It's just another ordinary miracle today

Birds in winter have their fling

And always make it home by spring 

It's just another ordinary miracle today

When you wake up everyday 

Please don't throw your dreams away 

Hold them close to your heart 

Cause we are all a part 

Of the ordinary miracle

Ordinary miracle

Do you want to see a miracle?

It seems so exceptional 

That things just work out after all 

It's just another ordinary miracle today

The sun comes up and shines so bright 

It disappears again at night 

It's just another ordinary miracle today

Ooohh Oooohh

It's just another ordinary miracle today

Because He Lives!

I had a lovely Easter weekend. Paunch was here and spent 5 days with us.  Nanma, chose this weekend to begin learning that most humans sleep at night and that since she's one too  (my dad has to be convinced tho. He thinks she looks like a monkey baby!) she better follow the flock! 

Nanma went on her first house visit, her first Sunday service  and her first picnic this weekend!  And for most part of these she was a good little girl. 

I enjoyed the Easter morning sunrise service best. Its an Easter tradition in our campus, for the community to gather early in the morning on the terrace of one of the buildings here and celebrate it with a Sunrise service. Most of the service is composed of singing old favorite Easter songs and there is also a short message. This is followed by breakfast for everyone  at the Nurses hostel mess. 

I was so glad Nanma's first Sunday service was the Easter service because Easter is what her parents' faith is all about.Yes, Jesus died for our sins, but death could not hold him down. He rose again and he lives!!  Not just as a "living in our hearts" like people often say at funerals, he lives as a living God!! yay!!!

The whole day I felt like humming the song "Because He Lives" by the Gaithers. This song was popularised in India after the brutal murder of missionary Graham Stains and his two little boys. When a TV channed interviewed his wife and daughter, they said they forgive the murderer and then went on to sing the chorus of this song. 

Here is my current favorite stanza of the song  and the chorous.

How sweet to hold a newborn baby

And feel the pride and joy she gives

But greater still, the calm assurance

This child can face uncertain days

Because He Lives!

Because he lives I can face tomorrow

Because he lives, all fear is gone

Because I know, yes I know

He holds the future

And life is worth the living

Just because He Lives!

Just before I wrote this post, I went over to another blog i read. I just loved what she had to say. So if you have the time, hop over here to read it!

Hope y0u had a Happy Easter everyone... or at least a nice weekend!