Session 6: Lessons from the Olive
Introduction to Session 6
Author: Vanita Thomas
Vanita Thomas is the privileged, beloved, adopted daughter of the God of the universe who has been chosen to inherit the riches of His glory one day! She is Peter’s wife, mother of Sandeep, Sneha Ruth and Sarah Rachna and the mother-in-love of Shirley. She is an Engineer and Business Information Specialist who chose to step out of her career in order to dedicate her life to the far harder task of loving and caring for her beloved children when they began their adoption journey in 1998. God’s call on her life to be an adoptive mom has been amazingly beautiful but has also been an extremely hard marathon. She has the added privilege to be mom to a biological daughter who is her baby girl as well as to her daughter-in-love. She knows that she stands only by the grace of God, and desires that others experience it as well! “To endure the cross is not tragedy; suffering is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffe
St. Marks Cathedral, Bangalore
St. Marks Cathedral was a beautiful old British church which stood tall at the entrance to the famous Bangalore M.G. Road, across the street from Queen’s Park. It was the CSI flagship church. The church hosted many of the elite Bangalore Christian families who regularly worshipped there. Bishop Cottons girls and boys schools were affiliated with Read More …
The Education Conundrum
Sandeep and I just returned from a wonderful experience at the American Federation for Children’s Summit 2018 in the heart of Washington DC. It was the meeting of some of the top education think tanks in the country as they shared ideas and successes while discussing the biggest problems facing our nation’s children today. Lack of Read More …
The Scandal of the Gospel – Relationships
For not even His brothers believed in Him (John 7:5). Then Jesus went home, and once again a crowd gathered, so that He and His disciples could not even eat. And when His family heard it, they went out to seize Him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.” (Mark 3:20-21). I Read More …
Life for My Dying Conscience
– by Rashmi Trivedi (author of Woman, everything will be fine!) – Illustrated by Vanita Thomas Sometimes in the dark of the night, I visit my conscience to see if it is still breathing, for it is dying a slow death Every day. When I pay for a meal in a fancy place, an amount which Read More …
Viceroy’s House Movie, and India’s True Freedom
Today, India celebrated another Republic Day in remembrance of the day in 1950 when the Constitution was ratified. I reminisce back to many a Republic Day parade where we proudly went in uniform to Parade Grounds as a part of our School Band which played in the parades or with our Girl Guides (Scouts) troupe Read More …
The Journey to Bethlehem
Let us put ourselves in the shoes of Mary and Joseph, as they made that 100 mile arduous journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem while Mary was well into her pregnancy. His beloved had just lain down to rest and he had walked a few feet away looking into the skies as the darkness overwhelmed them. Read More …
Charles Mully – A Life Well Lived
I am flabbergasted today after watching the life of Charles Mully of Kenya! From orphaned, unwanted and utterly hopeless to the Midas like business person and millionaire leading to a Paul like encounter with God from which sprung a life of sacrifice and surrender resulting in the care of over 12,000 orphans and eternal treasure! Read More …
Anne of Green Gables
I devoured the Anne of Green Gables book series when I was a mere fourth grader in Sophia Girls High School in Bangalore, India! I could not put them down, even going after school between library days to get the next book in the series. I was after all following in my Mom’s footsteps as Read More …
Silver Anniversary Thoughts
Twenty five years have come and gone……we were young and so in love! Today, looking back we see that by God’s grace alone do we stand…….Jesus walks before us leading the way. Blind and foolish we have wavered and faltered…….but with God’s bright light, our path was illumined and bettered. We’ve hurt each other through our manifold messes……..thankfully, He has Read More …