Connected by The Keeper of the stars
Vinu Mendis
Lift up your eyes and see
Not the stars in the sky, but the Lord
Who makes them and knows them and calls them by name,
Who counts them and keeps perfect score.
Lift up your head and know
That the powers of the earth are but dust.
For the Keeper of stars is the Keeper of hearts.
Kings bow at his throne, for they must.
Lift up your heart and repent.
The King of kings has been overthrown
For a lifeless thing you have worshiped and prized
While he deserves praise alone.
Lift up your hands and praise,
Though weary your soul may be.
For in watching and waiting and trusting him still,
The strength of your Lord you will see.
Inspired by Isaiah 40:18-31
A 33-year journey started when God listened to a naïve 18 year old making a birthday wish
“I wish I find someone with whom I can share all this love I have inside me”.
My specifications for the ideal boyfriend were very simple. He should be someone I could be friends with; be tall, cute (Good Roman Catholic Girls in the late eighties didn’t use words like sexy), someone who could make me laugh, and lastly have hair long enough to tie in a ponytail.
My first encounter of significance with Lasantha Mendis, was in August 1990. It was a chance encounter, but suffice it to say he ticked four out of five boxes; hair today, gone tomorrow!
God is a prayer answering God; by the time I cut my 19th birthday cake, I was “settled” to marry this daily mass attending Good Roman Catholic boy whom my parents (especially my mother) highly approved of because he was more pious than her daughter!
In hindsight, I can say that like in the song “The Keeper of the Stars” He sure knew what he was doing when He joined these two hearts.
Lasantha and I learned “adult-ing," together and had a lot of fun along the way. We are very similar in many ways but also poles apart in more ways than one. Our similarities were sometimes to our detriment. (He is an only child, raised in a patriarchal home. I am the oldest in mine, was an only child for almost seven years yet raised by feminists).
We were both stubborn, opinionated, trained, and built to lead and not to follow! “Submitting” in our understanding; was only for the weak.
Our initial relentless battles for power almost broke our relationship even though we loved each other passionately. Our marriage would have ended, had it not been for God stepping in to keep HIS end of the marriage covenant, giving us both the “gift of salvation” in 1994 and attending a “Born Again Christian Church” the same year. Through this new understanding of what it is to be called a Child of God, we discovered the blueprint for anything and everything connected to living life, and we have continued to have the Word of God as the base and foundation for all our decisions in life.
Here’s an example: One commandment I cling to “Thou shalt not commit adultery”. I realised in the early days of our relationship that for Lasantha, once he decides you are good enough to be his “machan” he becomes gender-blind and as a result, he has many friends who are not male! Had it not been for our shared faith; my insecurities would’ve turned into suspicion and jealousy and ruined a good man, the potential for good friendships, and our marriage. I understood that Lasantha had the same connection to the same God and that the same reasons which prevented me from straying from our vows; kept him committed to our marriage.
That is how it is with our God. You trust Him and He does His part when you are faltering. He will keep His side of the marriage covenant, which is to fill your heart with His unconditional love, so we humans can love each other just as He loves us.
Not the stars in the sky, but the Lord
Who makes them and knows them and calls them by name,
Who counts them and keeps perfect score.
Lift up your head and know
That the powers of the earth are but dust.
For the Keeper of stars is the Keeper of hearts.
Kings bow at his throne, for they must.
Lift up your heart and repent.
The King of kings has been overthrown
For a lifeless thing you have worshiped and prized
While he deserves praise alone.
Lift up your hands and praise,
Though weary your soul may be.
For in watching and waiting and trusting him still,
The strength of your Lord you will see.
Inspired by Isaiah 40:18-31
A 33-year journey started when God listened to a naïve 18 year old making a birthday wish
“I wish I find someone with whom I can share all this love I have inside me”.
My specifications for the ideal boyfriend were very simple. He should be someone I could be friends with; be tall, cute (Good Roman Catholic Girls in the late eighties didn’t use words like sexy), someone who could make me laugh, and lastly have hair long enough to tie in a ponytail.
My first encounter of significance with Lasantha Mendis, was in August 1990. It was a chance encounter, but suffice it to say he ticked four out of five boxes; hair today, gone tomorrow!
God is a prayer answering God; by the time I cut my 19th birthday cake, I was “settled” to marry this daily mass attending Good Roman Catholic boy whom my parents (especially my mother) highly approved of because he was more pious than her daughter!
In hindsight, I can say that like in the song “The Keeper of the Stars” He sure knew what he was doing when He joined these two hearts.
Lasantha and I learned “adult-ing," together and had a lot of fun along the way. We are very similar in many ways but also poles apart in more ways than one. Our similarities were sometimes to our detriment. (He is an only child, raised in a patriarchal home. I am the oldest in mine, was an only child for almost seven years yet raised by feminists).
We were both stubborn, opinionated, trained, and built to lead and not to follow! “Submitting” in our understanding; was only for the weak.
Our initial relentless battles for power almost broke our relationship even though we loved each other passionately. Our marriage would have ended, had it not been for God stepping in to keep HIS end of the marriage covenant, giving us both the “gift of salvation” in 1994 and attending a “Born Again Christian Church” the same year. Through this new understanding of what it is to be called a Child of God, we discovered the blueprint for anything and everything connected to living life, and we have continued to have the Word of God as the base and foundation for all our decisions in life.
Here’s an example: One commandment I cling to “Thou shalt not commit adultery”. I realised in the early days of our relationship that for Lasantha, once he decides you are good enough to be his “machan” he becomes gender-blind and as a result, he has many friends who are not male! Had it not been for our shared faith; my insecurities would’ve turned into suspicion and jealousy and ruined a good man, the potential for good friendships, and our marriage. I understood that Lasantha had the same connection to the same God and that the same reasons which prevented me from straying from our vows; kept him committed to our marriage.
That is how it is with our God. You trust Him and He does His part when you are faltering. He will keep His side of the marriage covenant, which is to fill your heart with His unconditional love, so we humans can love each other just as He loves us.