About Me

Van Walton

Fun Facts about Van Walton

My favorite smell: The way the earth smells after it rains.

My favorite sound: The first notes of a grand symphony.

My favorite way to relax: Sitting anywhere outside - on my front porch, on my deck, or by the lake, early in the morning with my first cup of coffee.

My favorite birthday dessert: a Peach cobbler baked by my husband. He’s my fave chef!

I will not eat: Avocado. They turn my stomach into a volcano that never erupts.

Technology I couldn't live without and why: My laptop - it takes me anywhere I want to go.

One thing that makes me smile: My sons' faces!

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My Resources



My book, From the Pound to the Palace, is available for $10
from Proverbs 31 Ministries.


Pound to Palace


My book, Little Halos, is available for $5.99 from Proverbs
31 Ministries.


Little Halos


Proverbs 31 Ministries












Links




Sponsor a Child in Jesus Name with Compassion

Monday, October 25, 2010

Movin' on Mondays

Movin' on in faith

When God calls you to move how do you step out?

Nothing gives me more joy or fascinates me more than to observe my woodland neighbors. If there is a neighbor I particularly would like to keep up with, it would be the squirrels who live in the trees surroudning my house. They are always on the move and they have fun at it! Although they spend their time working, building, saving, harvesting- they make a game out of each chore. I observe as they chase and soar.

What intrigues me most is their faith- how they "go out on a limb" and rarely pause to consider the dangers they may encounter if by chance they would not reach the next limb.

I have to admit my doubting nature. I trust God. I just don't trust myself. When he calls me to move I have to think about it. Plan. Prepare myself. Plot out my journey. Even then I may not step out in faith. So often I am my greatest hindrance.

As I sit here in my bedroom looking out at the trees I see these little woodland creatures scurring here and there without a care. They trust the limbs on which they travel. They get the job done and they make it all look so fun and easy.

I am pretty sure that is how I am meant to live my Christian life. Stepping out in faith, trusting God, joyfully.

Today is a new day.

God, let me learn from the squirrel. Today I want to step out in faith, living joyfully and all the while productive doing my work as unto You.

Oh and of course I want to always

Shine!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010

What's on Your Coffee Table? Wednesdays

Decorating with a purpose.

I don't want to forget what I learned this week while reading about Joshua and Caleb, the battle of Jericho, praying, boldly asking and God.

Not only have I been reading my Bible but I have been looking at images on the web and pictures in books stored in shelves around my house. One of my favorites is this one:

Some view the Bible as a historical book, a religious tome, a collection of fascinating stories to be read in Sunday school...

While I read it for all those reasons, I also read to apply what I have learned to my own life.

Once I reached the middle chapters of the book a new character emerged - Caleb. About this same time is when all the tribes of Israel are receiving their inheritance- the land God has set aside for each group of families that has been wandering in the desert and fighting battles for decades.

Most tribes wait thier turn.

Not Caleb. He takes matters into his own hands. He makes the trip to Gilead, approaches Joshua and asks for Hebron - that's the name of a city. He asks for an entire city!

This strikes me as a bold move. Audacious. Who is he to break in line while thousands of others wait to hear the reading of the will, to gain their inheritance?

Not only did he break in line he asked for a certain track of land!

Guess what?

Joshua agreed and gave it to him.

Why?

Caleb had fully followed the Lord his God. One version of this story says Caleb followed God wholeheartedly. That is why his request was answered.

I stopped in my tracks and reread Joshua 14:14.

I'm sort of like Caleb. There is a piece of property I want- it is someone's life -  turned toward God. It is a healed heart and body.

My prayers have not ceased for years concerning this matter.

This week my prayers will change. In addition to my prayers I will search my heart to make sure I am fully following my Lord and God.

Got prayers? Follow God wholeheartedly. Then ask again- boldly!

Oh and what's on my coffee table? My book - open to the picture of the battle of Jericho.













I expect that one day my bold prayers for victory in the life of a loved one will be answered. I have placed that book on my coffee table, not only because it is an interesting picture book, but as a reminder- to follow God wholeheartedly, to pray boldly, and to

Shine!
Monday, October 11, 2010

Movin' in Mondays

Is This Our New Home?


"Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard." Genesis 9:20

After floating for weeks Noah and his family finally landed where God had preordained. The door to the ark opened and everyone filed out to begin a new life. Noah went to work and Mrs. Noah set up housekeeping. I am sure they never forgot their experience. God had picked up this family of eight and changed their lives radically.

I can relate to the Noah family. My husband is told to prepare for a move. He announces that we should get ready. We pack. We move. We arrive. He goes to work. I stay behind to get the house in order.

After one such move in the spring, I had spent several rainy days inside unpacking boxes. One particular day at naptime  my toddler and I crawled under the covers, he for his necessary mid day rest and I...

let me be honest. I just welcomed the excuse to escape into a deep sleep, far from the reality of loneliness, loss, and lethargy.

Bright sunshine met us when we yawned ourselves awake, opening our eyes to  welcome the afternoon. Happy to go outside to play, we walked into our new world. While admiring the long awaited sunshine we found a huge rainbow in the sky. There we stood side by side, mother and son, taking in the miracle and the message. 

Suddenly I noticed frustration in my little guy's face. He seemed to be looking for more. When asked to explain his curiosity, he turned his innocent face toward mine. “Mommy. Where is Noah and his ark? I only see the rainbow!”

I did my best to explain God's covenant. Noah had come and gone. Only the rainbow remains as a reminder that God will never again destroy the earth with a flood.

Oh happy day. Even though the move into my new home had begun with days of deluge, the weather inside and out was changing. The rain and the clouds had cast a gray mood on our household. I had wondered - "How will I adjust to my new surroundings? Is there really a future here for me and my little one?"

Now here I had my answer. God had placed a rainbow in the sky to remind me like He had reminded Noah so long ago.

Welcome to your new home. Now

Shine!
Thursday, October 7, 2010

Time Trial Thursdays


Is your life on hold? Is there something you have prayed over: a person or a circumstance or one of life’s issues… you’ve prayed and prayed --- to no avail?

Then you must be in training, you know working through time trials until you get it right.

Time trials are just that --- trials, trials in life that threaten to undo us. They threaten to crush and destroy because we know we need our prayers to be answered, life’s situations to change, issues to be resolved. As long as we keep running through time trials nothing changes!

Thursdays are my favorite day for many reasons. I only have one more day left in my work week. The weekend begins tomorrow. Thursday nights are my Bible Study night. That is the night all the ladies in my Bible Study meet before study for pizza at our local Italian restaurant. That is where we hash out the week’s trials, issues, and problems.

Mostly we agree each one of us has issues and they all revolved around time trials. One of us is waiting for resolution in her marriage. Another faces the dilemma of a job search. She must put in her time at her new job before she can apply for the job of her dreams- on up the ladder. Another friend is waiting for her son to come home from Iraq. One of us is waiting on results from lab work. She never seems to feel on top of her game. Her health is just not where she would like it to be. Something is wrong. She knows it.

Time trials: trials we face as time marches on. Trials that could resolve themselves if they just would and we wouldn’t have to wait, concentrating on that which weighs upon us.

On Thursday nights we are studying the life of Joshua. You know, Joshua who fought the battle of Jericho. Before he fought that battle, before his wait was over, Joshua had been in a time trial – in the desert. He was one of only two men who left Egypt and also entered the promised land. He had waited and now his wait trials were coming to an end.

For centuries God had told his people about the Land that was theirs, yet they had not lived in that land for 400 years. Now they were moving forward to take the land that was rightfully theirs.

What Land is yours? What are you waiting to conquer? Is it your health, a situation with you work, a broken relationship…?
As we look at Joshua’s life we have learned that he took important steps while he waited. He prepared himself for the moment in time when God answered his prayers and he possessed the Land.

Joshua’s first time trial as he training in waits was to place himself under the authority of a trainer. His trainer was Moses. Joshua grew to become a commander in Moses’ “army.”

What Joshua learned was valuable. He learned from Moses how to walk with God, how to listen to God, and how to obey.

I am learning that God calls me to time trials before He gives me what I need or want. He calls me to His Wait Room to train because He wants me walking with him, listening to Him, and obeying Him.

After all, how on earth am I to experience victory over my “land” if I have no idea how to conquer it, till, it, plant it, or harvest it.

Are you waiting?  Walk with God and

Shine!
Monday, October 4, 2010

Movin' on Mondays

Finally, this summer, I got around to watching the movie Evan Almighty.

I enjoyed the back and forth play from the Biblical story of the flood to a contemporary version.

I also remember comparing a recent move to Noah's move and the drama that surrounds a move.

If you have ever seen Evan Almighty you know there was drama in the show. Familiy members, neighbors, coworkers all believed Evan had fallen off his rocker when he began to build that big ole boat.

Nothing but ridicule.

Can you imagine the real people in the real story?

I have actually felt that ridicule, from well meaning people, and it increased with each move our family made.

You're moving again?

Can't you just stay in town and find a stable job?

Just put your foot down. Don't go!

Can you just explain, why do you move so much?

I can hear Mrs. Noah's neighbors and friends asking the same sort of questions:

He's doing what?

Why?

You're sure God told him to build an ark?

Why don't you give him an ultimatum. Tell him to stop all that foolishness.

There is a large population of our society that has never moved. They don't understand the mentality of a corporate world that relocates its workers to improve productivity, to change worn out practices, to renovate the work force.

God called Noah to move for all the same reasons the corporate world today moves its workers. The human race had become wicked. God wiped out an entire generation of people so the next generation could begin anew and improve productivity, especially where humans' obedience to God was concerned.

God also wanted change. Changed hearts, changed activities, changed lives.

God renovated the world with the flood.

I believe God uses moves in my life to improve me. Moves get me out of ruts, allowing me to change and be renewed.

Moves are hard, but they are not bad. Are you moving? Try to see the move from God's perspective and then ask Him to let your light

Shine!