Second Grade Prayers

I was just checking some Bible papers from last week, and just needed to record some precious prayers the students wrote. We had been talking about Nehemiah's perseverance in rebuilding Jerusalem's wall even amidst discouragement and negative peer pressure. The last lessons were on the armor of God. The following are the unedited prayers sent up to God. :)

"O God help me put on your armor. and stay with you not get divoword (devoured) by satan." - Kaitlyn

"Dear God help me to follow you and trust you" - Sahil

"Dear God help me to follow you and help me to do the right thing even when no one is looking at me" - Tolu

"Dear God, help me to obey your word. Help me to put on your armor and help me to stand strong faced with negative peer pressure." - Michelle

"Dear God Help me wear your armer and help me to be strong Amen." - Miya

"Dear God, I want to put on your armor." - Ella K.

"Dear God i wount you to help me sai no to wout the deavel saises." Haley

"Dear god I weill pra to you" - Ryan

"Dear God, Help me to follow you all the time. Amen" - Ally

"Dear God help me to be peer pressure." - Emma (I think she wants to be good peer pressure.) :)

"Dear God please help me to do the right thing" - Lance

"God will you help me to be a good girl and to have a pet." - Ava (Might as well ask for a pet, while we're at it.) ;)

"Dear God help me be good agents (against) the devil with the shield of faith." - T.J.

"Dear God pleas keep me saf" - Jacob

"Help me not to lie but to obey" - Justin

"O Lord, please help me to wear the armor of God and lisen to good peer pressure and not bad peer pressure amen" Lucy

These little prayers bring me so much joy. I'm so thankful I get to see God work every day in our little classroom. What a true honor and privilege to share His word every day with my students. His Word is alive!!

NOW is better.

I happened across of picture of me and a couple friends from about three years ago. It's amazing how different I feel from that person back then. In the words of my friend, "Now is infinitely better." That is encouraging. I want to keep growing, maturing, peeling back the layers, becoming better than who I once was. More like Christ.

Romans 8:28-29 ESV
"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."

Christmas 2012

 I realized that I hadn't posted on the blog for six months.

 Not that there haven't been any blog-worthy moments.

 But I guess I shared them in other ways.

 I don't want to forsake this little blog.

 For me, it's a reminder of the year, moments that otherwise would be forgotten.

 I received a new camera for Christmas, so perhaps I'll be able to chronicle the moments more systematically. ;)

 This Christmas was very special in many ways.

 As of January 10th, I'll be teaching for one year. "If I could survive till Christmas..." I did. By God's grace. And I even enjoyed the experience.

 On Christmas, I was with my wonderful family whom I love so much.

 It snowed the day after Christmas...which made everything feel right.

 That evening, a friend showed up at my door step after driving through the snow storm to see me. :)

 We had a delightful time being together.

 I'm thankful for a friend who knows me yet still wants to know me more.

 In years past, after a big snow, my family and I would walk back to the pond in the woods behind our house. We went back to that pond today. We were taller, older, but there was that pond, and I was still filled with child-like wonder. Some things never change.

 And in the words of Ebenezer Scrooge, "I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach."

O Emmanuel, Thank you for coming for me. For abiding with me. For guiding my steps. For leading me in the way I should go. For giving me purpose, a hope, and a future. I worship you.

 

What Demons Talk About...

Excerpt from The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis:

"The sense of ownership in general is always to be encouraged. The humans are always putting up claims to ownership which sound equally funny in Heaven and in Hell and we must keep them doing so... And all the time the joke is that the word 'Mine' in its fully possessive sense cannot be uttered by a human being about anything. In the long run either Our Father or the Enemy will say 'Mine' of each thing that exists, and specially of each man. They will find out in the end, never fear, to whom their time, their souls, and their bodies really belong - certainly not to them, whatever happens. At present the Enemy says 'Mine' of everything on the pedantic, legalistic ground that He made it: Our Father hopes in the end to say 'Mine' of all things on the more realistic and dynamic ground of conquest..."

Wisdom from Proverbs 17

"Better is a dry morsel and quietness with it than a house full of feasting with strife."

"The beginning of strife is like letting out water, so abandon the quarrel before it breaks out."

"A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones."

"He who restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding."

"Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is considered prudent."

Do Hard Things

During the last two months, I've been doing the hardest thing I've ever done. I'm teaching ten second graders at LBA, the Christian elementary school where I attended.

I remember thinking at one point, "It would be cool if I could finish out the year long-term subbing after student teaching..." and here I am.

Teaching has to be the most humbling experience of all, next to parenting. Actually, I think teaching is a type of parenting.

I'm learning so much. It is hard...sometimes so. hard.

But, I keep leaning on the promise that God won't lead me where He won't give me the grace to finish.

I'm confident that God is my good Father and is leading me through this difficult time to prepare me for my future.

If I ever needed you, God, it is now.

Made Me Glad

Tomorrow is January 9, 2012

I have a thing for dates.

Well, yes I love those kind of dates, but I was specifically referring to calendar dates.

It's weird; I just remember random dates. I still remember that my childhood friend's birthday is May 2.

I'm sure that tomorrow's date, January 9, 2012, will be a date I will remember for a very long time.

I'm still in shock where God is taking me on my journey. Wow!

Blessed

"Sometimes in the business of day to day life, you just have to step back and remember how blessed you are."

So true, Barb, so true.

11.1.11

I am officially hired at CHCA as a Preschool Aide!

Thank you Lord. You always guide my steps.