Greetings Everybody,
Sometimes when I sit down to write in this blog, my mind has many things it wants to share, but I don't know what my fingers will choose to type.
Sometimes my words come out in stories, sometimes they come out as a lesson, sometimes they come out as a prayer...sometimes a combination of all of the above.
I just never know.
Today is kinda like that.
Right now, I don't know exactly where this morning's blog-post is going, so I guess I should probably just start out with what I am feeling this morning.
It's Sunday Morning...and I am Happy.
But it is more than that...I am filled with Joy.
Being filled with Joy is bigger and deeper than being Happy.
It's not that there are not troubles...it's not that my world is perfect ( I assure that it's neither of these)
There are plenty of troubles, and there is plenty of "ugly" in my world.
But this morning I am filled with a sense of Joy that overcomes troubles and all the ugly stuff.
And I am hard pressed to contain this feeling any longer.
I want to sing.
I want to sing loud and strong with my eyes closed and my body tuned to every syllable.
I want to weave tight harmonies with intricate nuances of tone, pitch, and timbre.
I want to touch souls today and bring glory to God today...and I want to Sing to HIM.
Singing is something Very Spiritual to me.
Singing and Writing and Speaking to Christian Women is something I find great fulfillment in.
And this morning I can tell that it's time for me to prepare a message for another Christian Ladies Function and speak again...I can feel it.
And I think I have the topic picked out.
And I can fairly well feel the words bubbling in my soul waiting to be set down in print.
Soon Lord...I know it will be soon Lord.
Thank you God for preparing me...and for giving me my voice today...and for helping through the difficult asthma days...and for putting your words in my heart... and allowing me to sing, write and speak them.
It's Sunday Morning Father and Soon Your Saints will be Assembled.
Apparently my post this morning was part Personal Insight, Part Prayer, and Part Share.
(Sending a Big "Thanks" to those of you who read this blog)
But mostly...Thank You GOD for giving us JOY!
In Him,
Grace
The Reward for Surviving Rough Seas
We are all like sea shells tossed about in rough waters and being re-shaped in wondrous ways. But have you ever contemplated the notion that sea shells have to complete their journey through the rough waters before they get to rest on the shore? Yeah, we are ALL like sea shells and Heaven is The Great Shore.
Showing posts with label Prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prayer. Show all posts
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Sunday, January 8, 2012
A Blessing Before War
Greetings All,
This Morning I sent an email to my former student who is about to ship off to Afghanistan.(You might recall that I have mentioned her in two other posts)
I sent her my blessing.
I didn't cry when I wrote it.
But perhaps this will explain how I feel.
I am aware of the weight of the words I left on that page.
Those were the words that I want her to remember when she is in the midst of explosions, screaming, all sorts of carnage, and looming death.
I pointed her toward God.
That's the ONLY and the STRONGEST thing I knew to do.
She is about to run headlong right into the face of the biggest ocean of evil & destruction she has ever experienced in her life...and I had to make sure she was carrying her SPIRITUAL LIFE RAFT with her.
She is NOT my daughter.
I did NOT raise her.
But I am being impacted by her life and can not imagine how the actual parents of our military troops must feel.
Some are vested in generations of military life and have become accustomed to the emotions of sending off loved ones to war.
But how do you REALLY ever get accustomed to sending your baby...the one you nursed, changed, rocked, and held for so many years....how do you EVER get accustomed to sending them into a war?
She is NOT my daughter.
I did NOT raise her.
But the weight of the words I left on the page this morning was significant.
I gave her the words I want her to remember forever
...and the words I wanted to say to her NOW...in case she dies.
It was a long email.
But it boiled down to this....
-I wrote down my pray over her life...and asked God for some specific things for her.
-I told her a few things I wanted her to remember about God and what to SEEK from Him.
-I told her that I was Proud of Her.
-I told her that I Love Her.
After that...what else is there!
We make life so very complicated...but it pretty much comes down to this:
Act Justly
Love Mercy
Walk Humbly With Your God
Micah 6:8 "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God."
IN HIM,
Grace
This Morning I sent an email to my former student who is about to ship off to Afghanistan.(You might recall that I have mentioned her in two other posts)
I sent her my blessing.
I didn't cry when I wrote it.
But perhaps this will explain how I feel.
I am aware of the weight of the words I left on that page.
Those were the words that I want her to remember when she is in the midst of explosions, screaming, all sorts of carnage, and looming death.
I pointed her toward God.
That's the ONLY and the STRONGEST thing I knew to do.
She is about to run headlong right into the face of the biggest ocean of evil & destruction she has ever experienced in her life...and I had to make sure she was carrying her SPIRITUAL LIFE RAFT with her.
She is NOT my daughter.
I did NOT raise her.
But I am being impacted by her life and can not imagine how the actual parents of our military troops must feel.
Some are vested in generations of military life and have become accustomed to the emotions of sending off loved ones to war.
But how do you REALLY ever get accustomed to sending your baby...the one you nursed, changed, rocked, and held for so many years....how do you EVER get accustomed to sending them into a war?
She is NOT my daughter.
I did NOT raise her.
But the weight of the words I left on the page this morning was significant.
I gave her the words I want her to remember forever
...and the words I wanted to say to her NOW...in case she dies.
It was a long email.
But it boiled down to this....
-I wrote down my pray over her life...and asked God for some specific things for her.
-I told her a few things I wanted her to remember about God and what to SEEK from Him.
-I told her that I was Proud of Her.
-I told her that I Love Her.
After that...what else is there!
We make life so very complicated...but it pretty much comes down to this:
Act Justly
Love Mercy
Walk Humbly With Your God
Micah 6:8 "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God."
IN HIM,
Grace
Thursday, December 29, 2011
The Blessings of December 29, 2011
Greetings Everyone,
Woohoo...and I have Happy News.
1. My sister in law has made amazing progress since yesterday.
She is still in the Neurological ICU and still has a feeding tube, and still has an infection, but she is lucid.
She sat in a chair for an hour today.
She turned down pain medication today.
And she wants the blinds left open so that she can see the sunshine outside.
This is an answer to prayer.
2. My daughters fever has broken and she is feeling better today.
She said that Little Man still has a cough and a stuffy nose, but that he seems happy.
And so far... my son in law has not caught the cold that his wife and child have.
This is an answer to prayer.
3. Hubby feels better today.
The cough is better & the diabetes is in control today.
We had our breakfast date today, ran some errands, and then made the long trip to go see his sister in the hospital (where as I mentioned, we found her tremendously improved).
Hubby's heart was lighter on the drive back home.
This too is an answer to prayer.
Let's just say we have been rejoicing and that the Ole Family Grapevine has been working overtime today.
Let me also say that OUR Family gives ALL the credit for these blessings to God Almighty.
We prayed in faith for healings.
He responded with a YES on all counts.
His answer isn't always YES...but today it was!
Sometimes He says NO, and when he does, we have to remember that His Grace Is Sufficient...just like PAUL.
2 Corinthians 12: 17-19 "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."
But today, His answer was YES.
Ephesians 3:20-21 " Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
We CHOOSE to BELIEVE in HIM.
Joshua 24:15 "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.
It does make me wonder what would happen if America would really claim 2 Chronicles 7:14
" If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
What would happen IF WE AS A NATION HUMBLED OURSELVES AND PRAYED?
I believe with all my heart that HE WOULD RESPOND WITH A YES!
...just a little something to ponder...
In Him,
Grace
Woohoo...and I have Happy News.
1. My sister in law has made amazing progress since yesterday.
She is still in the Neurological ICU and still has a feeding tube, and still has an infection, but she is lucid.
She sat in a chair for an hour today.
She turned down pain medication today.
And she wants the blinds left open so that she can see the sunshine outside.
This is an answer to prayer.
2. My daughters fever has broken and she is feeling better today.
She said that Little Man still has a cough and a stuffy nose, but that he seems happy.
And so far... my son in law has not caught the cold that his wife and child have.
This is an answer to prayer.
3. Hubby feels better today.
The cough is better & the diabetes is in control today.
We had our breakfast date today, ran some errands, and then made the long trip to go see his sister in the hospital (where as I mentioned, we found her tremendously improved).
Hubby's heart was lighter on the drive back home.
This too is an answer to prayer.
Let's just say we have been rejoicing and that the Ole Family Grapevine has been working overtime today.
Let me also say that OUR Family gives ALL the credit for these blessings to God Almighty.
We prayed in faith for healings.
He responded with a YES on all counts.
His answer isn't always YES...but today it was!
Sometimes He says NO, and when he does, we have to remember that His Grace Is Sufficient...just like PAUL.
2 Corinthians 12: 17-19 "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."
But today, His answer was YES.
Ephesians 3:20-21 " Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
We CHOOSE to BELIEVE in HIM.
Joshua 24:15 "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.
It does make me wonder what would happen if America would really claim 2 Chronicles 7:14
" If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
What would happen IF WE AS A NATION HUMBLED OURSELVES AND PRAYED?
I believe with all my heart that HE WOULD RESPOND WITH A YES!
...just a little something to ponder...
In Him,
Grace
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Student D's Mama and the Phone Call
Greeting Everybody.
This morning I want to talk about something pretty cool that happened yesterday.
It's about a young African American student of mine and a phone call that I had yesterday with her mama.
Here's a bit of the background on this one:
-This young woman is very polished, very intelligent, and very pretty, and an
accomplished musician.
-She has poise, dignity and a great wardrobe.
-But she has few friends, an unsmiling face, and ensconces herself in a rather snooty
image.
It's VERY rare for her to smile or deign to verbally engage with one of the "Lesser-lings" in the class.
And I have wondered all year long where such an attitude could have come from.
She is an ice block!
There have been times when I have been able to break through, so that I have seen the child within, but she keeps herself so very removed from the human dynamic 99.9 % of the time.
So, the other day, she created a visual aid to go with a speech presentation and it was a little bit disturbing.
The Title of the Speech is The 4 Corners Speech
I tell my students that the world will always try to bring us down and that it is important to know where our strengths come from.
In this assignment they take a blank sheet of paper, divide it into 4 quadrants and then place an image in each one:
-the most important symbol of your life,
-the most healing color to your mind,
-the most important word or phrase of your life,
-and most important person in your life.
I take the time to tell the kids that this is NOT something superficial and that the images selected should be so deeply ingrained in you that they would be suitable to be carved in your own headstone.
This assignment is designed to lead students to identify their own core support structures, so that in times of stress and hardship they know where to turn.
But student D did not identify her support structures.
She did not pick someone she even knows.
She selected a celebrity.
She selected Lady Gaga.
Now I have spoken with this young ladies parents and I know she comes from a Christian Home.
Her parents are faithful Christian men and women.
She has been raised in a God loving and God following him.
Though my students are able to express themselves freely as long as what they create is school appropriate, I was shocked at what I DIDN'T see on this kids visual aid.
Her values were non-existent.
Her sources of strength were fleeting.
Her imagery was worldly.
There was a big gap between the values in her home and the values that she turns to.
Where was the symbol of the Cross on her paper?
Where was the verse of scripture, or the word GOD, that was used for her most important phrase or word?
The artwork was carefully and beautifully rendered, but it was devoid of anything substantive.
I waited a few days to talk with this young lady about her choices, and I pulled her out in the hallway when I did so. There was nothing punitive about the conversation, she was not in trouble....I approached her from a position of just being curious about her artwork.
She was real with me in the hallway.
And everything I saw told me that she was rejecting her family, her faith, and almost everything about the life she knows at home.
BUT she did go home and tell her mother that we had had this conversation
(which to my mind is a VERY good sign;there is still a good connection with mom).
And yesterday the young lady told me that her Mama wanted me to call her.
So, I called her mom.
And her mom shared with me that she was scared for her daughter, and asked me what I am seeing, and if I am seeing things that concern me.
We had THE BEST talk.
It was Parent to Teacher...but it was also Mama to Mama, and even better it was Christian Woman to Christian Woman.
We are both very concerned about this little girl...and we are both on the same page on this one: The Evil One is Trying to Pull Her Away From Her Faith
He is separating her from her family and its values and from her God and His Standards.
This weighed so much on my heart that a few hours later I called the mom back.
And this was the BEST PART OF MY DAY>>>I asked that mom if she was comfortable with us praying for her daughter.
The mom was very receptive
And so yesterday, for the first time in my career, in a parent phone call, from inside my classroom, with only a soft lamp at my desk turned on, I prayed with the mother of one of my students on the phone.
This was a powerful prayer.
It was from my the bottom of my soul.
It was deep and it was genuine and when I was done, I was crying.
It was beautiful
The mom and I were both crying
TO GOD BE THE GLORY!
God is alive and well in public schools today.
Prayer is practiced every day.
It may not be lead over the Public Address system, but it happens all the time.
And I am blessed because of it.
Just thought I'd share that with you guys.
In Him,
Grace
This morning I want to talk about something pretty cool that happened yesterday.
It's about a young African American student of mine and a phone call that I had yesterday with her mama.
Here's a bit of the background on this one:
-This young woman is very polished, very intelligent, and very pretty, and an
accomplished musician.
-She has poise, dignity and a great wardrobe.
-But she has few friends, an unsmiling face, and ensconces herself in a rather snooty
image.
It's VERY rare for her to smile or deign to verbally engage with one of the "Lesser-lings" in the class.
And I have wondered all year long where such an attitude could have come from.
She is an ice block!
There have been times when I have been able to break through, so that I have seen the child within, but she keeps herself so very removed from the human dynamic 99.9 % of the time.
So, the other day, she created a visual aid to go with a speech presentation and it was a little bit disturbing.
The Title of the Speech is The 4 Corners Speech
I tell my students that the world will always try to bring us down and that it is important to know where our strengths come from.
In this assignment they take a blank sheet of paper, divide it into 4 quadrants and then place an image in each one:
-the most important symbol of your life,
-the most healing color to your mind,
-the most important word or phrase of your life,
-and most important person in your life.
I take the time to tell the kids that this is NOT something superficial and that the images selected should be so deeply ingrained in you that they would be suitable to be carved in your own headstone.
This assignment is designed to lead students to identify their own core support structures, so that in times of stress and hardship they know where to turn.
But student D did not identify her support structures.
She did not pick someone she even knows.
She selected a celebrity.
She selected Lady Gaga.
Now I have spoken with this young ladies parents and I know she comes from a Christian Home.
Her parents are faithful Christian men and women.
She has been raised in a God loving and God following him.
Though my students are able to express themselves freely as long as what they create is school appropriate, I was shocked at what I DIDN'T see on this kids visual aid.
Her values were non-existent.
Her sources of strength were fleeting.
Her imagery was worldly.
There was a big gap between the values in her home and the values that she turns to.
Where was the symbol of the Cross on her paper?
Where was the verse of scripture, or the word GOD, that was used for her most important phrase or word?
The artwork was carefully and beautifully rendered, but it was devoid of anything substantive.
I waited a few days to talk with this young lady about her choices, and I pulled her out in the hallway when I did so. There was nothing punitive about the conversation, she was not in trouble....I approached her from a position of just being curious about her artwork.
She was real with me in the hallway.
And everything I saw told me that she was rejecting her family, her faith, and almost everything about the life she knows at home.
BUT she did go home and tell her mother that we had had this conversation
(which to my mind is a VERY good sign;there is still a good connection with mom).
And yesterday the young lady told me that her Mama wanted me to call her.
So, I called her mom.
And her mom shared with me that she was scared for her daughter, and asked me what I am seeing, and if I am seeing things that concern me.
We had THE BEST talk.
It was Parent to Teacher...but it was also Mama to Mama, and even better it was Christian Woman to Christian Woman.
We are both very concerned about this little girl...and we are both on the same page on this one: The Evil One is Trying to Pull Her Away From Her Faith
He is separating her from her family and its values and from her God and His Standards.
This weighed so much on my heart that a few hours later I called the mom back.
And this was the BEST PART OF MY DAY>>>I asked that mom if she was comfortable with us praying for her daughter.
The mom was very receptive
And so yesterday, for the first time in my career, in a parent phone call, from inside my classroom, with only a soft lamp at my desk turned on, I prayed with the mother of one of my students on the phone.
This was a powerful prayer.
It was from my the bottom of my soul.
It was deep and it was genuine and when I was done, I was crying.
It was beautiful
The mom and I were both crying
TO GOD BE THE GLORY!
God is alive and well in public schools today.
Prayer is practiced every day.
It may not be lead over the Public Address system, but it happens all the time.
And I am blessed because of it.
Just thought I'd share that with you guys.
In Him,
Grace
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