Hello Folks! I hope this Wednesday is going awesome for you. I wanted to share a little bit of what the Lord is doing in my life. We heard from Sasha Ivanovic, who runs Teen Challenge Serbia, and while he did talk a little bit about his ministry he mostly gave a message that really struck me. God has been teaching me a very hard lesson this year as a teacher, but it has grown my faith so much.
Isaiah 43: 18-29 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
This was the verse our speaker spoke on. This verse just hit my heart so hard. Every year I have taught (only three, I have a lot to learn) has had such huge and very different challenges. Forget the former things, defeats of course, but sometimes the Lord calls us to forget about our victories! God is doing a new thing... It's one thing to learn from your past, but live in it and feed off of it, that can be very unhealthy. Even if the past was award winningly awesome. The Lord fills us to empty us again. This has been a year of emptying.
I love being a teacher. It gives me purpose, motivation, and a creative outlet. Just like every year it has been filled with new and difficult challenges. The last two years, the challenges were more tangible. They were objective. Most of the time it was time and intentional organization that would fix them. This year the Lord has brought spiritual challenges. Not so objective. Not at all black-and-white.
God has been saying to me for a while, "Forget last year. To do lists can wait. It's time to pray. It's time to read. It's time to prepare. Open your door and let students sit in the 'real talk' chair." I obeyed, and they started to come. The "real talk" chair gets a lot of use. There's no walking kids through the sinner's prayer or anything, but there is a lot of listening.
It's like a light bulb went on. "Now it springs up, do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland" We just obey, and he brings streams of live to the lands that are dry, and to people who are thirsty. It's amazing what prayer, listening, and obedience brings.
Isaiah 43: 18-29 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
This was the verse our speaker spoke on. This verse just hit my heart so hard. Every year I have taught (only three, I have a lot to learn) has had such huge and very different challenges. Forget the former things, defeats of course, but sometimes the Lord calls us to forget about our victories! God is doing a new thing... It's one thing to learn from your past, but live in it and feed off of it, that can be very unhealthy. Even if the past was award winningly awesome. The Lord fills us to empty us again. This has been a year of emptying.
I love being a teacher. It gives me purpose, motivation, and a creative outlet. Just like every year it has been filled with new and difficult challenges. The last two years, the challenges were more tangible. They were objective. Most of the time it was time and intentional organization that would fix them. This year the Lord has brought spiritual challenges. Not so objective. Not at all black-and-white.
God has been saying to me for a while, "Forget last year. To do lists can wait. It's time to pray. It's time to read. It's time to prepare. Open your door and let students sit in the 'real talk' chair." I obeyed, and they started to come. The "real talk" chair gets a lot of use. There's no walking kids through the sinner's prayer or anything, but there is a lot of listening.
It's like a light bulb went on. "Now it springs up, do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland" We just obey, and he brings streams of live to the lands that are dry, and to people who are thirsty. It's amazing what prayer, listening, and obedience brings.
