Trekking with Me

Wow! These last nine weeks of school have FLOWN! What a wonderful blessing it has been to be in this school, teaching history and Bible, getting to know my students and being surprised by the delight of it all! If you will look back at my first blog on this "challenge" i was pretty frightened of the unknowns...but thanks to lots of prayer and God's blessing, it has turned out to be one of the BEST teaching experiences i have ever had - How i praise the Lord! I believe this is part of a healing time for me too. I have been teaching in some capacity for the last ten years or so, and to be honest, it has been hard! I know teaching is in my blood, but i would come home feeling so defeated, and unhappy. I remember thinking more than once, "this is just not for me!" This was just one of the dark battles i had fighting within me. Why could i not enjoy my work and walk in more happiness? Where was that fruit of the spirit? Was this a lesson on longsuffering? I...

Summer is coming! Summer in Florida is HOT - Summer in South Carolina is HOT too! But, Summer means travel, vacation, lemonade, a more relaxed schedule...well, for most of us! I will be moving...hopefully by the end of June I will be unpacking in a new place....i am dreaming of a place with a yard, wood floors, lots of windows and room enough to entertain! My students are ready for summer too - and i love the bittersweet goodbyes. All of a sudden, they come by your room, shuffle their feet in a quiet manner and shyly thank you for being their teacher....and then that wonderful light you KNOW was in them shines out, and i say YES! I see it! There is something VERY special about each one....something precious and worth waking up at 5 a.m., sweating over lesson plans and teaching from a full heart....YES, my students are worth it! Summer brings a new season...for me a new turn. I look forward with anticipation, and today i enjoy wonderful peace in my heart. I feel full. And i a...

Hey you all! I just read about a study called "No Other Gods"...the LPM Blog is inviting us to join in for a summer study using this book. I am going to do it - anyone else want to join me and share comments and posts throughout the summer on this study? Visit the LPM Blog to find more if you want the "full scale" - My summer is unpredictable right now so i will do it solo unless i run into someone who is close, but the blog will provide a "meeting place." Anyhow, i thought it would be great! I will pick up my copy soon at LifeWay. Leave a comment if you want to join me! IF not, leave one anyway and let me know who is looking at my blog...i have lots of hits and i often wonder, who found me from CANADA? or Europe? or...MONGOLIA (Hi Amanda - i know it is you!) ;-)

Two weeks from now i will be in South Carolina - house hunting...job hunting. Moving. Part of me looks forward with great anticipation to the new challenges and opportunities that lay on the horizon - as BM said, "Your future is in front of you!" How exciting! I have a journeying heart and i enjoy adventures...Yet i am finding my roots have gotten deeper here in my present home and pulling them up is beginning to cause some pain and a little anxiety. I confess, i have moments when i look around me and say, "what am i doing!" Things are going pretty well here, i feel secure here and quite comfortable...yet, i am following a call in my heart that has been there for a long time. I am stepping out into a new trail - one i have been eyeing since i was young. The Calling i believe God designed for me. So inbetween exhilarating emotions that nearly make me want to fly to SC right now and a maternal pull to stay put, not wanting to uproot...i am learning to be stil...

My heart and prayers go to the Chapman family. Little Maria - though I am not a personal friend of the family - are brothers and sisters in Christ...and my heart is broken over this tragedy. She is with Jesus - laughing, washing dishes and dancing with Him...how we grieve her passing and i know the tears and hearts are deeply grieving in the Chapman home - We all love you and hold you tightly in our hearts as you are washed with grief.

Another beautiful morning...it was such a blessing to me this morning to wake with a full heart and soul. My schedule lately and my accommedations have brought me growing opportunities. I praise HIM for His grace; sleeping on an air mattress is better than a hard floor but when a beautiful comfortable royal bed is offered instead of an air mattress, that is MOVING UP! (Literally!) My dear friend who is generously allowing me to camp out on her living room floor is gone for a few days - which is a bummer as i enjoy her company - but in her absense i get to sleep in her bed! It is amazing how a good mattress heeds a good nights rest! Rest DOES come from the LORD - and i love it when he gives it to me with a sweet bed! :-) ALSO, i was able to spend some quality time in the Word last night...HOw wonderful to go to sleep with the Word marinating your heart. That is the perfect recipe for a good nights rest.

The sun is coming up earlier these days and I relish the morning as i make my way to work. I have to rise at 5 a.m. and one of my favorite parts of the day is that first glimpse of morning...as the sky begins to change hues as the sun makes its way over the horizon. This morning the Lord blessed me with a REAL treat! My route to work faces me west so i have to peek into my rearview mirror to catch the sky behind me....but this morning, a full beautiful moon was lingering in the western sky! It was breathtaking! I literally was giddy with excitement, i could not contain it! All i could do is just praise My Creator for His handiwork!

As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. Ecclesiates 11:5 This was the "Verse of the Day" on Biblegateway.com today. It reminded me of something i read the last few days. When we walk with the Spirit, in His Wind...we walk in freedom. I have been meditating on that...the context of that truth was in a paragraph about having boundaries in our lives. Sometimes boundaries seem to keep us from things but really boundaries are safeguards and actually, paradoxically, bring us MORE freedom. Going Deeper with this - remembering Jesus' words to Nicodemus! Jesus was trying to explain a heavenly concept to Nic - being born of God, it is a Spirit thing, not physical - How beautiful is that! I was marveling last night as a friend and i discussed the state of our society...it seems like it is going down hill, fear would be easy to give into, YET, God works in...

The week has been a WEEK! Good mostly, some struggles within, but victories overall! Love my students more - I am so thankful God has blessed me with a joy in my heart over my students and my classes. What a difference it makes. Another thing i am very thankful for - and noticing VERY much - God's Grace over my sleeping arrangements. For those who know me know i am pretty protective over my bedtime and sleep time. FOR YEARS - especially when i am teaching - i have kept a strict bedtime for myself and if that time gets threatened, i have feelings of panic!! So, i was a little concerned when i knew i would be living like a nomad and sleeping in different places. I love my BED. BUT, wow, God has totally covered me w/ grace - and i find i am not even worried about my bedtime, i feel so relaxed; THIS IS A SERIOUS INTERVENTION FROM THE LORD! I love it! Going home for the weekend is a wonderful way to truly step away from your work week. Seriously, Friday's present me wit...

I have been in a bubble a long time. Ever hear that expression? I have been in a bubble of conservative, christian thinking most of my life. I see it as a blessing - I have grown up under godly parents who taught me the Scriptures and walked a lifestyle of loving and serving God. As i grew up i took this for granted. I did attend a public school and i heard kids shamelessly spout off things that i would not even whisper in my house. Purity is a good, BEAUTIFUL and precious thing. I have been working in a secular realm over the past several months. It is a rude awakening. It is painful. It breaks my heart. Then i think, this breaks GOD's heart. As i have been teaching in the public schools, i am realizing more and more the darkness of our society. Sure, there are some very good ambitions out there: save the earth - but at the cost of demeaning the value of human life? Relay for Life - fight cancer - but what about the cancer of the soul? It tears me up. But, people d...

I found this to be quite amusing! It is quite a sad fact that our sin nature pushes us to see how far we can go....and even though we live in a wonderful country, i get discouraged when i see how sick our society is getting....but this is very cute. I read this on Fox New's website, a northern town tried to use comedy to get people to obey the law - one of the simplest ones: STOP at the stop signs...unfortunately, they have to take these down but i thought it was a valiant effort! A sense of humor goes a long way! Go check it out on FOXnews website - there are more!

Whether you are surrounded by a crowd or all alone in a room, we all deal with the lonely monster. He creeps up on all of us from time to time. Obviously, being single, i am alone a lot. I have tried to allow my alone times to be special times between the Lord and I. I have grown to treasure "our" times alone. I have been warned that this will be an obstacle when i get married (not sure when or if that will happen), to learn to share "my" alone time. Last night i felt a shadow of loneliness float across my blue sky; it is dark sometimes and i honestly don't like it. As with any battle, we have to recognize it as a battle, and hide behind our armor. Sometimes i do it faster and better than others. Of late, though, i am learning something about myself - the needs of the heart, mind and soul. God said Himself it is not good for man to be alone. I think when He used the word "man" He was referring to mankind - men and women. So, it is not go...