Sweet Prayers.

"Pray without ceasing." ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:17
"Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer." ~ Romans 12:12

This is what my kids have taught me. While I've always known that the Lord ALWAYS hears our prayers, and is ALWAYS listening, my 4th graders have taken this to a new level for me.

Before we start our day we share prayer requests and pray for one another. My absolute favorite part of the day. They have such sweet prayer request and the sweetest prayers. It's funny to hear how they pray because I know they have heard their parents say the prayers that they inherit and pray in my classroom each morning.

So, I feel blessed.

Don't worry. I still love it here. I get asked on a regular basis if I am still loving it, and truthfully I am. I love everything about it. Sometimes I am exhausted and sometimes my days are long, but the Lord remains the same. The Lord has brought me near to Him, I feel like I have come alive, and that I am doing exactly what I was created to do. I am building relationships with 9 year olds. I am guiding them through their 4th grade year. I am showing them that God IS the center of all that we do and He should be glorified in our every breath. My prayer is that I am successful. That they see the Lord in my every move, and notice how important it really is. They are little, but they are wise. We celebrate our freedom in Christ every day. It is good. 4th grade is fun.

If my classroom isn't a model of Matthew 19:13-15 then I am doing all of this for the wrong reason. May the little children in my classroom see Christ alive in my life, and may they not see me at all, but may Christ be glorified in it all.



So, we're still doing well. We're still loving 4th grade and having a great time. On Friday we are celebrating good behavior. Yeah! We made it :) I will post pictures. It is involving sleeping bags and a fun time of reading! Yeah!!

Last Thursday night I played flag football. It was faculty vs. students. Our team was so eloquently named "Staff Infection." Gross, but we won. :) We might be older but we are stealthy. It was a great evening. Good to see students outside of school. I love my job. :)

Here's to another week. May we draw near to Christ. He's already drawn near to us.

.OVER.WHELMED.

I love the Psalms. Honestly, they make me feel better about my own life at times. That sounds somewhat negative, so let me retract for a brief moment. I LOVE my life. I LOVE Arkansas, and finding my purpose here. I know part of that purpose is to teach 4th grade, but I'm not satisfied saying that is all. Those 15 kids bring me SO much joy- but I need interaction with someone who wears velcro-less shoes.

So now, back to why I really love the Psalms right now. When I read the Psalms, I am OVERWHELMED in such a beautiful way, of heart-saturated, deeply personal expressions of the inner life of the psalmist, whom is most often David. David has taken the time to recognize his own broken soul, and THEN he musters up the courage to share it with the Lord, and ask for the healing that only the Lord can give, so that David can share his life and love people. He takes part in the spiritual discipline of Lament. I am encouraged by his obedience.

Lament is an act of love. It is saying, to me, that in order to love, we have to understand that we are broken, and if we are interested in TRULY loving one another and loving GOD like he loves us we have to be honest. David's words are sometimes angry, sometimes sad, accusing, confusing, but ALWAYS relate-able for me.

Lament is a way of honoring God, of taking Him seriously. AND it teaches me how important it is to love, share life, and encourage one another, in Christ.

Life is sweet. Enjoy it!