My Good King

I am so sorry that I have not been blogging again.  I'm finding it really hard to work it in during the school year. I was struck by Isaiah 62 this morning.  I don't know at all the context in which it was written, but it speaks to me personally in such a positive way. Even verse one is so touching: "For Zion's sake I will not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns." To me it means that God continues striving with us, constantly encouraging us (and sometimes prodding us!) to shine for His glory.  He wants to help us make our lives bring glory to His name. That makes me smile.  :) Verse 2: "The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory.  You shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord will name." That verse makes me think of Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, and Saul.  After they committed their lives to

I was reading Isaiah 6 this morning and I am always so impressed with Isaiah's quick response to God's call.  Verses five through eight always convict me for several reasons. "So I said: “Woe  is  me, for I am undone! Because I  am  a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The  Lord  of hosts.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal  which  he had taken with the tongs from the altar.  And he touched my mouth  with it,  and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.” Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here  am  I! Send me.” Sometimes I doubt that God is calling me to something.   Like Isaiah, I feel very unclean and unworthy to serve our mighty God.  If I were God, I would pick someone more holy, with a "clean" past, etc.  I woul

Sorry for my long absence.   I didn't realize it had been so long.  Now that school is starting, I will probably only be posting once per week.  Life becomes so overwhelming during the school year. This post will be about what God showed me this summer in Nehemiah 3.   I already mentioned the gate where Nehemiah began his rebuilding --the Sheep Gate .  I found that study to be fascinating. The next gate that is rebuilt is the Fish Gate.   The Fish Gate was called such because it was the gate where the fish market was; people would go there to buy their fish.   This has obvious symbolism: once we have received Jesus (the Lamb who was slain for us) , we have a duty to become "fishers of men," as Jesus told his disciples.  In fact, once we receive the amazing gift of salvation, we are usually so excited and grateful that we cannot wait to share our faith with others so that they, too, can have the same hope and joy as we do.  :) The Israelites next concentrate on re

I know.  This is just getting so repetitive.  I am sorry, but this is what the Lord just keeps telling me. Over and over.  I think I'm starting to get it.  I would like to share something different with you, but this is what I have from the Lord. This weekend I was getting very discouraged with Carlos' anger and other issues.  My heart aches because I so desperately want the closeness we shared when he was in elementary school.  It feels like he may never want me to be a part of his life again, and that scares me and grieves me deeply. So I was trying to talk myself through this, and I believe the Lord shared some things with me. I went to church on Sunday morning, and they paused worship briefly because a man got a word from God for the congregation.  I almost got chills.  He emphasized that too many of us exist instead of thrive because we are waiting for some specific breakthrough (or a series of breakthroughs) in order for us to truly be happy.   He told us that God wan

As a single mom, I am very regularly overwhelmed and afraid of normal household maintenance issues:  electrical, plumbing, etc. Yesterday I mustered the courage to fix a slow drain in my bathroom sink, and in my attempt to unclog the drain, I now still have a slow drain, but my novice plumbing skills compounded the problem by adding a leaky pipe to the situation.   : D I have been attempting to fix both problems for two days.  It shouldn't be hard, but it is frustrating. It is interesting how facing challenges grows us in unique ways, huh? I dealt with the slow drain several months ago, so I wasn't scared to do that, but when the pipe started leaking, I began to feel the fear and panic rise.  Initially, I was very proud of myself because I can see that my fears of the unknown (in terms of household maintenance) have significantly lessened in the past few years.  I felt ready to take on the challenge of a slow drain.  It feels weird to say that something so simple can b

I have a friend who is a pastor.  I went to hear him speak on Sunday, and (as usual!) was so inspired by his message.  He used such a basic, simple Scripture, but developed it in a way that was profound and inspiring. He told us that he was reading Genesis, and he paused when he got to the "be fruitful and multiply" parts in chapters 1 (& 2?).  He asked God why He put "be fruitful and multiply" when it's somewhat redundant:  to "be fruitful" is a very similar way of saying "multiply."  Then he said that God showed him the difference: "Multiply" means to procreate. "Be fruitful," as God explained to my friend, means "live out fully My blessing that I gave you."  In other words, be useful and productive with the life I gave you. His challenge to us was "How useful am I in the kingdom of God?" He used a simple analogy to explain what he meant.   He has an orange tree in his back yard.

WISDOM: As I read this chapter, I was so impressed with Nehemiah's consistent wisdom throughout the chapter (Frankly, he demonstrates a consistent and impressive depth of wisdom throughout the entire book so far) . Prayer: I think it shows maturity and wisdom that he prayed at key moments during this chapter. He prayed right in the middle of his interaction with the king (v. 4), as he was making his request. It does not specifically say, but I believe that it is a safe conjecture (based on how frequently he prayed to God in chapter 1) to say that he prayed privately and consistently along their journey to Jerusalem that God would show him how to proceed with his task upon their arrival at Jerusalem.  I believe that all of his wise choices stem from regular quiet time with the Lord .  Lamentations 3:25-26 Careful Forethought: None of his decisions were made in haste or rashly.   When you read chapter two slowly, you can get a sense of this man's characte

Just a quick, little reminder: please read chapter 2 first on your own!  :)  I would hate for you to miss what God wants to tell you because you are influenced by me. Here are my thoughts on Nehemiah Chapter 1 in case you missed them. Nehemiah's courage and wisdom is inspiring in chapter two. Without further ado, here is today's devotional. Divine Design: Nehemiah knows that God has called him to supervise the rebuilding of Jerusalem (I am convinced that during his "many days" of fasting and praying in Nehemiah 1, God gave him a vision of His plan for Nehemiah) .  I also believe firmly that God positioned him as cupbearer to allow him a somewhat intimate relationship with the king so that the king's heart would be open to Nehemiah's request. I just want to camp here for a second.  I am so curious about Nehemiah the person.   What was his personality like?  What was it like for him to work for the king?  When did he begin to have a personal relati

I was in my classroom listening to worship music on YouTube, and I was so touched by this song.  I have heard it many times before, but there are seasons that it touches me more deeply than at other times.  The lyrics are so powerful to me, and each season God makes different lyrics stand out. Today, the lyrics that brought tears to my eyes are "the fight has already been won."  It's true. Victory is guaranteed--I just need to accept that it may not come the way I want, and it certainly is not coming WHEN I want it to.   Ultimately, on a very fundamental level, it IS enough to know that victory is guaranteed.   God is fighting our battles for us.  There are things He requires of us in the battle:   actions we must take (or not take), prayer, meditation with Him, etc.  But ultimately He is fighting for us.  There is no better Being in the universe to fight our battles for us than Him.  We can honestly trust Him with whatever we are facing. There are other phrases th

INTRO AND INSPIRATION: I was so inspired by this post and its challenge that I would like to imitate her format. I have been studying Nehemiah this summer (I'm only on chapter 7, but I'll share what I have so far.) I have been very inspired by what God has shown me, so if you would like to participate as well in my little study, I will post a few times per week about this book. When God gave me Nehemiah, I have to admit that I was a little bit disappointed.  It's not a "go-to" book of the Bible for me.  However, Nehemiah is definitely one of the most consistently faithful, wise, and strong leaders in the entire Bible (well, just my humble opinion!!) .  He has definitely been an inspiration to me. I am going to post each chapter separately.  Please read the chapter first (so you can hear ONLY God first and not be influenced by what God shared with me) , then read my commentary. I would be so blessed and honored if you would comment on what God has shared

Update about the jail visit :  We were not able to go this weekend because communicating with an inmate is a little bit complicated, so we were not able to set up a time.  I am praying that it works out this week.  My friend will get back to me.  Also, I found out that I cannot bring him anything.  If I want him to have a One-Year Bible, I have to order it online and have it sent directly to him at the jail.  I will be in prayer about that as well. Today, I'm keeping it very light.  I have had A LOT of time to myself this summer, so I wanted to show you how I've been spending my time: a LOT of getting my classroom ready! My favorite part is the back wall (ready for student work!), so I thought I'd show you that today. the back of my classroom! We will have a "Fruit of the Spirit" Tree in which the kids will each have a paper apple with their name on it.  When they see a classmate demonstrating one of the fruits of the Spirit, they will put that stic

Because I will not post over the weekend, I thought I'd leave you with one of my favorite worship songs.

I'm so excited!  I have an update on my previous post "Prayer--It Works!"  God is so good! One of the young men has been attending church regularly since the beginning of July, and the other has hit some humbling road blocks which are grabbing his attention in a powerful way.  He (the latter) will be the focus of my post today. He, we'll call him "Joe," struggles with alcohol addiction.  He was in a sober-living facility (and sober) for almost a full year before a rather serious relapse a few weeks ago.  After his relapse, he mentioned to his mother that maybe he needs to be in a live-in rehab program instead of just a sober-living facility (the sober-living facility allows him to continue working full time) .  He had hesitated to do this because he did not want to quit his job. I  thought it very wise that he was beginning to understand that he needed something more than the sober-living facility could offer him.  This fact, coupled with the stateme

God keeps tapping me on the shoulder, poking me with the same theme--that He has something big and great for me and that I'm holding myself back from His desires for my life. A few years ago, He began to attempt to express to me that He has great plans for my future.  I doubted, but He kept confirming the message.  He is still doing that today. I went to a women's conference, and was supposed to miss the last break-out session on Saturday afternoon because I had agreed to pick up a friend from the airport.  His flight was late, so I was able to stay for the last session.  In the last session, the woman began prophesying to each one of us. When she came to me, she took my hands in hers, paused momentarily, and spoke:   "Your destiny has been stolen from you, but you are going to take it back."  She then moved on to the next person. I sat confused, pondering what this meant.  Very slowly, as I began seeking the Lord, He began to show me how the enemy had been wor

As I am mentally preparing to begin a new school year, I am reflecting on a large banner that I created for my classroom--to remind me   why I do what I do  (when I'm feeling "less than loving" toward one of my students)  . This is the quote:  "Every child you encounter is a divine appointment."   It is by some random person I don't know called Wess Stafford.  Personally, I don't like the grammar--I would have said "Every encounter with a child is a divine appointment," but I guess that's beside the point. I think it is also accurate to say that every encounter with a person is a divine appointment, don't you? I do not believe for a second that we serve a God of the random.  I believe that there is a divine purpose in every situation and person we encounter.   Some relationships are a deep blessing --they bring us so much joy and encouragement.  We just get to soak up the love, comfort, and support of these relationships.  There ar