God's working power...

I just wanted to share a blessing with you this week. I know it has been a long time since I wrote. Life has been very busy. I am finally all caught up from the time of being sick.

two weeks ago on Wednesday I got the privilege of speaking in chapel about how Esther is a superhero. I really didn't feel all that prepared, but I knew God was going to speak through me. I closed with it that Esther knew God was with her and that she took the step to stand up for what was right. We talked about that the only way to do this was to know GOd personally. I got to share the gospel with them again. I got to pray for them and let them know that if they made the choice to know GOd that they should tell their teachers because we would love to talk with them. THis week on Tuesday I found out that a little preschooler came to their teacher and was telling them that throughout chapel he was hearing his name being called throughout all chapel. He then told his teacher that he accepted Christ. Praise the Lord.

THis week we have a day off on Tuesday and I am so excited because I have been really tired. First quarter is over and parent teacher conferences are this week. Pray for me as I talk to parents about their kids. Pray that I have the right words to say to each parent and to encourage them in how to help their students.

God has been working here at AIS and doing great things. I am just glad that I get the privilege of being used by God to share Christ with these students. Thank you for all the prayers for me over the last couple of months with me being sick. i can honestly say that I am feeling well and have my energy back. Thank you for all you do!

renewing strength

This week I got the privilege of speaking at staff devotions. I got to talk about renewal. Renewal is something I think as Christians we need to go through. It allows us to grow deeper in our relationships with Christ. As I prepared for the devotion I looked at the Israelites and how they went through renewal processes and even had put up little things to remind them of those times. A part of renewal is remembering the amazing things God has done for us. Along with this I also looked at ways we can be renewed. So I looked up scripture that shares ways to be renewed.

Psalms 51:10, “ Create in me a clean heart, O God and Renew a right spirit within me.”

Psalms 103:5 “Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

Isaiah 40:29-31 “ He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength, even the youths shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint.”

Romans 12:2 “ and be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.“

2 Corinthians 4:16 “ for which cause we faint not, but through our outward man perish, yet the inward man is Renewed day by day.”

Ephesians 4:23 “And be Renewed in the spirit of your mind.”

Titus 2:5 “ Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and Renewing of the Holy Ghost.

I think the verses that have really struck me this week in Isaiah 40:29-31 and 2 Corinthians 4:16. These both talk about how the outward, physical body gets weak and needs strength but we can be renewed in our spirits daily. This week my body has taken another hit this time landing me in the hospital with an IV for 5 hours. My body was week and I was tired and faint but during this whole time of sickness my spirit has been positive. It’s amazing how when God has you where He wants you he gives you the most amazing attitude. The past couple of weeks I could have been discouraged and have wanted to go home but this whole time I have seen God keep my spirit encouraged. God has been faithful and he has given me strength when I needed and he has taught me how to rest and enjoy who He is. Instead of being sad that I wasn’t at school and worried about my students this week I got to just rest in Him. I got to be in His word and just take the time to focus on Him. Sometimes we need those times even if we don’t want to take them. I honestly believe God has given me the privilege of being sick to learn rest and not just rest but resting in Him. I am regaining my strength day by day with the help of rest and downing water and Gatorade. You’re prayers are being felt and are appreciated.

God has also provided so many things for me this week. A place to send Christmas gifts to make sure they got there safely and a friend and encourager who sat with me at the hospital for 5 hours. People to make sure I am resting and yell at me when I am not, rides to get Gatorade. All these made life a little easier.

This week we also had open house. This is a time I got to meet a lot of student’s parents that I haven’t seen yet this year. This was a great time of encouragement from my parents and a time to just really get to know the families that my wonderful students come from.

Continue to pray for me as I continue to gain strength and that I wouldn’t catch any other viruses or colds that are going around school. Pray also as I start teaching piano this week. I will also be hosting the first woman’s Bible study for us girls at school this week at my house on Wednesday. Pray as I also will be starting to plan with my committee for reading month coming up in October. Praise the Lord for all his strength and his faithfulness.

God moments in first grade

Wow! I can’t believe we are done with the first four weeks of school. It doesn’t seem like I have been here long enough to be in school that long. I realized the other day that I have actually worked 2 full weeks of those 4. I worked the full first week. The second week I missed 2 days for being sick and the 3^rd week I missed 1 day for being sick.  This week I made it all the way through the week. It’s amazing how I take being healthy for granted. But PTL (praise the Lord) all my test results that I took on Monday for typhoid and malaria came back negative. Please continue to pray for my health that I can stay healthy and not get sick for a while. We are starting a new afterschool program at AIS and so I was really excited about coaching volleyball again. I found out on Wednesday that there would be no volleyball because not enough people signed up for it. I was bummed because I started the volleyball program at school and it’s kind of my baby. However our marketing manager found out I play piano and she called and asked if I would be willing to teach piano to 1^st through 3^rd graders. I said yes! Its going to be a new experience for me because I have never taught piano before but I know God will be with me and bless me through this experience. I will have three students!

This week we have had so many God moments some planned some not but that is what is so amazing about the God I serve He is always planned and knows when He is going to give me the opportunity to share who He is.

The first one took place on Monday. We were reading the story of The Little Engine that Could and if you don’t the bases of the story its about this little red engine that breaks down and all these big trains come by and they are either too proud, to old, to important, or to small. Until this small blue engine comes by and tells the little red engine that she will try even though she is small and she says I think I can, I think I can until she pulls the little red engine over the mountain.  I asked the students what Bible story Jesus tells that sounds kind of like the story of The Little Engine that Could. We brought up the story of the Good Samaritan, in Luke 10:25-37, and how the Levite, priest, and then the Samaritan came by and how the most unlikely helped. 

The second one came in Math on Thursday. We were counting to 100 and we looked at the parable of the lost sheep, Luke 15:3-7. We counted by tens up to ninety and then counted nine out. We talked about how the shepherd would go and look for the last sheep because that one was the lost one. We then counted all of them plus the one lost sheep and got to 100. We got to read the story in Luke and talked about the meaning of that parable and how there is a party in Heaven every time one of the lost sheep comes home; every time a sinner comes to Jesus there is a party in Heaven.

The third came on Wednesday during Social Studies. We are started maps and so we have been looking at directions. So to help the students learn directions we listen to the song Shout to the North. The students listen to the song once and practice the motions and then I explained that the song means that no matter where God calls us to go we are to tell people from the North, South, East, and West about Who He is. The kids have fallen in love with the song and they worship him whenever they sing the chorus, which says… “ Shout to the North, and the South, sing to the East and the West Jesus is savoir to all HE’s Lord of Heaven and Earth.

It has been an amazing week of learning about God. I pray God keeps using me, in all my inadequacies, to teach these kids about the amazing God I serve and worship.  

How you can pray for me this week…

·      Patience with some of my students

·      Leading staff devotions tomorrow (Monday)

·      More moments to share Christ with my students.

·      Open house is on Thursday- Meeting a lot of the parents and having them all in my classroom

·      Teaching piano to 3 students on Thursday

·      PTL for all God has been doing in first grade this year!

·      PTL for all the times that I get to share this year and encourage not only the students but the staff. 

God's renewing strength through rest

Life here has been one of ups and downs the last two weeks, but even in those ups and downs God has remained faithful and given strength when needed. There have been many lessons and stories from these weeks. I have just two that I would love to share with you. 

The first is about rest. WHen you have moments of feeling well and then feeling horrible you learn quickly that you are forced to rest. People that know me can say that rest and relaxation is something I don’t do very well. To just not being doing something is a thing I don’t know. There is always something to be doing. It makes me think of the story of Mary and Martha. Martha was so busy trying to get everything perfect and ready for Jesus that she forgot to just rest in his presence. Mary, on the other hand, knew what it was like to just rest in Christ Presence. I think the last two weeks I have really learned what it meant to just rest in his presence.  There is always something to be done but if we don't take the time to just rest we won't get the opportunity to learn more. We find rest under God's wing and through rest we find strength. 

THe second is how GOd gives us strength when we need it. This I learned again on Wednesday when I was exhausted and warn down and really just wanted to stay at home. However, I had to speak at chapel on Wednesday. To be honest I didn't think I was going to make it at all and really wasn't sure if I was going to be able to stand and speak for the 10 minutes or so I was supposed to. As soon as I got up to speak about the mission God has given us to share CHrist with others I forgot all about being week. As i spoke about David and GOliath and how God is bigger than our problems and our doubts and fears my strength was renewed. The three points were to Go on are mission in obedience, in faith, and knowing God was going with us. Just like David did when he went to fight Goliath.  THe closing of the message I think I was most excited about, because it said that we can't go on the mission God has given us unless we know who God is, unless we have a relationship with him. We can't tell others about who God is or what He did for us unless we know him and have a relationship. I related this to a person I just met. I can't go to my friends and say hey this person... because I don't know anything about this person. I can't tell them things I've learned from them or experiences I have had with them because I don't have any. The same is with God. If i don't have the relationship with Him how can I tell other people what He has done for me or anything about God. SO in order to do this mission we have to ask Jesus to come into my heart. Not only do we have to do that we have to get to know him, we have to learn about Him through the Bible and prayer. I then got to pray for the students in prek3 through 5th grade. I don't know if anyone accepted Christ that day but I don't need to know that. All I need to know is that I shared what I know about God and planted the seed that hopefully the holy spirit stirs in these little ones hearts to talk to me or their teachers to find out more about who he is.  God knows who made that commitment to HIm and to God be the glory for those who did. Its not my doing I am just a vessel God uses to share who He is to me. I am so privilege to be that vessel. 

Please pray for the next couple of chapels as we start talking about superheroes of the Bible and characteristics they had. To show us how to be superheroes of God's. 

PRAISE THE LORD on Saturday I got the clearance from the Dr. about my malaria. I don't have to take another round of pills unless I get the symptoms again. I still tested positive but it was very moderate and the Dr. said it was probably because I had just finished the second dosage on Thursday morning. My energy is back up and I am feeling really good. Rest is still needed so that can be a prayer for me that i just rest. 

COntinue to pray for the school. PRay that God is shown through our school and we can have a great outreach in our community and people will see clearly the vision of our school and that really its not our school but Gods.  

Thanks for all your prayers and support! 

A small mosquito and a big sickness

 Monday was a turning point in my time here in Ghana. For the first time in 4 years I tested positive for Malaria. I was at home for the next two days literally sleeping. I was physically knocked down to the point where just doing the simplest thing made me exhausted. However, I knew people were praying from the moment I found out Monday night. Malaria usually knocks people out for at least three days once diagnosed. I can honestly say that God healed me and that power came from those who were praying for me. The third day after I tested positive I was back at work and lasted the whole day with more energy than I had the whole week. God is good and He is the great healer and I honestly believe that. Thank you for praying for me this past week as I was dealing with this sickness. This week I could also appreciate your prayers as I am speaking in Chapel on Wednesday. 

God's little surprises

I love when God gives us little things to remind us that He is with us. This week I have many God surprises.

The first one was on the second day of school. I was reading the book Wimberley Worried by Kevin Henkes.  During the story I asked my kids why we didn’t have to worry. One student answered because we have God. This lead to more questions and the question of how we go to Heaven. So this led me to ask them the question of how do we go to Heaven? Some of the students answered with being good, listening, and obeying. I told them those were all good things but none of those get us to go to Heaven. We talked about the only way to go to Heaven was to ask Jesus to come into our hearts. That he died on the cross and took all the bad things we do so that we could go to Heaven and all we have to do is accept that gift and believe who he says he is. Then we went back to reading our story.

The second God surprise was Thursday night/ early morning. I have been trying to decide what to speak about in chapel in two weeks. I must have been worrying about it before I feel asleep and so I had a dream that I was speaking in chapel and nothing was going right but I just started speaking on David and going and then I woke up. At 1:07 in the morning, half asleep, I wrote down everything that was in my mind. It was all about David and how he had to go in obedience, faith, and knowing God was fighting the battle. How we have to go in obedience, faith, and knowing will fight the battle when we complete the great commission. God honestly gave me these words there is no way I would have come up with them by myself.

It amazes me that God’s little surprise reminds us to just talk to God and then listen. When we do this we don’t worry so much and God takes care of it for us. So often I can pray for things and not take the time to listen to what God is telling me concerning what I prayed.

God is working in my class and in my life even after the first week of school. Continue to pray for my class of 17. Pray for the chapels that are coming up. Pray for strength and confidence in all the rolls that the Lord has me in this year.