TAKS not Taxes

Today was the big day. I have been asking my Life Group to pray for TAKS and one girl asked me this week why we were praying for taxes still.... yeah I had to laugh. Anyways, today was the day that my freshmen took their Math TAKS. The day that the whole school year has been working toward. These results are suppose to tell me if I am good teacher or not. But no offense to the wonderful state of Texas but a test that happens one day out of the year is not a good judge of my ability as a teacher. It can not measure the relationships that I have formed with my students. It does not show how much my students have improved as a person. To watch them grow each day. How do you measure that on a test? However one good thing come out of TAKS this week. I was able to make a new friend. I had a new helper for the math TAKS, Mr. Torres. He is trying to get a history teacher job here in Levelland, actually the one he is substituting for right now. We had a wonderful conversation on Wednesday about what it meant to be a teacher and how we in American are very privileged but can't seem to see that. His daughter was one of the senior girls on the volleyball team this year.
So I just wanted to thank all of you who have been praying for my students this week and all the students across the state of Texas. Also wanted to let you know that after talking to two periods of students I think they did a pretty good job. I can not wait to get back the results. I hope you all have a wonderful week!!!

Giving it up...

Yesterday I had a chance to talk to one of my fellow math teachers about addictions to sports. He is a basketball coach here and was talking about how he is addicted to basketball and can not handle how bad it gets during season. It was a perfect chance for me to share about my addiction to volleyball. Most of you know that I played volleyball my freshmen year at Howard Payne. That is all just one year. I would like to say the reasons why were because it wasn't fun any more or that I didn't like my time always being filled with volleyball. But that was not the case. God showed me how consumed I had become with volleyball. I could not talk to someone without bringing it up. Those shirts that say eat, sleep, and play volleyball was a perfect description of what my life had become. It did not help either that the girls on the team seemed to be the only people I had time to hang out with because we were nothing alike. That is when God hit me in the face with it. Volleyball had taken the number one spot in my life. I put in first in everything I did. My relationship with God began to slip and being around the other players so much was not helping me any. That is when I decided I didn't want it to be like this any more; that I wanted things to change so as hard as it was for me I quit. I decided that if I could not give up a thing like volleyball for God then how could I call myself a Christian. And I never regretted it for a second. In fact it took me a while to even get back into playing it just for fun. But just having the chance to share that story with the Coach is big. Lately God has been opening the door for me to talk to him about a lot of the things that God has done for me personally so if you could pray for the opportunities to continue to arise and for me to say the right thing I would appreciate it. I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend!!!!

Busy

So it has been a while since I have posted anything. I have been super busy with the end of the six weeks and getting ready for the beloved TAKS Test (which by the way is April 29 for my freshmen). However just because I am busy does not mean that God is still not working in my life. He has been showing up in a lot of things lately. Yesterday morning at church while we were singing and you could just feel the spirit in that place. It has been a while since I have felt the spirit that strong in a church. Plus just the wonderful Life Group that He has blessed me with. We all talk to each other, we are not afraid to share our thoughts, and we keep up with what is going on with each other. It is like we are a little family. Also God is really revealing himself to me through some of my students. Just showing me that being a godly example every day is a very important for these students. They are searching for answers and I have the only one they need. I need to remember that even when I feel like I am too busy for a student that I am not. I should always be there when they have a question or want some advice. However, I am really ready for a break. This go-go-go thing is really hard on a person. You just need a time to stop and catch up on sleep.
The update on my department head, Randy, is that he did not have Kidney stones nor did they figure out what was wrong. However he has been fine ever since so that is good. Thank you all for your prayers. I hope you have a wonderful week. And are fortunate enough to find some time for yourself and God.

The alarm

So I have to share my awesome God story with you. Some people might think it was a coincident but I know it was all God. Yesterday was Sunday and I had set my alarm for 7:33 so I could have enough time to get ready. Well morning came and I woke up and went to look what time it was to see how much time I had left to sleep before my alarm. When I looked at my phone it was 7:33. I could not figure out why my alarm was not going off. So I looked at the alarm and I had set it for 7:33 pm instead of am. It was only because of God that I woke up, if I had not woke up then I would have definitely missed worship and possibly life group. It was a great morning and I would have hated to miss any of it. Just thought you might enjoy my cool story.
Also if you would just be praying for my department head, Randy Parish, he had to leave this morning and go to the emergency room. He is good except for the fact that he has kidney stones. So if you could just keep him in your prayers.

Break

Do you ever just need a break? You get to that point where you are completely exhausted and it begins to feel like everything is starting to go wrong. You don't feel good, your body aches, and all you want to do is to crawl into bed and sleep an entire day. Well I think I have reached that point and luckily it is on Friday because that means I can sleep the entire day tomorrow. It is funny that this happens to us spiritually too. You come to a point where you just need a break, some time away from the world and spend sometime alone with God. You just need that spiritual rest, and for God to fill your cup up. For him to heal you up and to wash you clean. Spring break was that spiritual break for me even though I was not alone with God. Just be separated from the world and fellowshipping daily with fellow believers was a true blessing.
So do you need a break today? When is the last time that you spent some time alone with God?

So Long,

Today is the day. John Mark, Jessica, Chloe and Joel fly out today at 4:30 pm. I wish I could just jump on a plane to Dallas and see them all one more time. I know that what they are about to do is what God has called them to do, but that does not make it any easier to let them go. I think of the song "Blessed Be Your Name". The song says, "You give and take away, You give and take away, my heart will choose to say Lord blessed be your name." God gave me this awesome brother who was always there to cheer me up, a sister who has given me so much advice, and the most beautiful niece and nephew ever. That is more than I could ever deserve. And now He is not really taking them away because I will still be able to talk to them and then go visit a little later on but they will not be here close to me. But you know what I am still going to praise God for what He has already given me. So I ask that you will be praying for John Mark and his family as they travel today and then for them while they are overseas. Also please pray for the rest of the family, since we will not to be able to see them for a while and since we are such a close knit family it is always hard to have a member missing, much less four of them.

Through the Good and the Bad

This morning I was doing me Bible reading this morning and I came across this verse. Jeremiah 5-6 "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with everything the LORD your God sends you to tell us. Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the LORD our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey the LORD our God." Wow. I had to go back and re-read this verse twice this morning. Think about it we are suppose to obey God even when what he is telling us to do is not favorable to us. Great example of this in the Bible is Abraham and when God tells him to sacrifice Isaac. Even though that was his only son born to him and Sarah and was not something I am sure Abraham wanted to do; he still obeyed God. And look at how that story ends. These people are coming to Jeremiah to ask what God's will is for them and that they will obey him no matter what God tells them to do. Yet they rebel and God knew this before it even happen. They decided to not go with God's plan for their life and they were going to either be killed or held captive because of this disobedience. If God calls us to something, whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we should obey because no matter what it is that he is calling us to He will be there to guide us all the way. What is God calling me to do today? What plans does he have set before me? Will I obey no matter what? Will you?