Friends: Tuesday (because I have time) post

I don't think I'll be able to participate in Five Minute Friday until very late Friday night. I've got a teacher's conference ahead of me tomorrow afternoon. We're carpooling a few hours to a larger city where we will be attending a regional convention.
To say I'm excited is anticlimactic. What's funny to me is that I can recall my mom attending the same conference years and years ago. And I missed her terribly. I actually made a banner. (Remember when printers had paper that fed and was continuous unless you separated the perforated pages?)
"Welcome home, Mommy", it said. I was in the 8th grade. I still needed her, missed her when she was gone. I was 13 and the oldest.

Now I get to go and my oldest is only 9. My husband is well equipped to handle this. The girls don't have school (I'm blessed to teach where they attend-our school is Preschool through 12th grade) and so he doesn't have a huge job ahead of him. They enjoy the times with just them and him.

But back to friends. I am friends with my co-workers. Including our part-time staff, we have just over 30 employees. And? They're wonderful! To find people who care about children, care about raising them to know Jesus with their entire being and to take a job where you earn less, have less benefits, but ultimately make an eternal difference? These are my people! And this conference will have more people that have that same calling and desire to grow children not only in their academic life but in their spiritual life!

The blessing of my job is that not only do I get to teach math (which I have always loved), but I also get to teach the preschool/kindergarten and elementary chapels. These days are my greatest joy. Children worship without abandon and I get to worship with them, then teach them something about how they can be friends to everyone. How they can pray and God will answer them. I see their faith grow-I see them rise up and lead their classmates in ways I would not have imagined possible in young children in the world we live in.

My own girls are in my chapels still. I hear them recite their weekly verses they've memorized and God helps me tie all these things together and show it to them. It's truly the biggest blessing ever!
Oh, and now that I'm a full-time teacher? He's also providing more for us that we are then able to turn around and give with.

How did I end up in such a blessing place? I don't know. I know faithful ones who are not free like I am. Christians are imprisoned for their faith, tortured for their faith, I'm such a privileged American I cannot fathom the horrors. :( But, I just press in and try to obey and yield control and trust the most faithful of all. I try to discipline myself to pray intentionally.

Mostly, I try to live out Psalm 37:4-5
"Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:"

 

So, there's five minutes of my life right now. I can tell you, God is real. He's proved Himself to me over and over again.

If you're not feeling like rejoicing right now, I have a video for you. This really ministered to me this summer when it came out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp4WC_YZAuw

Love,

Tammy