Inspired

Ohh how things have changed since I last wrote! I didn't go to the program that I thought I was going to work in and I'm leaving Korea in a few weeks instead of a few months! God moves and works ohh so wonderfully. My dream and passion is children, and I just KNEW that God was gonna open doors for me to work with children exclusively while here in Korea, but His thoughts are higher than my thoughts and His ways are higher than my ways. Those doors closed and a new opportunities were presented.

At the beginning of September, I stretched my legs and moved from behind my desk and stood up in front of students once again. I must admit that I'm not as passionate about adults as I am about students, but I did feel this desire to use what I had learned in my last position to improve my teaching and my relationships with students. So now, not only have I been able to teach English again, I've been able to teach religion class. This is my first time teaching religion, and I was a little nervous. Can I really teach others about God?

The Lord is so wonderful...my experience in my previous position started a huge spiritual growth spurt. If not for that experience I don't believe that I would have been nearly as ready and capable of showing the practicality of God's Word to my students. What's more amazing is that my class is full of students who have some knowledge of the Bible and Christianity so most of our time isn't spent explaining stories, but rather applying Bible stories to our own lives.

These women (yes all women) have revealed lessons in familiar Bible stories which points me daily to the FACT that God looks out for us all. He doesn't just give teachers words to use to inspire their students, but He also uses the students to inspire the teachers. What a humbling and awesome experience. God uses EVERYONE to INSPIRE. So inspire and open yourself up to be INSPIRED.

The Wind of Change

The wind of change is blowing, with such a fierceness. My environment has changed so much in the past few months, and soon it will change again. I'll be starting a new position as a English teacher for the little ones here in Korea, and I'm so excited! But August is in my way...Actually, July is still kinda in my way too, but I try not to think about that. One thing that I've learned here is that I'm not as open to change as I once thought I was. Change in co-workers, or even living arrangements take some time getting use to. And in 6 months, it'll all change again! Yikes! In six months I'll be making that oh so scary change of coming back to America. As happy as I know I'll be to see my friends and family (and to eat at Chipotle), I'm terrified of living as an American IN America. I've gotten used to being an American in Korea, but when I think about going back home, I'm a little apprehensive about the change. My life here is comfortable and convenient, not necessarily easy but....it's livable. Can life in the US be livable?? I know nothing about anything really. What are gas prices like, how much is produce nowadays, how will I live without the subway?? Unfortunately, I'm prone to think about things waayyy before those things are even going to happen. Nevertheless, the wind of change is blowing.

It's blown through my love life with the emergence of a wonderful man. And it's blown through my spiritual life with a clearer and better understanding of what God expects of me, His child. When the wind blows, doesn't it leave marks of its presence in the things that it's touched? I've seen the change in my environment, and in my heart, but what about my walk with Christ. Have I allowed the wind to leave a true and lasting mark in my soul? Has what I've learned shown itself in a marked change in my behavior, thoughts, and words? Sometimes I'm ashamed that my answer is no. The question that this wind of change has brought about in me is how many times will it have to blow in order for me to let it forever leave its mark?

Hello Sea of Forgetfulness

My first blog of 2011!!! So sad, since it's almost the end of February. 2010 ended with a BANG! and the BANG has continued throughout 2011. God has been guiding and changing me. That's the BANG! My cup has been overflowing, and I know that I haven't even been able to acknowledge all the blessings that God has given me.

What has been amazing has been the small things. Let me explain. Even after a week of reading about the effect that our thoughts have on our lives; I let the devil use my thoughts to get me down. I started thinking about my past and how it seems that it'll still burn into my future. I felt myself getting seriously down about choices and decisions that I've made so long ago. Praise God for the Holy Spirit; I was encouraged to get out my Bible and Sabbath School Lesson. Now, in the morning I thought I had read the lesson designated for the day, but as I opened the lesson I saw that I had read a prior lesson (clearly I'm behind on this week's lesson). As I read the next lesson, I was so overwhelmed by God's gift to me that I couldn't stop the tears. As I'm sitting there fretting about my past and worrying about its effect on my future I read these words: "We can't undo the past; what we can do, by God's grace, is seek to learn from our past mistakes and, to whatever degree possible, make restitution for whatever wrong we have done. After all, all we can do is surrender to God and seek His mercy, grace, and healing." I tell you GOD CARES!! About something as simple as me feeling down, He cares. And He didn't bother to really give me a chance to wallow in my sorrows: instead He reached out and set my eyes on the blessing that was in my lesson. An amazing God.

It's not like I had truly forgotten that I couldn't undo the past, but I needed that simple reminder that what's done is done. After reading this I was also reminded that when God forgives us, He tosses our sins in the sea of forgetfulness. So I'm here on earth worrying about sins and bad decisions that God has already forgotten. Out of all the complex and complicated things that our brains can do, why can't it remember that God forgives and forgets?? Why do we allow the devil to degrade us by showing us our past mistakes?? Why can't we hold fast to God's promises of forgiveness and restoration?? It's my prayer that you and I won't continue to let our past mistakes dictate our present feelings. We must instead remember the sea of forgetfulness.