Come Ye Sinners

"Come ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, love, and power.

I will arise and go to Jesus, He will embrace me in His arms. In the arms of my dear Savior, oh there are ten thousand charms..."
-Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy

I went up and saw my grandmother in the hospital tonight. This was the first time in at least a month that I have seen her and it was good. My mom said that she has been getting terribly lonely around dinner time and after, which is the time that I had been visiting her up at the nursing home. So, it looks like my rounds of regularly visiting her after work around dinner time will be beginning again. As I was listening to this song, it reminded me of her and how frail she seems, and how much she needs to know the Lord. At the same time I am reminded of myself and how needy I am as well. The Lord has been doing a work in me this week--hard to describe, except that it is me being forced to lean upon Him for each activity that needs to be accomplished, literally one step at a time. For I have been exhausted and overworked this whole month. It is amazing how stressful it has been, yet at the same time He has been faithful to bring me through it. "This too shall pass."

This morning as I was sitting in a professional development meeting, I truly had no idea how I was going to make it through the rest of my busy day as I was almost falling asleep at the table. But as I was driving to church this afternoon to teach two of my classes, the Lord literally revived me and gave me a peace about teaching. Even as the first class started, He even renewed my joy for teaching these kids. During the second class one of the students had a melt down, something that has never happened before in that class, but even that worked out for the better. This is a class that needed some refocusing and some serious discipline and the incident literally shocked them into submission. The Lord reminded me of a classroom management strategy that I had not used in a few years--it worked so well today that we are going to keep using it.

What I was really worried about for today was meeting with my adviser. I am almost finished writing my proposal and was not able to finish for today's meeting. But the meeting went so well, and because she is going out of town next week our next meeting isn't until the end of my spring break, so I will have my week off from teaching to finish writing my proposal. I am so excited about that. And that I can relax this weekend. This coming week is our huge district wide 400+ student String Festival. While I do enjoy the event, I don't enjoy the stress the leads up to it. This month has been so busy with All County, the String Festival preparations and budget woes that I've literally been losing my mind. I can tell that I am absolutely fried when I keep mixing up simple conducting patterns during orchestra rehearsals. But thankfully this will be over soon.
I was blessed today to run into one of my theory teachers from the summer, and to hear about the professorship that he was offered. And to have someone be able to relate to the stresses of working and going to school at the same time-it was just a wonderful conversation! So, I have been greatly blessed today and thankful that the Lord has carried me through it. I do pray that He would continue to uphold me in the palm of His hand!

One Step at a Time

It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
(Lamentations 3:22-25)

Peace that passes all understanding

As I was sitting here crocheting, this was brought to mind: the Lord slept through the storm on the boat.

"That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, 'Let us go over to the other side.' Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, 'Teacher, don't you care if we drown?' He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, 'Quiet! Be still!' Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, 'Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?' They were terrified and asked each other, 'Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” (Mark 4:35-41 NIV)

He had no fear of the storm because He knew who was in control of it. The Lord has the power to calm the storm in my life right now, but even if He chooses not to change the circumstances, I have to rest in the knowledge that He is in control of the raging storm and will stop it in His timing. Jesus was able to rest in the midst of the storm.

David wrote, "I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety" (Psalms 4:8). David was able to rest in the midst of his trials.

It is as if the Lord is saying to me, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" He gives us the peace that passeth all understanding. How I need that now!

Sunday Afternoons....

There is something about Sunday afternoons--both last Sunday and today I went to the library after church in order to do some grad work and was thoroughly blessed by how productive it was. I've gotten more done in the three or four hours I've spent there these two Sundays than I usually get done on my Mondays off. I have been so stressed this week over my grad work and many other things that seem to all be taking place at the same time. The stress was so bad that Tuesday morning when I started the day, I was at the point of almost lashing out at the kids. (It usually takes quite a bit to ruffle my feathers that much!) So I don't understand what is really going on, or what the Lord is trying to show me. This is the first time in a long time that this has happened. I've also gotten into this vicious cycle of not sleeping enough, therefore I'm too tired to absorb what I read each morning, going through the day without any refreshment from the Word, and then stressing & worrying at home and not being able to sleep.

My adviser wants my whole proposal written for my project by the end of this coming week, and this is after we recently revamped the whole project, so in some ways I had to start over with my writing. It was almost a month ago that we last met, but between me being sick, and general craziness teaching wise, I have not been able to work on the project very much. But today was very encouraging as the Lord gave me what I needed in order to keep a major section of my first proposal and incorporate it in my second proposal. So now I am quite hopeful that the Lord will give me the grace to get this done.

This all comes in the midst of extreme stress due to proposed budget cuts for next year. The superintendent wants to make cuts in the music program, specifically the elementary instrumental (band and strings) program. If these proposed cuts make it into the final budget, there will be major changes in our music program next year. Right now I am teaching a four day student load in three days. If my time is cut more, my program will be basically ruined because there is no way you can teach 80 some kids in two days and still have quality. A worse possibility still is that I would be transferred to another school. What to do with all that? Please pray that I would surrender these things to the Lord, because in the end, His will will be done no matter if I've stressed over it or not. The possibility of change is scary for a number of reasons. But who knows, I suppose if the Lord wanted me there full time next year, He could work that out in the midst of all these budget woes. So..."be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10).

Stressed

I am absolutely exhausted! There is so much going on that I am having a hard time keeping track of things. But I am thankful for an extremely productive weekend, so that is a good thing. I'll have to write more as my brain is so fried that I can't think!

Randomness

I found this on an advertisement:

"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."--Popular Mechanics, 1949

Computers took up the space of entire warehouses back in 1949.

Teaching Blog

I've started writing on my other blog as well. So check it out!
http://teachertakes.blogspot.com/

Absolute Craziness!

Time for an update. After being out for a week, and then returning to school during a week when there was state testing, I thought things would be a bit calmer in my realm of the school. The week turned out to be anything but calm. Due to the testing I had fewer lesson times, so lesson groups were doubled up. Wednesday and Thursday both tuned out to be 11 and 12 hour days as I had to go to an All-County rehearsal one day and a PTA meeting the next. Preliminary budget information came out last Tuesday which was like receiving a bombshell in some ways. Today I stayed after for a budget related meeting which ended at 6. When I get to school at 7, it makes for a long day. I'm not complaining, it's just a lot. Thankfully the Lord has been gracious in getting me though it. I've decided to take my other blog and use it for posts related to teaching. So starting tomorrow, check it out!

After a Week of Being Sick...

After a week of being sick, I am thankful to have had such a productive day catching up on many things around here. I don't recommend hitting your head on a car door, it can cause major headaches (both literally and figuratively). First of all, if you go to the doctor for it, you have to claim it on your car insurance, even if the car was stationary when you hit it. I couldn't believe it. Secondly, don't have major headaches and the flu at the same time, not a good combination. Third, headaches from a "head injury" can last up to two or three weeks according to my doctor. So..please be praying because I go back to work tomorrow (along with my ibuprofen and Tylenol). Lesson learned: never hit your head on the car door.

Update

"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
(2 Peter 3:9)

My apologies for not updating about my grandmother earlier. The surgery went well, but she is slow to recover. Today was the first day they had her off of the breathing machine. If the Lord leads you, please continue to pray for her healing and salvation. Thank you!