Growing in the Lord & Walking in the Spirit

I’ve been thinking a lot about how I have been thinking a lot. I know that many people have pointed out that I’m good at reflecting. I think that I would have said that about myself before others pointed it out but I didn’t. So then I feel like I need to give others credit for teaching me this. Another aspect that I do know is that I always called this skill “overthinking,” which I viewed as negative. Is it the same thing? How is it different? How can I teach or help others to be reflective but not overthinking? Do I even know how to do it? I know I shared in my testimony yesterday so I’ve been thinking a lot about it that in my teen years when an adult I looked up to told me that I did something wrong I was always first angry, then I came to the same conclusion. Were they ever wrong? How did I get to this point? As I am brain dumping (and it doesn’t feel like overthinking anymore) I realized today as Olivia read on her own that I used to isolate just to journal in my younger years too...

I am a missionary teacher. I have been for about a year now. I am moving to a new school this year where I will be working with new students that I will need to get to know. New school policies that might not match what I have gotten used to. New staff, bosses, and co-workers that will have new personalities compared to who I have worked with in the past. There will be many more stories that life lesson to share in the future, I am sure. But, today I wanted to focus in on something that God has been teaching me. He has been reminding me that in my weakness, He is strong.  As a missionary teacher, I am reaching out to other churches and individuals to see if they could support me financially (as my position is not paid) and if they could pray for me. This has led to amazing opportunities of encouragement for both parties as we are able to share together in the life that God has given us to use for His glory. It also has allowed me to get more comfortable talking to a group of adults...

Hello fellow blog readers, this is Miss James reporting from a finished school year at Windswept Academy! During this school year, while simultaneously learning about how to be a better teacher and discovering much about the South Dakota culture present at this school, I was accepted to become a missionary going overseas to teach at a school I grew up going to! The school already has me penciled in as the English teacher for middle and high school, as well as the Math teacher for middle school, and as a person who can fill in for other roles as needed. Of course, teachers are used to being flexible- we have to for jobs such as these!  This opportunity is a dream come true for me. No joke, I have wanted to teach at this school since I was in sixth grade! I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I was in kindergarten, but I didn't even think about the fact that I could be a missionary and a teacher until sixth grade- and when I realized that I instantly knew that I wanted it. God has bee...

Wow, deep breath. Maybe this is not a conversation that the rest of you all needed to hear as much as I did, but this has been something that God has constantly been teaching me in my walk with Him. Namely, I need to let go of my plans and trust them in His hands. More than that, though, and what I want to focus on today is that we can trust the Lord with His timing. Even if He wants to work with our plans, He may not desire for us to run on our own timeline. Instead, He wants us to take a step back and trust that He has a plan, as He always does.  There are three key promises we need to remember to guide us through this journey of understanding His timeline: Trust, Patience, and Faithfulness.  TRUST:  I can trust the Lord. He is the Creator of the Universe, for Pete's sake! Trusting something small, such as my car, in the hands of someone trustworthy yet human, like my friend or parents, can be a challenge. However, trusting something that is not even mine (such as my li...

If you don't know me there is likely no way that you could no, but when it comes to understanding the Bible, I am not a shy person. You know the thing my pastor said that I did understand or agree with about accountability? Well, I talked to him in person. I had not been able to put all of my thoughts into words, but what I do remember saying was that I knew that Christians would face the Bema Seat and that Romans 6 obviously discourages us to keep on sinning just because God will keep on forgiving. We were not able to finish the conversation then, but he texted me later to give me more information about what he was feeling. Names redacted for privacy, obviously:  Pastor:   My apologies for the hurried nature of our conversation the other day. I would like to address some things we did not have time to cover during that conversation: First, you mentioned the great white throne judgment, and more than one judgment that was to take place. I was confused, because I was unaware of...

This past week my pastor preached on Matthew 12: 22-37. This is a passage that talks about the "unforgivable sin" as well as how we need to watch the words that we say. Oddly enough, I did not have much of a reaction to what he had to say about the unforgivable sin. I know what I believe to be true, and I understand his perspective, even if it is different than my own. However, that was not what stood out the most to me. Instead, it was what he had to say about Christians and their "punishment" for the unclean words they say. This was what my pastor said verbatim:  "Our words and our actions on the judgment day will be rewarded. The good will be rewarded; the bad will be punished. But there is one little caveat to that and it's so beautiful. [Congregation member name], who is sick today, he asked me about it one day. He said "Pastor [name], where is it that the Christians get punished for the bad things that they do?" And I said "The Christia...

I am all about goals. I love looking at how far I have come, as well as planning for how to make myself (and my life) better in the future. I have always fought against calling any of my goals "New Years Resolutions" because I believe that those have been goals that are broken and forgotten about too easily. I also am a teacher, so I get the opportunity to reflect on each school year in the summer and set new goals for the coming school year then. It is a bonus reflection time to help me see if my goals are still on track, and to focus perhaps on a different area in my life than I did when I made my goals at the beginning of the linear year. One thing that I have learned to be VITAL when making & following goals is to be easy on myself. Not in goal setting- I think it is important to reach for the stars when ti comes to making the goals. But it is important to show yourself grace if you are in a season of struggling or if you had a bad day and did not meet yourself where ...