snapshots of life

Things have been foggy.

Sometimes the weather mirrors life.  

Today a friend  sent an email saying . . .

"I read a book recently, Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis; she said that she'd always heard growing up that God will never give you more than you can handle.  She vehemently disagreed with that statement.  Her view was that God absolutely gives us more than what we can handle, because it's in that place that His power is evident.  I think she has a good point."

Today I listened to a sermon called The Beaty of Weakness by Matt Moore based on:  

2 Corinthians 12:7-9 (the message)

I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, 
   My grace is enough; it's all you need.    My strength comes into its own in your weakness.Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. 

Life has been intense lately.

 I have been out of my comfort zone, ministering in areas I'm not trained. 

Needing to take risks. Stretching my faith muscles. Honing my spiritual warfare skills.

 Leaning into God as He holds me and others around me in uncertain situations.  

God's strength moved in on my weakness. 

Beauty is coming out as situation after situation are

 allowing the fog to lift our eyes up to the hills where our help comes from. 

 

Besides a deepening of friendships and an awareness of the band of brothers and sisters around us

There have been multiple gifts during this intense time.

• Three new students joined the high school worship team.

• Some of the best bread made in a bread machine. Found here.  And realizing there was a "hurry up" button on the machine making it in under 2 hours! 

• Snowflakes outside the window to match the ones inside, energizing a classroom of students.

• Sunshine despite the snow. (No snow stuck to the ground.)
• 8 mailboxes in my classroom - Added a new 2nd grade boy to the class this week.
• Piles of "Finished work" corrected by a skilled teacher's aid.
• Encouraging  drama/ musical auditions setting the tone for the season
• teaching a lesson on the 10 commandments and having students apply the lesson, that very afternoon. "I'm so sad, because you are making God so sad. You lied. That's rule number 9. It says so right here in the Bible. We studied that this morning. You hurt God's heart and that makes me so sad."  - 2nd grader 

• Driving the "bus" last weekend and seeing the b-ball team's decisive wins.
• Filled with hope as the boys basketball team loads the "bus" for the Small School Basketball Tourney in Nagoya this weekend.