Finding Joy in Children :)

Have you ever wondered what you felt God wanted you to do in life? Have you been confused or had mixed emotions about your current job or career? Now, I may be young but I do know of a fool proof way to determine a career in which you will be happy until you are 150 years old. You MUST seek God and His will to find your gift, call, and passion. Feel free to read my father's manuscript from September 2009 to help point you in a good direction on finding these three traits at http://www.moultonbaptist.org/images/PDF%20Files/REmanuscripts/2009/090426manuscript.pdf .

I KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that I am supposed to do something involving children. Children hold a special place in my heart that was given to me by the great God Almighty. No one will ever be able to take away the joy and happiness I am able to receive from being with and working with children. Because of this, He has given me the opportunity and blessing of a Wednesday night rotation of teaching third, second, and first graders in that order.

These children will NEVER know how much they mean to me and to my girlfriend, Kristy, who teaches the class with me. If I have had a bad day, it all changes when those children come through the door into the classroom. They all have their funny sayings and movements, a lot of which I used to do when I was their age.

I remember having people in church that I looked up to and set a Godly example for me and I hope I am able to pass that on to every child I come across!! They need to know that it's alright to be different from the world and be the person God desires them to be. When I teach, I like to offer some incentive to the kids to help them do their best and want to work hard.

Tonight I thought "Hey, what better way to paint a visual picture of my blog than to take a picture of one of the kids?" So tonight child I chose to represent a small part of my joy for all of the children that compose the Children's Ministry is Mr. ZC. Z-man, I hope you continue to grow in Christ and seek His guidance in everything you do. If you need ANYTHING you know myself or Miss Kristy will be there! Love you buddy!

Are You Jealous?

First of all, I would like to thank you for coming to my blog page! Whether it was on purpose or by sheer accident I would like to say thanks and I hope you can receive some sort of blessing from my blog.

My Savior, thank You for all of my second, third, fourth.....hundredth chances from when I screw up in life. I pray that You reveal to me my own jealousy and help me in these weak areas of my life. I love You and thank You for my salvation!! Amen.

I'm willing to say that 100% of people in the world are jealous of someone or something at some point in their lives. Jealousy is an issue that is prevalent in our society and as we continue to "get used" to it we assume it is something we can not change or fix. Upon doing my quiet time in my room I was on the CrossWalk website doing a devotional and it so happened to be on jealousy.

It gave a small list of ways we can recognize our jealousy:

• Fear—You’re afraid of not getting what you want or of losing what you have.

• Competitiveness—You aggressively strive to outperform others.

• Critical spirit—Undermining the success of others becomes a goal.

• Comparison—You measure your own success by the accomplishments of others.

• Divided mind—Someone else’s success becomes a constant distraction.

• Anger—Hostility is a natural outgrowth of jealousy and bitterness.

• Insecurity—You never feel as if you have enough, because you place a higher value on what someone else has.

• Lack of peace—Jealousy and peace stand in opposition to each other; you simply can’t have both.

• Illness—Emotional turmoil can take a toll on physical health.

I am going to refer to this list on a weekly basis and try and improve in each of these areas one at a time and I hope each of you will do the same. This isn't one of my most uplifting blog posts, but it was laid on my heart and the purpose of this blog is to share my heart!! So together, let's try to conquer these areas and see if we can make our lives a lot less complicated! With the help of Jesus we can begin to restore our lives and feel His ultimate healing.

Thanks and God bless!

New Toy, New Joy

Today, and today only, I had the luxury of purchasing a laptop. This was due to a "tax-free" weekend holiday in Alabama that was enacted in 2006. It takes place beginning at 12:01 am on the first Friday in August and continues through 11:59 pm on the following Sunday.

The tax cuts only take place items related to school, such as: laptops, desktops, school supplies, clothes, dorm/apartment furniture, etc. And I decided to take advantage of this "big break" and get a laptop. Now in reality I probably only saved about 65 dollars or so, but hey (!) to a college guy this can be a huge chunk of change and could mean a nice date night. (wink, wink)

Amidst all of the joy and excitement of having a new toy with a 15.6" screen, 250 gb hard drive, 3 gb of memory, Windows Vista, and built-in webcam just to name a few features, I came to a realization that to be honest I was glad I had!!

If I get THIS excited over a laptop and tell all of my friends and share my excitement with them HOW MUCH MORE excited should I be to tell all of my friends, better yet strangers, about my relationship with MY personal Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?! When it comes down to it, this laptop will not mean diddly squat 4 or 5 years from now. My eternity lies in the saving grace of God and how He sent His perfect Son to die for my sins.

So let me say this: Jesus Christ has done a work in my life that I want to share with everyone I come in contact with. I want my love for my Savior to be infectious and something you can't help but get!! If anyone would like to know Him the way I do please feel free to e-mail me at teasy12@bellsouth.net.

Thanks and God bless!

Worship

Psalms 63:4, I believe, paints THE way worship should be when it says, "So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands." (ESV) Worship shouldn't be something that is only done on Sunday morning and Wednesday evening. I believe once we receive genuine salvation that we will not be able to STOP worshipping.

Our hearts should be so overcome with the recognition of who God is and how He allows us to be called one of His children that in itself is something to give glory to His name for!! In John 4:14b Jesus is talking to the "Woman at the Well" when He says "The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (ESV) When we are filled with the Holy Spirit we are unable to contain Him and must cry out in praise and adoration. If you have been to Sunday School you should know, if we do not cry out and give honor and glory to His name then the rocks will!! That comes from Luke 19:40.

Throughout the Bible the word worship is used in 105 verses, 58 in the Old Testament and 47 in the New Testament. If that isn't enough to blow your mind, the word praise is used in 183 verses, 163 in the Old Testament with 111 being found in Psalms and 20 in the New Testament.

Worship can be anything from prayer at some point throughout the day, doing a daily devotion or scripture reading, singing hymns or praise and worship in the car/shower/church, delivering food to someone who is unable to get out of the home, etc. The list could go on forever if I could make a post that large.

How can you worship Christ today?

Thanks and Gob Bless!!

Answered Prayer

Being a college student can be a little hectic sometimes.  You are worried of keeping good grades, having money, being with friends, and still trying to stay sane in all of it.  Recently, I had a scare with my job and it looked like I wouldn't be able to work but maybe a quarter of the hours I was used to due to the fact my school schedule and my present job had a conflicting nature.

I began to pray hard and often for God to do what He wanted and what was best for me in this time of my life.  I began to sort of stress out before the semester even began!  Slowly, but surely, God answered my prayer as I now have a job again AND it does not conflict with my school schedule!  Thank you Lord Jesus for listening to Your children when they call to You!  I will now hopefully be working about the same, if not more, hours than I previously had!

I am lucky to have an employer who cares about her employees and does whatever she can to make things work.  I am even more lucky to have a God that loves and cares for me and knows what is best for my life!

Don't skip a day without at least a small prayer just thanking Him for allowing us to even live!  Don't just pray when you are down or need an "escape", pray in the good times MUCH MORE than what you think are your bad times!

Have a blessed week!

Trust Him

New Year!!

While trying to think of a new post to start the new year I thought, 'Hey, why not post ON the new year?' I decided to do a little research on the New Year holiday and stumbled upon the website <http://news.tonic.com/statistics/are-you-in-the-50-of-americans-who-make-new-years-resolutions/>

• Approximately 50% of Americans make New Year's Resolutions?
  
• Only 15% of those resolutionist (my new word) keep their resolutions
• It is also believed that resolutions began in 4000 B.C. "when Babylonians began the new year by paying off debts and bringing back borrowed goods"

I would like to put a kind of different spin on the resolution ideas. Instead of making our resolutions ourselves, why don't we make our resolutions God's solutions? We shouldn't try and do things all on our own, but seek His help and guidance in every aspect of our lives, even something that seems as silly as a New Year's Resolution.

I hope everyone has a blessed and wonderful 2009!

Thought: Try making a note or journal of different ways God uses you this year and changes you. Look back and reflect upon them at the end of 2009!!