Big Reminders from Little People

So tonight was my last night of the summer at my second job. I made a new friend there, he was four years old and was one of those children that if you give them the opportunity they will tell you their life story. He told things, repeated those things, and as we made animals out of play-doh an interesting conversation came up.

Boy: Polar bears are dying, so are whales. Do you know what death is?
Me: (completely shocked by this question and wanting to hear this small child's definition) what is it?
Boy: It's when we aren't on earth anymore, we go up to heaven- well, only if we know Jesus. Do you know Jesus?
Me: yes I do!
Boy: So you know that he died so we can go to heaven?
Me: (smiling big) yes I do.
Boy: Good. Do you know that God likes our prayers and listens to them? He knows everything we need. Do you know that?
Me: Yep (nodding and smiling even bigger)
Boy: Good, it's the truth.

Out of the mouths of babes, truth! God is so great! It's amazing what and who He uses to get our attention. God used that adorable little boy to remind me that He is in control and He hears me and knows all that I need. So comforting.

Mashed Potato Hugs

Today was my last day at placement. I spent the morning teaching the most crucial skills of hula hooping and hopscotch in the warm sunlight. Once inside I discussed with three girls their paintings and noticed one girl has been continuously making pictures of her at the "big school." Kindergarten registration has come and gone and the majority of the children in the class have gone to visit their 'big schools' and the conversations about them and how different it will be have been flowing for a few weeks. I spent a good chunk of the rest of my day listening to and trying to calm some the fears of three small girls going to Kindergarten in the fall. We read books, looked at pictures and I shared with them what I remember about Kindergarten and what Kindergarten was like when I taught in it last semester. It really got me thinking about how often instead of embracing and being excited about life changes I fear them and avoid that they will be coming soon. I feel like fearing change and the future is some what natural. I've hit an age in life where most everyone around me is taking the leap of leaving home, leaving college, moving into searching for a career and becoming adults. It is a scary time, transition and change are full of unknowns and it's usually not the most comfortable thing but looking back there are so many events and changes in life that if we let fear take over and avoided them completely we would not be the people we are today.

God uses the difficult things, the hard things, the transitions to refine us, to make us more like Him- to be the people He created.

"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." - 1 Peter 1:6-7

Even though the girls I talked with this morning are only five, they have fears and worries about their future- though those fears seem small to us they are GIGANTIC to them. We all know that Kindergarten is not so scary a place, once you've been there and that once it turns time to move onto middle school similar feelings of fear start to arise but then we realized it really wasn't soooo bad. Just like those fears seem small to us now and how they molded us into who we are; our worries about where we'll work, live, what we'll be in five years will shape us into who we will be. God knows where we'll be in five years, and what we'll be doing- He's held each of us through our entire lives- He's drawn us into Him and He will continue to do so into eternity. We have no reason to worry or fear because the God who made the universe holds our little lives in the palm of His hand and He won't let us go.

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." - 1 Peter 5:7

"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken." - Psalm 62:5-6

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." - Jeremiah 29:11-13

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:28-33

Today as I left to head to my last college classes of my undergrad, I left my little pre-kers eating their lunch of turkey and mashed potatoes. I stood at the door and said goodbyes to them all, told them I will miss them, that I hope that I'll see them again some day, wished them a good rest of the year. I was then stampeded by eighteen four and five year olds covered in mashed potatoes giving me the biggest group hug I've ever received. I sincerely will miss them, I don't know what the God has planned for their lives but I pray that they will come to know Him, rest all of their worries and cares in Him, and walk in His glorious plan for their lives.

Praying for those I Love

Colossians 1:9-14

"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

I hope that my prayers for the people in my life would reflect more of the things that this passage does. That prayers like this would be more constant- Paul says they never stopped praying these things for these people, how powerful is that?!

Pray that:
- God would fill them with the knowledge of God's will
- They would live a life worthy and pleasing to the Lord
- They would bear fruit and grow in the knowledge of Him
- Each of them would be strengthened with God's power and have endurance and patience
- They would joyfully give thanks to God in all circumstances
- Each of them would know that they have been qualified, through Christ, to share in the inheritance of the Kingdom

Also...
This week it really hit me (it's something that I've always known and believed but never really let sink in) that Jesus is alive. I know what you're thinking, "yes, well every christian knows that," but think about it, He died and was raised to life... then never died again- that means that He is just as alive today as He was the day that He was raised, as the day when Thomas put his hand in Jesus's scars. He is fully and completely alive!

"...Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us." Romans 8:34

How amazing is that!