Called According to His Purpose

Hola Friends and Family!
        What a week. My first full week of teaching is over...gotta love Riverside "Fridays"...and it flew by! I would love to tell you all ever detail of each day but trust me that would take entirely too long so I will just stick with some basics and lots of rejoicing!
        I began this week, or really ended last week with a trip home for a great party! It was so good to see family and friends and just feel the love and support of all those who are excited about what God is doing in my life. Each person there was so genuine in their excitement and was ready to hear all about Riverside. I got to share the needs of the school as well as tell about my experiences so far. Talking to people first hand about my ministry here was absolutely priceless. As much fun as the weekend was I was ready to get back to my apartment to catch up on rest and get ready for the busy week that was ahead of me. Monday came so quickly but I was ready with lessons and activities for the kids. I think they were anxious as well to see if I was going to be as excited as I had been the first two days of school. Each day brought new challenges to overcome, power points to create, new ideas to implement, and relationships to grow.  Throughout the week it has been such a blessing to start to get to know the students. I think many of them are starting to truly feel comfortable with me. They see teachers come in and out of Riverside and to have a face that they know they can count on is so valuable. My goal is that they know just how much I care about them. I want each kid who comes into my classroom to see the love of Jesus through me. I want them not only to learn the content of their classes but to be growing as men and women of faith. I feel so privileged that I am teaching at a school where Christian development is the goal of every faculty member for every student inside and outside of the classroom.
       Teaching is wonderful and had someone told me five years ago that I would actually be enjoying being around high school students all day I would have laughed. In fact I might have cried, see I have never had a desire to teach. I have never really liked kids much either and so putting those things together would have been the furthest thing from my mind. I am finding out slowly though, that God calls us to do crazy things, he calls us to do hard things...really hard things, yet he always promises to never leave us. How encouraging! I suppose there are some things that God wanted me to learn that he could only teach in Kentucky! One other amazing thing God is teaching me is that not only does he know way better than I do about what is best for me he also knows what I am like...totally and completely. He constantly puts my fears to rest and opens up doors of possibilities where I least expect them. Let me explain, there are some things that I told God I needed when I came here; one of those things was a good support system. And what do you know, I am surrounded by a group of amazing individuals that have been pouring into me daily. Secondly, when I came down I was nervous about my inadequacies as a teacher. I thought that I would be totally unqualified and bad at what I am doing. But I get to be the loudest person in the room all day long, and as exhausted as I feel at the end of the day I am so completely fulfilled! God truly does equip us for what he wants us to do.

 Romans 8:28-And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

        Thank you so much for your prayers you do not know how much of a blessing you are to me!