Sunday, February 24, 2013

Victory!

Right now this song has so much emotion for me. I see these beautiful children in my classroom who are struggling. Struggling with family situations that no 9/10 year old should ever have to face.

Just riding down Gentilly I see kids walking along the side of the road all by themselves. Here in this part of the da hood, all by themselves! I think about how they aren't blessed with the love and support that they need.

When I listen to this song, the very beginning just wraps me in, and then the chorus just has me shouting along to it as I'm cruising down interstate 10! 



Boys become Kings
Girls will Queens
wrapped in your majesty!
when we love, when we love the least of these!

Then they will be
BRAVE AND FREE
shout your name in VICTORY,
when we love the least of these! 

The song is by Audio Adrenaline, "Kings and Queens"

Thursday, February 21, 2013

what i'm reading

I love reading blogs:) Here are some of my favorite. I usually just check them every couple of days, or whenever I get some free time!
You can click on any of the pictures to be linked right to their blog:)



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The Small Things Blog
I learned of this blog after clicking on one of her hair videos on pintrest. Love it and it is all things girly and cute:)

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Southern Soul Mates
I met Cherish from some church connections. She is a fabulous person and just as beautiful on the inside as she is the outside!

Hi There! 
Yellow Brick Life
Charlotte is a great seminary friend! She is a GA gal and her and her husband live right across the hall from Chris and I!

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My Grey Desk
This is another one of those pintrest found blogs. Very girly and very cute:) 


Kelly's Korner

Kelly's Korner

This is a great blog with Christ inspired posts! Kelly's Korner is one of my top favorites! 




Waynes 3 Girls

And my all time favorite blog hands down is Waynes3girls! I'm a little partial because it is my sweet Aunt Stephanies blog, but I love reading it! 

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Gullible

Today's blog is a very personal and emotional for me, so I ask that while you are reading, you just try to keep that in mind:)

I am very much a gullible person. One of those people who always falls for the 'Hey there's something on your shirt! and then get hit in the face joke.' 

When it comes to certain topics I try and keep my mind shut off. The best way I can describe it is, it's like having a door and I have to keep it tightly closed from certain evils. If my door is just even barely cracked open, then doubt will come rushing in to spring the door wide open. A tiny little crack can cause doubt to flood my mind.

Calvinism has had this effect on me. The talk of pre-destination and only God's beloved being the ones who make it into Heaven, admittedly in the past has made me doubt my own salvation. Chris and I have had great in-depth conversations with others who are calvinists.  These talks were always very informative and I enjoyed getting to talk and learn from these other people. But for myself, I would leave these talks with my mind spinning and a heavy heart. I know that the root of all my confusion is that I haven't studied the topic more and really don't know much about calvinism at all.

If I start questioning God about if he only had Jesus die on that cross for certain people, then I start questioning him about other things.
Jesus do you really love me?
Am I one of your so called 'selected few' while I am so unworthy?

Since these talks usually start to make me doubt I try to stay away from them. I know Jesus died on that cross for me, and I know my name is written in the lambs book of life. I've chosen to stay away from things that I personally don't understand.

My opinion is that we should not question God. Who are we to start questioning why he did things, or why he does certain things? I believe that there are topics that as human beings, our minds are not capable of understanding, and trying to determine God's reasoning is one of them. We are not like God, because he is the all-mighty one, not us. 

With all that being said, I have had this weird, strange fear of John Piper. I know.... crazy. I guess the only thing I really know about him is that he is a preacher and is a big calvinist. I know people love him, infact many family members and very close friends sing of his praises and how he is simply 'amazing.' But I have always been curious of Mr. Piper and wanted to read one of his books.

Since in the past I have had moments of doubt from calvinism, I didn't want to read his books or writing because I didn't want to be persuaded to his reformed way of thinking. A sweet gal at church in Amite, and someone who I want to be like one day, named Casey, started posted some quotes from John Piper on facebook a couple of weeks ago. I decided to ask her about him and about calvinisim and explain my feelings. She gave me such encouraging feedback and shared a few laughs on how silly it is that I have let something affect me so:) She told me to try and read one of his sermons.

The past week I've been studying his sermon called "Whatever is not from Faith, is Sin," and wow! He really is good! I'm not gonna sit here and write that I have jumped on board the "Piper Bandwagon" but my eyes have been opened about what exactly sin is and how it has had a grip on my own life. This sermon didn't make me question my beliefs at all. In fact, I even learned that I kinda liked using a sermon as my Bible study reference. I think next I'd like to study one of Billy Graham's or Charles Stanley's sermons.

I know my writing may seem negative toward calvinism and I want to make it clear that I love all of those who have spoken to me about their beliefs. I have enjoyed learning about God and his love for us through our conversations together. Learning about calvinism has allowed me to grow in my own faith, and be a stronger Christian. I am very thankful for that. 

I Believe God sent his one and only son, Jesus, to die for our sins.
I Believe his intentions are for every man, woman, and child to get to spend eternity with him in heaven. 
I Believe that as a Christian I should try to share his word and love with as many people on this Earth as I possibly can, so that they too, may make their own personal decision to follow him and allow him in their lives.

 Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.
1 Chronicles 29:11

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Mardi Gras

Last Friday, the elementary school that I teach at held it own Mardi Gras parade. The parade theme was "rockin' the decades," and fourth grade had to dress like the 1950's. I was trying to rock the rolled skinny jeans, red lipstick, pony tail, and pink sweater look. But I really just looked like an out of place goofball. Now I thought that this was supposed to be a 'mini' Mardi Gras parade, but this Georgia girl was in for a surprise.

The streets were lined with all sorts of people. I was amazed by the number of folks who want to snag beads from a bunch of elementary age kiddoes. Now, I understand that most of the people who came out have kids attend the school, but come on... it was 1:00 on a workday! 

 One might think, "Ohhh how cool! That must have been neat to get to walk down the street in a mini parade." But I got hit in the head, arms, and back so many times by flying beads that I lost count. Just imagine the chaos of walking along side 75 fourth graders, each with their own stuffed bag of beads, trying to 'spin and fly' them to the crowd. Their aim wasn't so great, and what 10 year old wouldn't get a kick out of hitting their unexpected teacher with flying beads, frisbees, or cups. It was fun, but this gals ADHD and OCD were shot by the time we made it back to the classroom. I think my personal worst part, was that I had no idea where all my kids were. I kept relaying in my head how someone could easily nab one of them and I wouldn't see it.

Despite all my written negativity it really was pretty cool. It was fun walking down the highway getting to see all kinds of people cheer you on. Only in NOLA would a school day be devoted to this kind of mayhem, and it was fun to be goofy and act like a clown with fellow teachers and students!


Tuesday was a pretty yucky day and the sky couldn't decide if the sun was going to come out or if it was going to monsoon. Chris and I decided to stay in because the news casters kept predicting that it was going to be a downpour at any moment. We figured that it wasn't such a great idea to be out among the crazies who were already holding the cities self proclaimed, 'best and biggest wet t-shirt contest ever' with all the drizzles and misting. 


Instead we watched the parades on television and spent the evening with some seminary friends eating BBQ. We've decided that we are going to go out to a St. Patrick's Day parade in a few weeks, where they throw out large cabbages and carrots to the crowd, to make up for our lack of attending a Mardi Gras parade!