Oh 7th grade boys...

This is my wonderful classroom! I love walking into this room everyday. It's so bright and happy. During the week I see about 500 different students. It's hard to get to know all of them so I just try to make connections with them and love on them one at a time. This week in my small group we talked about how we respond to people who insult us or speak harshly to us. I immediately thought about my students. I do not always respond with love when my students roll their eyes and smack their lips at me. Often I respond with sarcasm (which they don't understand) so I'm trying this week to not respond out of my offended emotions...yes kids can offend you...but instead out of humility and love.

Funny story for the week...I have this particularly hard to deal with 7th grade boy. He was pretty quiet for the beginning of class today so I thought I might get away without a scene from him. Oh no. I don't know what brought this on, but at a moment when everyone was silent he blurted out very loudly for the 29 other immature 7th graders to hear, "You have deformed boobies!" I don't know who he was talking to or what he was talking about so I just pointed to the door and gave him the look. He spend the rest of class outside in the hall. I couldn't stay mad. That's just too funny!

Here we go...

Let me start by explaining the name of my blog. Isaiah 62:4 says,

"It will no longer be said to you, 'Forsaken,' Nor to your land will it any longer be said, 'Desolate' But you will be called, 'My delight is in her,' And your land, 'Married', For the LORD delights in you, And to Him your land will be married." (NASB)

Over the past year I have been on an incredible journey discovering what this verse means. It has changed my life really. I have discovered that God and living a Christian life is much better than I had ever thought it could possibly be. Although I've known for most of my life that God loves me, I did not understand that He delights in me. I didn’t get that He actually likes me, that He literally rejoices over me with singing (Zephaniah 3:17), or that He doesn’t love me any more when I do good things for Him. When I started discovering and believing these truths, that His love isn’t dependant on my behavior or character, that He’s not disappointed in me, my heart started to come alive and I started to walk in freedom and fullness of joy that I didn’t know was possible for someone who had always lived with hurt and insecurity. I’ve learned more in the past year (about who God is and therefore who I am) than in the past 15 years of my Christian walk. These revelations are so good I just can’t keep them to myself any longer. And so I’ve started a blog. My hope is that this blog will be a place for me to process and share what I’m learning and what I’m doing. I pray that as I document my mostly boring yet quite enjoyable everyday life that you will encounter with me the love of God in a tangible way and discover that He delights in you too.

Disclaimer: I did not start a blog because I like to write. The use of words is most definitely not one of my strengths. Hopefully you’ll find what I write to be more important than how I write.

If you haven’t read Isaiah 62 you totally should. Hope to write again soon.

Katie