My Very Good Monday

You know...most Mondays I go into the morning thinking, "You can do this, Marissa!" It's hard to come off a weekend, but it's even harder to come off a LONG weekend for the kiddos. They had Thursday and Friday off, but not I, swallowed the fly. We had a teacher conference. Yipee. BUT!! This Monday was good to me...

*Staff devotions made me laugh this morning. Not for an appropriate reason, which almost makes it funnier. We were singing a song, and I was trying to respectfully keep the laughter in and just smile.

*One of my kids who has struggled with his letters and sounds for several months now had his turn to be assessed by yours truly. And He. Kicked. Butt!!! I couldn't believe it! My excitement was growing with every correct answer, and I just couldn't hide my enthusiasm. The kids just kept looking at me, and I was seconds away from doing a cartwheel. My little guy was beaming! His mom has worked with him SO MUCH over the last couple of months, and she should be one proud mama right now.

*Three of my cheerleaders came to talk after school today just because they miss cheer. I don't miss cheer, but I miss them. So, I loved hearing their stories, laughing at their stupidness, and talking about next season. Those girls are why I'm at this school right now.

*I went to coffee with one of my cheerleaders today. It was delightful. My heart in coaching is not to turn them into decent cheerleaders; my heart is for discipleship. So, I try to meet with them one on one whenever the opportunity presents itself. This girl in particular wants to take a year after she graduates high school to go to Chile and serve the local church there. Her parents are not going to love me as I encourage her to do just that. The words, "I don't care about college. I just want people to know Jesus," came out of her mouth, and I smiled. Oh how careful I must be with the words I choose as I can so easily resonate with her heart's desires!

*And the greatest part of all: my friend and mom of one my cuties got GOOD news today. PRAISE THE LORD!! It's a benign cyst that is not requiring surgery right now. She will go to the doctor in another 2 weeks to establish a game plan, but for right now they are simply to rejoice in the wonderful news and celebrate God's grace, mercy, and power! HOW EXCITING!! She was overcome with emotion and so relieved! I'm so thankful for this positive report.

Monday, March 21st, you have been a winner!!

Alright...

Have I mentioned that I LOVE the church I go to out here? Because I do. And it's something that I'm continually thankful about. When I left Atlanta, I thought there was NO way I would find a church that I enjoyed as much as Passion City Church. And I was wrong. My new church is better. Gasp! I know. Now, I'm not saying the church is better. I just like this church better. If you want to listen to a good sermon, here's the link: http://churchbcc.org/category/sermon-series/

Just pick one! :)

The pastor goes deep into the Word, and I love it. It's rare when I leave church on Sunday unchallenged. In fact, I can't think of a Sunday when that's happened. We just finished up a long series of prayer right before Lent when we as a church entered 40 days of prayer together. In one of his recent sermons, he cautioned us that if we don't learn a lesson that God is trying to teach us, we don't get to skip ahead to the next one. Sometimes in school, even if the concept isn't quite grasped, teachers have to move on, which is unfortunate because often times the concepts build on each other.

Well, God loves us too much to move on without making sure we learn the lesson. The pastor told us that the object in the lesson might change, but the lesson is staying the same until it's grasped.

And I panicked. Thinking, "Oh shoot!! I do NOT want another go around of the stuff God has been working out in me the past year and a half!"

And then I had tangible opportunities to see what God has been doing in me.

A girl in my small group shared that her sister was pregnant with a little girl who was severely underdeveloped and wouldn't survive outside the womb apart from a miracle. This was very sad for me to hear, and I cried on my way home from group that night. My heart ached for her sister, her family, and for that little baby girl. I found out last week that the little baby girl was born and lived 3 days. And then her parents had to release her to Jesus.

A new friend and the mom of one of my students just recently found out that she has a very large mass in her abdomen. She was in the hospital for a few days, and the doctors gave a pretty scary diagnosis. At worst it was cancer, and it could potentially already be throughout her stomach. At best it was a cyst that was so entwined with her organs that to remove it would require taking out pieces of several of her internal organs. It would be a massive surgery. She had a biopsy on Friday, and we're all hoping to get information tomorrow. Her kids are 5, 3, and 1. A potentially very scary situation for everyone.

So I admit that my immediate response to both of these situations was not the best. I dealt with the first one for several weeks before knowing what was going to happen. And the latter I'm certainly anxious to hear the results that will hopefully come tomorrow.

But this I know is true: God's ways are NOT my ways, but He does hear my prayers. There is value in going before my Father and making my heart's cries heard. But I do know with confidence that God is writing a bigger story that I cannot fathom. And in this story, I know what is in the best interest of everyone is for His name to be magnified and His glory made known! And often that can involve pain, heartache, suffering, sorrow, and brokenness. But that does not mean God's character has changed or is any less trustworthy. It's always in our best interest that we are drawn closer to the Father. I just don't prefer for it to be awful things that cause us to know Him better, trust Him more, and love Him more deeply.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God is doing from beginning to end."

The heartaches of life will be made beautiful in its time. And I don't say that lightly or to breeze past raw pain. Because I think there are times I would have hit someone that told me that. Reality is this- I don't get the full picture. I can't see what God is doing from beginning to end. I can't see how God is working things out. I can't always see the beauty in what I would describe as very ugly. And that's okay! I'm not supposed to be able to. But I am able to trust in who God is and who God will always be. He is unchanging and unmovable. His kingdom will not be shaken. And He will reign victorious.

So, I do pray for a good report tomorrow. But I mostly pray that God would draw our hearts to Him and use us to make His story famous.

Alive

Once upon a time, I used to post here. But even upon that time I wasn't posting frequently. Here goes a sporadic update with the promise of more in the "near" future.

* I've officially been living here for just over 6 months. It's weird to think that I've spent about equal time here as I did in Thailand. I just sat here and tried to compare the 2 time spans, and I can't. I'm still thrilled to be living here, and I'm excited that spring is right around the corner! Summer is Seattle's time to shine, and I can't wait!!

* This is my first week without any cheer practices or games, and it's a bizarre feeling. I'm actually going home before it's dark outside. I love it. I miss my team more than I thought I would, but it's nice to be able to cook dinner, prepare for school, and workout all before 9:00. I could get used to this. This is the first time in 6 months that cheer isn't a current responsibility.

* My sister visited me last week, which was awesome! She now loves this city, and there's really not much more I could hope for when people come see me. I know that sounds ridiculous. But I just like when people experience the beauty of the northwest and all of the sudden understand why I love it out here.

* I start back to online classes on Monday. Pray for me.

* I get 2 new students in my 3s class this week. One started yesterday, and I was so proud of one of my girls who reached out to the new student and tried to help her through our day. She took her under her wing- literally. At our last Circle Time she was wrapping her arm around the new girl. It was really sweet.

* March is going to be a good month! I have a visitor coming next weekend (10 days). Two weeks after that I go to Alabama for a wedding where I'll see friends. And the next weekend I have another visitor!

* It's refreshing for my whirlwind life to calm down a little. I'm hoping to enjoy the outdoors a little more in the next month. It's only a matter of time before cheer starts back up again, and I want to make sure I maximize these off weeks. I also need to do things like get a Washington license, change my tags, etc. But for this week, I'm just enjoying some down time.

I know there wasn't much to this, but I just needed to break the silence. I really will be back soon. I get internet at my apartment starting on Sunday! Which will help tremendously.