Breakthrough Weeks Need to be Remembered

(I've had this one sitting in "the vault" for a few weeks. I hesitated to post it for some reason, but the Lord used this tonight to remind me of His goodness, and how He NEVER stops thinking about me. I hope you are encouraged as well :)

What an amazing week we've just come through! My heart is so full of what the Holy Spirit has been doing in me and through me! My faith has been reinforced in some amazing ways and I've really heard God speak to me in ways that I still have a hard time believing because its so radical!

He does ALL things well!

One morning this week I was listening to the the gospel of Luke, and The Lord clearly spoke to me. He told me that I have great faith, but that I must act on that faith and live in a way that puts all my dependence on him alone.

I would say it was a week of breakthrough. This week, my education and training as a teacher was put up against my physical ability to be a teacher in a way that is profitable (let alone making a difference). Each evening I walked home from work this week, I was taken up in the most bizarre swirl of emotions and realizations. First, I was so exhausted this week physically and emotionally. Teaching, I've been realizing, is a job that is physically demanding and emotionally and mentally taxing. Second, I was having the realization that the task I am now involved with is seriously an overwhelming undertaking. This is my first opportunity to do what I've wanted to do all my life! But in that same thought, it's also the first time I've been really given the responsibility to take care of 12  kiddos and ensure that they learn everything they need to this year so they can be successful third graders. That is a heavy weight to bear! The third thing swirling in my mind was that God has called me to this arena of life, and has made it clear that I am to teach at this school for the time being, and that my job is to lean as hard as I can on to Him for the rest of my days. He has given me a calling that I find such INCREDIBLE joy in! Every day goes by so quickly because I am so wrapped up in the joy of what I do.

What an odd pairing of emotions I've never known to walk together before!

To summarize, I am blessed. I am loved. I have been chosen for this that I take on, and I have been equipped to do it well. When I am weak, HE is STRONG!

Thank you, LORD!

Casting our net widely

I realize that many of you enjoy reading this blog to sneak a peek of the life Jonathan and I are leading, and that's exactly why I update. After all, what's a blog without readers? I love knowing that we can stay connected through mediums like my blog, as you stay up to speed on the things that are currently playing on the stage of our life.

With that said, it makes no sense as to why I would keep a rather obvious part of our lives hidden. One aspect of our life that has majorly changed is our source of income. We are now considered full time missionaries as Jonathan and I are each working 40+ hours at the university of nations; Jonathan working at CROWN, and myself teaching at the Learning Center). Our income comes from generous donors and folks that have heard The Lord ask them to support us financially. It has certainly been a miracle to watch The Lord provide for us in the past 8 months since we both stopped working our "normal" jobs, and even more of a miracle to feel my heart begin to trust that He would provide for our needs as we work as volunteers as u watch Him do just that. A few of my posts have been about the ways God has interveined in some impossible situations like the way all the steps in moving out here lined up so perfectly, when God returned our lost iPad, how the Lord was protecting us on our move out to Hawaii. Even today, out of the blue one of my student's parent asked me how he and his wife could support us monetarily. I was floored, but so in awe of how God cares for us.

A couple of my second graders :)

So many of you were greatly influential with your donations to God's call on our lives, and I want to say right now that you are some of my greatest inspiration. My and Jonathan's prayer is that we would learn even now how to be "extravagantly generous" with our resources as so many of you have been with us and especially as we have seen the Lord be so gracious to us. We pray that you never cease to see the blessings that come from listening to the Holy Spirit as you follow His will.

For now we are staying with my parents, and until we are given a financial release, they have graciously opened their home to us. Our goal would be to find our own place within the next 6 months, in which we fully believe God will provide for our needs. We are also praying that The Lord would give us a means of transportation in conjunction with a (rented) home to call our own. I have to say, it is so incredibly humbling to be so surrounded by such indescribable generosity.

That's really what this post is about or even how it's possible. We have been so blessed by the way that so many of you have stood up to fill in the gap for our finances and have how that has contributed to the growth of our faith and belief that God cares for each individual one of our needs. We see you as a literal answer to prayer in our daily life. What you have invested in us as missionaries, we have then been able to invest into missions and the furtherance of the spreading of the Gospel. Our hearts are so full as we continue in walking out exactly what God has called us to and seeing how He makes it all possible.

To end this post, I would like to invite you to click on the link below to see what Jonathan has written about our current ministry. This link will also provide a way for you to see how you can continue to support us or if you have not yet decided to do that how you are able to support us. I want to make all these things clear to all who read this blog, so everyone who is interested has a chance to be a part of what we are doing. A point of some interest is that donations are tax-deductible now that we are staff at the University of the Nations. Whatever you choose, I'm so thankful that you have come along with us on my blog to join us on this adventure.

Jonathan's Message

*Sha-zam!* Instant Classroom!

CLICK HERE to go to the school web site :)

Last week  my post  discussed the winding path I had taken towards working as a teacher at an elementary school. It involved a lot of waiting and paperwork, but things still seemed unclear as to what I should do and where I would finally go. I ended with the statement, " God had just given me my marching orders and I knew exactly what I needed to do.." because of a phone call I had received about the timing of things.

The Vice Principal from a local school had called to show me the open door that was waiting at the end of hall full of closed doors, each one closed and opened exactly the way that God had wanted me to find them. I had been praying so hard that God would make it SUPER OBVIOUS where and what I should do.

Finally knowing a time frame that I was going to have to wait before I could officially be hired at the school (6-8 weeks for my background check) was the open door I needed to see so I could tell the Learning Center on the U of N campus I would be available to take the volunteer job as the full time 2nd grade teacher.

And so when I walked up to the campus and sat down with my boss, Kris, I was able to share with her what God had done to make it clear I could take on the 2nd grade class for the remainder of the school year (about 8 weeks). She called up Jo, the current 2nd grade teacher, to let her know that her prayers for a replacement had been answered so she would be free to do what she felt God was leading her to do, continue her education as a teacher at the Foundations in Education (FIE) on campus at the university. Kris, told me that Jo had begun to choke up while she was praising God and thanking her for her call. WE SERVE SUCH AN AWESOME GOD who arranges all the little impossible details in our lives. Jo, since then, has told me that she had all but given up on the idea of going to school this year. She couldn't imagine that anyone would be willing or even available to jump in for the last 8 weeks of school to teach her 2nd graders.

The Students at Ohana Court Monday morning corporate worship time

For me, this open door has become a HUGE blessing. I get the privilege of teaching with the most gracious and Spirit filled teachers I've ever met. Each one is teaching at the Learning Center because of their passion for teaching children about the character and nature of God in sync with core academic fundamentals. In the 2 weeks I've taught here I've learned more lessons personally that I could ever have imagined. One thing I've already learned here is how important it is to bring EVERYTHING to Jesus with my students. As a Christian school, and as a Christian school teacher if we aren't taking every opportunity to invite the Holy Spirit into each aspect of the day then we are cheating ourselves and our children out of watching what marvelous things God can do in a single school day. I am watching my second graders' faith grow just as I see mine growing; it's the most awe-inspiring process, and much like I'm literally watching God at work in me every single day I'm there.

My handsome hubster helping in the classroom

My view from the Judges' table of the
Campus wide Speech Competition

I am so blessed to be able to begin my life's experience as a teacher, at this little school that is barely 3 years old. I have had been met with enormous challenges as I've taken on this responsibility, but I've clearly seen the Holy Spirit at work in me giving me the strength and wisdom to carry out each task. The verse I continue quoting to myself is James 1:5.  

 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

 He has been so faithful to give me that wisdom, as I will be the very first to tell you how much I lack on my own.

International Day, celebrating nations around the world

So now until I receive clearance by the state to work in a public school, I get to teach a classroom of 12 adorable 2nd graders Monday through Friday. I'm finally a teacher!