Word of the Day - End

This year has been filled with ups and downs.  There have been days I haven't been able to sleep and days that I haven't wanted to get out of the bed.  Work has been overwhelming and has worn me down more than ever.  Ethan has grown up and has changed so much.  He has had a year full of adventures.  He started 7th grade, got a little sister, gained a new kitten, discovered he loves certain cartoons, and best of all he got baptized.  His personality has come out more than ever and he loves to wrestle and goof off.  With everything that has happened I am glad that 2014 is coming to an end.  The good and the hard I am ready to start a new chapter in this crazy mixed up thing called life.  

Well, enough about my year.  I hope that your year was full of fun and delight.  Today's word of the day is end.  When people talk about the end it's usually the end of life or the end of day.  Is the end of something always a bad thing?  I think that the end of something can be the meaning of a new beginning.  So, I challenge you to allow the end of this year to be a new beginning of next year.  Allow the good and the hard things to happen in the year to come.  Allow this chapter of your life to close and for a new chapter to be written.

The word end is in the NIV version of the Bible 502 times in 498 verses.  After reading the verses the following are the ones that stood out to me.

**Numbers 34:12 - Then the boundary will go down along the Jordan and end at the Dead Sea. "This will be your land, with its boundaries on every side." 

**Deuteronomy 4:32 - [ The Lord Is God ] Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? 

**Psalm 22:27 - All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, 

**Luke 1:33 - and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” 

**John 13:1 - [ Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet ] It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 

**Revelation 21:6 - He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.

Abba Father as I go into the new year I pray that you would surround me with your love and protection.  I pray that the end of this year would be the beginning of a year to come that is filled with peace and hope.  Please watch over and protect my family, friends, and even those I don't know.  Allow my love for you to reach to the end of my life here on earth.  For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen

Word of the Day - Hope

Today was a day of restlessness and discomfort for me.  There is no real rhyme or reason for the feelings; they were just there.  I've noticed that lately there haven't been any real reasons for a lot of my feelings lately and for me that is frustrating.  I think part of it today is because I don't have Ethan and days without him are always hard.  I miss his laugh and his constant energy.  I find myself constantly hoping that he is doing ok and that he is having fun with his daddy, Marissa, and Makenna.  

You know, hope is an interesting concept to wrap your head around.  When you hope for something it is only a concept or idea until it happens.  Then and only then does that hope turns into a reality.  According to the dictionary the word hope means to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence.  People frequently have a hope for something to happen.  Do you ever have a hope for God?  Do you ever have a hope that God will answer your prayer in way form or another or with a particular answer?  Do you ever wonder if God has a hope for you?  As I'm writing this I wonder if God has a hope for me?  I wonder if he ever hopes that I will make one decision over another or that I will go the direction that He has marked out for me.  The biblical definition of hope is a firm assurance regarding things that are unclear and unknown.

Hope is used in the NIV translation of the Bible in 180 verses 189 times.  While reading the verses the following are the ones that stood out to me the most.

**Job 8:13 - Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless.
**Psalm 25:3 - No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause.
**Psalm 62:5 - Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.
**Lamentations 3:25 - The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
**Romans 5:1 - [ Peace and Hope ] Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
**Romans 8:24-25 - For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?  But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
**1 Peter 3:15 - But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

Heavenly Father, as I go about my days ahead I pray that you would watch over me and protect me.  I pray that you would take my hopes and turn them into the reality that you have set forth for me.  Please watch over my family, friends, and even those that I do not know.  May they forever be able to find their hope in you.  For all the glory and power be yours God, now and forever more.  Amen.

As you go through your days ahead may you not lose your hope in Christ.  I pray that you are able to keep your eyes on Him and that the things you hope for come to pass in the way God intends them to.  My hope for you is that your days may be filled with peace and blessings and comfort be given where needed.  [May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Romans 15:13]

Word of the Day - Rescue

Rescue by Desperation Band


In church yesterday we sang the song, "Rescue" by Desperation Band.  (If you want to listen to it the link is at the top.)  The song has stuck with me ever since and I have found myself listening to it over and over again.  Every time I've listened to it I catch myself thinking of the word "rescue" and really wanting to know what it means to be rescued. This last year has been one of the roughest and toughest years of my life.  It's not because of anything in particular, but just because of the situations that I have been in.  When looking back on the year I realize that there have been so many times that I have felt like I am drowning and really having a hard time keeping my head above water.  I have been treading water just waiting to be rescued, but rescued from what I am not sure and rescued by whom I am even less sure of.

According to the Webster Dictionary the word rescue means, "to free or deliver from confinement, violence, danger, or evil."  So, now that I know the official definition I ask again, what is it that I want to be rescued from?  Why has this song stung me to my core and stuck with me through the last couple of days?  There are times in my life that I know I have been rescued from one thing or another.  There are times now that I cry out to be rescued.  Many times when I am at church and really thinking about my life, my son, and my relationship with Christ I want to cry out to be rescued.  There is a fear within me though that hasn't allowed me to fully do that.  I'm sure I'm not alone in that fear.  What would life be like if I truly accepted the rescuing that Jesus has given to us?  Would I be able to cope without the constant worry and anxiousness in my life?  What would it be like if we lived our lives fully and completely for God and in His remarkable rescue?  Just some of the questions that I will be thinking about today and I challenge you to think about too.

The word rescue or a variation of  rescue is used in the NIV Bible 135 times in 129 verses.  After reading the verses the following are some of them:

**Exodus 18:10 - He said, “Praise be to the Lord, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. 

**Numbers 10:9 - When you go into battle in your own land against an enemy who is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets. Then you will be remembered by the Lord your God and rescued from your enemies.

**Judges 10:15 - But the Israelites said to the Lord, “We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now.” 

**Psalm 18:19 - He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. 

**Daniel 6:27 - He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.” 

**2 Timothy 4:18 - The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Abba Father, as I search myself and find myself wandering aimlessly through life I pray that you would surround  me with your love and make your presence known in my life.  I cry out to you for rescuing and thank you for your grace and salvation.  I pray that you would rescue me, my family, friends, and even those that I do not know from the sins of our daily lives.  May your peace wash over me and may your love fill my life.  It's in your son's precious and holy name I pray.  Amen.

As you go about your day know that there are times when we all need to be rescued by God.  In those times cry out to Him and hold on to His everlasting word.  May you be blessed today, tomorrow, and always.

God's Word of the Day

"For the LORD your God has blessed you in all that you have done; He has known your wanderings through this great wilderness These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing." Deuteronomy 2:7

It used to be, years ago, that once a week I would take a random word from the Bible, look it up in the dictionary, find it in the Bible, and really sit and reflect on the meaning of the word.  Then, I would write an email about that word and send it to a group of people with verses and a prayer for the day or week ahead.  It started conversations, made me ask questions, and made me seek out the answers to my questions.  Well, I'm going to do it again.  Only this time my goal is to use this time DAILY to get into the Bible and talk with God.  I want to grow in my faith and really figure out why I believe and what I believe.  I want to be able to wrestle with God and for me I wrestle best when I can wrestle out loud.  I hope that you can join me on my journey.  Comment, ask questions, leave answers to my questions, or just read it and think.  Who knows, maybe as you see my journey you will journey too.  Maybe we can walk this road together and we'll learn a thing or two along the way.

May your faith grow in endless amounts and may you know that even when times are hard they aren't bad.  Peace and blessings to you as we journey together down the road of faith.

1 year down...how many more to go?

I can't believe that 168 school days have gone by and that in 12 more days I will be saying goodbye to my first class of students as a teacher.  This year has been full of ups and downs, steps forwards and steps backwards, and moments of being pulled left and pulled right.  As the year is wrapping up I got asked by a veteran teacher "what would you change about your year?"  I had to really think about this question and I have to tell you that at first I came up with a laundry list of things.  In fact, I thought of all of the following and some:

1.  Plan better lessons

2.  Take criticism as constructive only and nothing else

3.  Don't care about what the students think about me

4.  Worry less

 5.  Remember I am only one person

6.  Drink less chocolate milk

7.  Be more active in building activities

8.  Don't teach one unit at a time

9.  Teaching to student

The only problem with my list is that as quickly as those thoughts came into my mind they were refuted even quicker with much more realistic and positive thoughts.  As I thought of everything and refuted each one I realized that I wouldn't change anything that happened this year.  I wouldn't change being pinched by a student or having a door hit me in the head or being called a bitch or being yelled at or being told that I don't "really care about the students" or even that my lessons suck and I can't teach.  It's funny because when I think of all those things and the laundry list of things above I think of the following:

1.  Being told I can't teach made me teach even better

2.  Being told I don't care about the students made me realize that I would actually lay my life down for any of them no matter what and would take them into my home if necessary

3.  Being pinched taught me to not only react quicker but to become more proactive verses reactive

4.  Being hit in the head made me realize I should never stand behind a closed door's edge.  ;-)

5.  I plan great lessons that allow me to teach to all students, across the curriculum, and to different learning styles

6.  Taking criticism both constructively and non constructively can be beneficial and help me grow

7.  Not all students are going to like me and that's okay, but do take how they feel to heart and see if their cares and concerns are legit.

8.  Although worrying less is important, not worrying isn't possible

9.  To the world I might only be one person, but to one student I might be their world

10.  Never drink less chocolate milk, it's my coffee and the students love "surprising" me with one

11.  Being active in building activities is great, but I won't take more time away from Ethan

12.  There is nothing wrong with teaching one unit at a time and having the units build off of eachother.  In fact, that's the best way to teach sometimes.

13.  No matter what my scores might be teaching to the student is ALWAYS more important than teaching to the test!

I had an absolutely fantastic first year of teaching and despite the things that brought some dips in the year I wouldn't change a thing.  I learned from every event, parent comment, student comment, teacher/administrator comment, and every mistake I made.  I am in a job that I love and have found that I don't really go to work a day in my life any more.  Instead, I go to a school where I am blessed to have daily adventures!

Gotta Love the Positive Things

There have been some significant events that have happened in my life recently, but this time, I only want to focus on the positive ones.  I've decided that I don't want to waste my time on negativity when it's not necessary.  So, onto the positive things.

In May of 2013 I finally graduated from college.  I received a Bachelor of Science in Education for Elementary Education and a Bachelor of Science in Education for Special Education.  In July of 2013, less than a week before school started, I was headed back from a vacation, freaking out because of not having a job, and received a phone call offering me a job.  Because of my degrees I am now a very proud teacher that has daily adventures in special education.  I seriously love my job and couldn't be in a better place with that.  There is daily humor from the students and from my co-workers.  Part of the humor comes from reflection of when I was in college.  Kevin is another special education teacher in my building and we share a classroom for our office.  The humor in this comes from the fact that Kevin and I used to try to constantly one up each other in school and lets be honest, we weren't the best of friends.  Now though, we work incredibly well with each other.  We are constantly helping each other plan our lessons, giving each other ideas on how to handle situations, and now, instead of one uping each other we are working together to make sure that our students receive the best possible education we can give.  :)

Let's see...what else positive has happened in my life?  Oh yes, more school.  lol  Because of my new job at a high school I was worried about what I would do with Ethan for school.  You see, Ethan went to a school last year that starts almost 2 hours after my school starts and I had no idea how I would get him to school and me to work, both of us on time.  So, I talked to Ethan and took him to see the school right across the parking lot from my school.  Ethan loves the school.  It has allowed him to grow as an individual, see loved ones that we haven't seen in years, and even improve his life at home and at school.  Ethan is also now able to type for his ISTEP testing, instead of handwriting, this is HUGE!!  It gets better...Ethan now goes to school with me every morning and rides home with me every afternoon.  He also is able to stay after for Campus Life and I get the same days off that he does.  All of this has allowed for an easier transition to the new school and some much needed peace of mind.

Finally, there is a new addition to Ethan's family.  Ethan's dad and step-mom have had a baby girl. On Feb. 5th, the world was bless with the precious baby that beautiful.  Ethan loves being a big brother and every time he sees her and then comes home I hear about how she is doing.  It makes me smile, because he was none to thrilled to not be an only child anymore at his daddy's.

There have been so many other positive things that have happened in my life recently, but if I were to continue to write about them all I would be here all night typing and you would be here for hours reading.

I pray that your life is as blessed as my life has been.  Remember that it is always better to focus on the positive things and not worry about the negative things until you have to.

Peace and blessings to you all!

Scarlet