Perseverance

A blog that I read on a regular basis challenged people to come up with one word to be their word of the year!!! I decided on the word PERSEVERANCE!! I have this bad habit of wanting to quit whenever I think that I might fail at something. I have stated before that I often set unreasonable expectations for myself, and want everything to be perfect. So when things get tough, instead of risking failing and not being good enough, I quit.

Romans 5: 3-4 says " We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop perseverance. And perseverance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. "

I did a search for the word the perseverance in the bible and it is found in 21 verses and is talking about us, as followers, every time. The word perfect appears in 43 verses, but not one time was it used in reference to us!!! If we could be perfect then we wouldn't need a Savior.

So this year my word is perseverance!!! It means taking risk and from time to time failing, but pressing though.

New Year...New Me!!!!

Since I started school in the fall, I have lost 3 to 4 pants sizes. I still have a lot to go (A LOT!!!!!!!), but it is starting to show I think. I can't really see it that much myself, but I can when I look at old pictures.

I don't really go for New Year's Resolutions, but this coming year I would like to continue what I have started. I don't really care if I EVER to get to be a size 10, I don't think I was EVER a size 10 anyway (maybe in elementary school), but I want to get healthy. There is a lot of heart issues on my father's side of the family. I can't believe I'm going to put this out for the whole world to see, but when I started, I was wore a size 32 and I now I'm down to a 26-28. Like I said I still have a LONG way to go, but at least I'm now moving in the right direction!!! I want to continue to do well in school (well...for me start doing well in school...I KNOW!!! I'm way to hard on myself.) and get closer to getting my certification.

For the first time in a long time, I can honestly say that I'm happy just being myself. Yea, there are things that I want to improve and change (don't we all have those things), but I finally content where I am in my life.

Happy New Year!!!
Steph

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas & God's blessing in the New Year!!!

Love,
Steph

Thankfulness

What are you most thankful for this Thanksgiving?

This year, among many things, I'm especially thankful for...

• family
• dear friends
• a church family that I love
• a God who loves me to much to leave me the same (although I don't always enjoy it).

My blessing are way too many count.

God Encounters

I name this blog "Counting My Blessing" and tonight I'm going to do just that. For the past couple of days God has been showing up and showing off in my life. Some I have mentioned before here, but most I have not.

• Last week, as money was getting tight since I had to pay a lot of bills and it is the end of the semester so financial aid is running out and I can't sub everyday due to school, I received an unexpected settlement check for a class action case from my former employer (I was laid off over two years ago) for close to $100.00. For some people that might not be a lot, but when you are counting every cent, that is huge. Once again God provided just when I needed it.

• Sunday's worship and getting to share a little salt with a student (read here for more details)

• Last night's worship experience for the Travis concert.
  

• This morning on my way to school I stopped off at Starbucks for a cup of coffee and the person in front me performing a random act of kindness payed for my coffee. I was feeling kind of down this morning (long story) but that just made my day. I passed the act on and prayed that it would also to brighten their day also.

Isn't it just like our Great God to give us just what we need when we need it.

An Opportunity not missed

God gave me an opportunity to invest in the lives of one of "my" students. As far as I'm concerned, they are mine while I'm teaching them and if it is someone that I have had the opportunity to sub for a lot then they stay mine. There is a teenage girl who has recently started to attend CFBC with her family and I have had the pleasure of subbing for her multiple times when she attended Cass Middle (she was in Chorus with Teresa, so I guess technically she was Teresa's student) and also a number of times this year at Cass High. Her family is struggling and have just started "getting back to church". One time while subbing for her I had the opportunity to ask her if she and her family were going to come to the Travis Cottrell concert this coming Saturday. She told me that they would like to come, but for their family of 4 they couldn't afford the tickets. I told her not to worry about that and I would take care of getting them tickets, which I purchased before hand and gave to her one Sunday morning. This just this past Sunday, just after we finished talking about being salt to the world in Sunday School, she approached me and asked if I had an extra ticket for the concert. Her parents are divorced, and her dad is flying down this weekend and she wanted to bring him to the concert because she said that he wasn't a very strong Christian. So I was able to walk her out to the ticket table and I purchased a ticket for her to give to her Dad.

To me it is still amazing that God would use me, just a substitute teacher, to not only reach the students that I have had an opportunity to work with but some of their families also. What a great God we serve.

Prayer Request

I have a friend who is pregnant with a little girl and is in the hospital with the flu. They are giving her breathing treatments and keeping an eye on her and the baby, but they can't give her a lot of medicine because of the stage that she is in her pregnancy. Please keep her and her baby in your prayers.