Sleep like a Calvinist

Keeping watch for what God might be trying to communicate to us about our own soul is a lot of work......but it is sooo worth it.

When the meditations on His word, by no "coincidence", just happen to line up with a circumstance in your life at the moment, it is enough to get you flat on your face. Hearing Him say "Trust me......don't bank on your plans, or your wishes nor trust in anything you see.....but "Trust me"
Since I've hoped for my blog to include different things that I've learned through ministry.....ie.... being able to be a part of the salvific plans of the Father.......somehow.....here is a tid-bit from ministry Sunday Oct 8, 2006.

I'm a teacher and small group leader at BBC for 3 year olds in preschool. For those of you who know little about it....Bethlehem's curriculum is very potent at every age level.
We don't beat around the bush with the truths of God's hatred of sin, His judgments and His mercy. We seek to get the children engaged with what the people of Israel might have seen/known of the Lord in their days. So instead of the story being called "Noah and the Ark" the stories have a more God-centered focus.....and that story, for example we call "God judges the world and sends a flood" Because God and His purposes are the focus of the story, with Noah merely as a supporting actor.

Now, I'm not really a person who's usually unable to find words to communicate....but seriously...there is something difficult about trying to take huge truths and make them kid friendly. And the first lesson that I did I had worked hard to prepare the lesson and went into the room still fretting about 'not being prepared enough'.....I felt like a failure afterward....though my team lead and the other small group leaders, God bless them, were very encouraging.

Well, this time around, I decided (by God's grace) to pursue to know the text/story well, and to pray a ton over it, rather than trying to be so detailed with planning how I would say this or that. To just cast it all out before the Lord to give me the words that the children need to hear.

So our memory verse this week was Is 30:15 "In quietness and in trust shall be your strength"
What a blessed reminder as I was getting the flannelgraph ready, and praying in the closet..........I felt helpless.....and was oddly very comforted in that.
God gave me the words and the conviction of what I was saying as I was teaching. I believed passionately every word that I was saying and I don't recall, but I think that I used kid-terms for the whole story. Praise the LORD !!

The little ones kept asking questions about the story in small group afterwards....we were able to tie in the story of Babel and God's dispursing the people and creating many languages (as a discipline) to how God kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden for being disobedient......and how their parents discipline them so that they learn to obey God.
(Because God disciplines His Children too!!) They GOT IT !!
Ahhh.....what an amazing Lord we have. He calls such young children to the knowledge of Himself, and to see their faces and know that they really understand that the way back into the garden is through Christ Jesus.........I am ecstatic and filled with Joy and praise this morning.

To the Only God our Father, and to the Lamb be all the glory and praise and honor forevermore.

In Him Thankfully,
Jen2