Praise God instead!

Posted on April 11, 2006 by Sarah

So often when we go through trials we just want to escape them. We want to run away and hide rather than face our difficult times. I have definitely felt this way at times in the past few weeks. God has been working in my life a lot this semester, and I have realized that being in trials is not all bad. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

Instead of grumbling and trying to get out of a situation, we should praise and thank God for our trials. “Be joyful always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 5:16-18 It’s during our difficult times that we grow the most. I have found myself leaning on God for strength just to get through one day sometimes. There will always be bad times in our lives; it’s how we handle them that makes the difference.

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Sequel to “Friendship”

Posted on April 1, 2006 by Sarah

As the girls were chatting the next day, another closet started to crack open. The girls looked at each other and then stood up. The shy girl moved forward at once and beckoned for her friend to come. Her friend hesitated and stepped forward slowly. The stuff in this closet was not as old and dusty as the junk in the previous closet had been. The girls peered in. The shy girl began to talk about the pieces. Her friend crossed her arms. The shy girl talked on. Her friend finally ordered her to stop. She didn’t want to know about this junk. She didn’t want to hear any more.

The two girls returned to their chairs by the fire, but the room was slightly darker than it had been before. The friend stood up to leave. As the shy girl bid her goodbye at the door, there was another girl standing outside. The three girls talked for a short while. Then the two friends left the shy girl standing on her porch, a weight upon her back. As she watched the two girls go off together, the shy girl began to sob and cry. She dropped to her knees and wept. Finally, she stood up, went inside her house, and closed the door. The man that had taken away her old junk entered the dimly lit cottage, took the girl in His arms, and held her all night long.

The next morning, the girl woke up to a knock on her door. She looked over and noticed that the closet doors were all closed and the junk was tidied up. Her two friends were at the door, and the invited her to go play outside. She went, and she had fun, but it was different than before.

After the newest friend went home, the shy girl went over to her friend’s house. The house was dimly lit and a little cluttered. The two girls sat and talked for a little while. The friend started cleaning up the clutter, talking about it as she picked it up. The shy girl sat patiently listening, watching as the trash can in the corner of the room slowly filled to the brim. None of the closets opened.

As the shy girl left, a new friend appeared at the door. This friend entered the house, and the shy girl’s friend emptied out the trash onto the floor and began to go through it again with this new friend. Then the two girls went to the newest friend’s house, and the other friend joined them.

The shy girl sat at home, waiting for the other girls to invite her over. They never did. Her friend sometimes came over, and they sat in the main room and talked, but the closets remained shut. Sometimes the three girls would invite the shy girl, but she didn’t want to go because she had been left out. Other times, they would talk about the fun things that they were going to do, without even acknowledging that the shy girl was there.

The shy girl shut herself up in her house often, to be comforted by the kind man. She would talk to Him about it, and He would always leave the room brighter than when He came. The girl went about her business, cleaning out her closets all by herself. The man would always come to listen to her and then he would take her stuff away. The shy girl did invite her friends over sometimes, and she sometimes hung out with them. But her closets never opened to them.

To be continued…

“But you are a shield around me, O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.”
~Psalm 3:3

“But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me.”
~Psalm 13:5-6

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Educational Psychology Seminar: Self-regulation

Posted on March 26, 2006 by Sarah

(This is an extra credit paper I wrote for my Ed Psych class :))

On Friday, Deborah Leong, a professor at the Metro State College of Denver, spoke on Vygotsky and Educational Psychology. I wasn’t there the entire time, but because her seminar was very practical, I learned a lot. I found it very interesting that children have trouble learning if they do not have self-regulation. I had never thought about how important it is that children engage in proper behaviors, even from a very young age. Professor Leong brought up the fact that so many daycare centers encourage wild behavior by allowing the children to run around instead of keeping them controlled. This made me realize how critical it is to teach correct behaviors; it can affect them for the rest of their lives. It is proven that children who do not have self-regulation are less likely to succeed throughout life.

According to Vygotsky, the best way for children to gain self-regulation is through imaginative play. Professor Leong brought up a huge problem that we are facing today in the development of children: the toys that are being sold in stores are so specific that children have no room for imagination. Thinking back to my own childhood, I remember playing all kinds of make-believe games with my sister; we used to make covered wagons out of patio chairs and houses out of couch cushions.

Walking through Walmart yesterday, I was noticing all the fancy toys children have to play with today, and I see it as a huge problem. My friend said, “Wow! Look at all these cool toys kids have to play with now!” If I had not been to the seminar on Friday, I would have thought the same thing. The extravagant, detailed toys look really nice if you don’t know anything about the development of children, but when a little girl has a fancy bed, stroller, and playpen bought from a store to play with, she has no room to be creative and make her own things from around the house for her doll. Children today are just responding to the toys rather than using their imaginations, and as a result, it is a lot harder for them to gain self-regulation. My fear is that the intelligence levels of the next generations are going to go down as a result.

I have now become more aware about the development of children and how important it is for them to use their imaginations. I am interested to research more before I teach children so I will know the best ways to help them learn. This seminar has caused me to think about how I can make sure that children in my classes (and my own children someday) are learning to the fullest of their abilities.

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Colossians or Colossiens?

Posted on March 22, 2006 by Sarah

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.”

~Colossians 3:1-8

«Vous avez été ramenés de la mort à la vie avec le Christ. Alors, recherchez les choses qui sont au ciel, là où le Christ siège à la droite de Dieu. Préoccupez-vous de ce qui est là-haut et non de ce qui est sur la terre. Car vous êtes morts, et votre vie est cachée avec le Christ en Dieu. Votre véritable vie, c’est le Christ, et quand il paraîtra, alors vous paraîtrez aussi avec lui en participant à sa gloire.

Faites donc mourir tout ce qui est terrestre en vous: l’immoralité, l’impureté, les passions, les mauvais désirs et l’avarice (car l’avarice, c’est de l’idolâtrie). Ce sont de telles fautes qui attirent la colère de Dieu sur ceux qui s’opposent à lui. Voilà comment vous vous conduisiez autrefois quand votre vie était dominée par ces péchés. Mais maintenant, rejetez tout cela: la colère, l’irritation et la méchanceté. Qu’aucune insulte ou parole grossière ne sorte de votre bouche.»

~Colossiens 3:1-8

Our March monthly challenge for Bible study is to memorize all of Colossians 3. I’ve only gotten through the first 8 verses…but I’m working on it. :) Lately I’ve been reading my French Bible along with what I read in English, and it’s so cool that I still remember so much! Sometime if I’m up for the challenge, I might try memorizing Colossiens 3 en français aussi! :-D

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2 Teach is 2 Touch a Life 4 Ever

Posted on March 17, 2006 by Sarah

After this semester, I will be halfway through college! That’s hard to believe. Lately I have been realizing just how much I love working with kids. This year I have had the privilege of being a leader in the children’s group at my church. This semester, I have used my music skills to put the weekly memory verses to song that we sing each week with my piano accompaniment! It’s so much fun to hear all ten little voices singing along while I play the piano! I’ve realized that I view music as more of a “fun” thing rather than serious. I’d much rather play (both violin and piano) for fun, and I definitely want to have fun music as a part of my classroom someday. I used to think that I wanted to be a music teacher, but now I’m getting so excited just to teach children, and I want to be a normal schoolteacher, probably kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, or 3rd grade. They’re my favorites. :)

This summer, I’m going to be leading a music camp at Maranatha Christian Center, and I’m so excited! I’ve been thinking about all the fun things I’m going to do with music! One thing I want to do is have a verse of the day and put it to song, just like I do for Kool Kids Klub. This will be a great opportunity for me to learn how to have fun with music and maybe ways that I can bring it into my classroom someday.

I’ve also been thinking lately that I might want to go back to MCC and teach once I graduate. Here are the advantages I see in teaching at a private school rather than a public school:

1. The main reason I would rather teach at a private school is because I want to teach children the TRUTH. The most important thing is to teach children about Jesus Christ so that they might accept Him as their Lord and Savior. Teaching at a public school is a ministry in itself being surrounded with people who need the Lord, but I think I would get frustrated because I would not be able to teach them about what really matters in life. If God does call me to the public schools, I will follow His calling, but right now I am feeling led to teach at a private school, specifically Maranatha.

2. My second reason for teaching at a private school rather than a public school is because of Halloween. Now, I know this may seem insignificant, but I have always been convicted not to celebrate Halloween. I don’t know for a fact, but I’m pretty sure that they would want me to dress up and lead the class in a Halloween party. I believe that my faith comes before my job, whatever it may be, and I would probably lose my job over it. Again, if God lead me to teach at a public school, I know He will provide a way for me to get around this problem.

3. Reason three kind of goes along with reason one. I do want to have music in my classroom, even though the kids will have music class. I would like to have a daily singing time in my classroom, and what better songs to sing than praises to our Lord? Yes, I could sing “The Farmer in the Dell” and “B-I-N-G-O” with my students, but those are just fun songs. I would much rather teach them songs about Jesus to help them learn the truths of the Bible.

4. I know that not everyone who goes to a private, Christian school is a Christian. After all, I went to a private, Christian school for 13 years! By being there, you do not avoid filthy language or bad sins, but at least that behavior would be punished. I don’t know how well I would do with just ignoring bad language, especially coming from a small child. It’s so sad to me how some children speak. At least at a Christian school I would be able to correct the children and teach them the correct way to live.

Well, those are all my thoughts for now. :)

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Becoming a woman of prayer

Posted on February 27, 2006 by Sarah

I’ve always admired those people who come up to you and ask you how you’re doing and tell you that they’ve been praying for you. I’ve always wanted to be just like them, but if I haven’t been praying for someone, I don’t want to say that. I would often write down prayer requests and try to pray for them, but I got discouraged because there were SO many people to pray for, and it seemed impossible.

A couple weeks ago, my verse for the week was 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.” Obviously, I didn’t really need to memorize the verse because I already know it, but I wanted it to serve as a reminder to pray–specifically to pray for others. At Bible study each week, I write down prayer requests, so I started with that list of people and made myself pray for each person and each request in the 40 minutes that I have to walk to my earth science class on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

I’ve always known that we are supposed to pray for others, and I never really questioned it. In all the Bible studies that I’ve had on prayer, I remember learning that the reason we pray to God is for our relationship with Him, but I didn’t remember why we pray for others. I mean, after all, God already knows what’s going to happen, and He controls it. Is me praying about it really going to do anything? I really started to wonder about this, but I was too embarrassed to bring it up at Bible study because to me it seemed like something I should know. I did ask my roommates about it, and they gave me an answer, but it just didn’t satisfy the questions that I had. I decided just to wait and see if I came up with an answer later.

I had my prayer requests from Bible study written on a piece of notebook paper, and the next week, I wrote updates and new prayer requests on the same sheet of paper. It was really messy, and I decided that I should recopy everything on a new piece of paper so that it would be neater and easier to read. I didn’t have time to do it until Wednesday after Thirst No More around midnight or so. Both my roommates were already asleep, so the room was all dark and quiet, but I was wide awake because I had drank coffee earlier. After my quiet time, I decided, since I was still wide awake, that I should recopy the prayer requests.

I had been praying for these things for about a week, and as I recopied each one, God started giving me answers to my questions. In the stillness of the night, I realized that I felt closer to each of these girls because I had been praying for their struggles. I knew what they were going through, and when I saw them, I wanted to know how they were doing. I realized that it probably helped them in their trials to know that someone was praying for them and for someone to ask them about it and really want to know how they’re doing. So that was my first answer — praying for others helps form deeper relationships and also helps you to be more compassionate.

I was so excited about this for like a week, so I shared it at Bible study. My prayer request a couple weeks before had actually been for my prayer life, so the girls were excited to hear how it was going. One of the girls gave me another very cool result of praying for others. She said that when people are praying for a certain request, when God glorifies Himself in that situation, more people see it, and that is really cool too.

I’m not a perfect woman of prayer, and I still have a long ways to go, but just learning this has encouraged me SO much!

Well, my roommate is waiting for me to eat lunch with her, so I’d better go for now. But now you see why I can’t write blogs very often — they are SO long! :)

Categories: Prayer, Spiritual Growth | 1 Comment

Friendship

Posted on January 2, 2006 by Sarah

The young girl lifted her eyes to the small cottage snuggled in the hills. A clear stream rippled by in front of the house, and the flowers bloomed bright and colorful all around. Carefully, the girl stepped over the little wooden bridge and across the cobblestones to the front door. She knocked and was greeted by a shy girl who opened the door to let her new friend in. The room inside the house was very small, and there were several shut doores connected to the room. The room itself was decorated nicely and had a cozy feel. There was a fire burning on one side of the room, and two cozy chairs were sitting in the glow of the fire.

The two girls sat down and began to talk. They talked on and on. The conversation had its ups and downs. Sometimes it was very cheerful; other times it was awkward; and other times it was gloomy. The more the two girls talked, the more they discovered about each other. At one point in the conversation, the visiting girl noticed that one of the doors in the room had started to open. It was very dark inside the room. The girls grabbed each others’ hands and slowly crept towards the door. By the time they had reached the door, it had completely opened to reveal a huge pile of junk, and the whole room had turned dark.

The shy girl had begun to cry at the sight of the junk. Her shoulders shook with sobs. Her friend hugged her close. Not able to go back now, the shy girl walked slowly toward the junk, her friend close by her side. The visitor watched while the other girl picked up a piece of the junk and began to talk about it. It had been a while since she had seen any of this stuff. One by one, the girl went through the entire pile until the room was empty.

The two girls turned to look at the junk, which now cluttered the main room of the house. The shy girl covered her sorrow-filled eyes, but then her friend shook her shoulder. There, standing in the room was a man. He saw all the junk and the shame of the young girl. He began picking up the pieces and placing them into boxes. The girls reached forward, offering to help, but the man held up his hand, and his eyes said, “I can do this.”

The girls watched in amazement as he stuffed everything in the boxes and then turned to leave. The floor was spotless, and the man struggled under the weight of the junk he was carrying. The look of pain in his eyes brought the shy girl to her knees, her eyes filling with fresh tears–this time, grateful tears. When she looked up, the man was gone. Her junk was gone.

The two girls turned back to the room that had once held the huge pile of junk. Now the room was bright. A neatly made bed was sitting along one wall, a dresser and a closet along another. It was late, and now with a place to stay, the visiting girl was invited to spend the night. Before entering the room, the girls embraced. It was a warm embrace, and both girls were somehow different than when they first met.

by Sarah Agee
dedicated to Loni Elley

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