Sometimes, just sometimes

Sometimes, just sometimes, when the conditions are right, when the weather is just so and my mood matches, teaching feels like victory.  Today's lesson was hard for first-semester Spanish students, but we battled through.  We pushed through the enemy lines of Ignorance and marched towards our prize of Knowledge and Understanding.  Puzzled looks were signals for backup, feverish concentration was the adrenaline of war, sleepy eyes were the need for a mission.  Even though those sinister nominative clauses and changing adjectives did their best to best us, we were well on our way to overcoming.  Technology and graphic organizers were blades and shields.  Jokes were cannons and laughter was medicine on wounds.  We were a team, like a class should be.  We haven't reached the peak of perfection with our adjectives yet, but we're camped on the mountainside with the advantage in our position against enemy forces.  And because of that, the lieutenant gave the troops no homework tonight. :)  


Well okay, I'll put my metaphors away.  It really wasn't that dramatic or glorious.  But anyway!  God is good and his mercies are new every morning.  I'm learning the balance of being on the mission field and what it really means to be still, let go, and let God be God.  To pray ardently and to worry are two different things entirely, in fact maybe opposites.  I'm learning to pray instead of worrying, rather than in addition to it.  It's a much more pleasant alternative. :)


We are so blessed, in every way!  I thank God for you missionaries back home and for your encouragement to help me realize these things.  I got to share this verse with my class today:  "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."  Matthew 11:28.  If you can, picture me grabbing a students' backpack, slinging it over my shoulder, pretending it was a thousand pounds, and trudging around the classroom.  What a relief to set that at the feet of Jesus, instead of carrying it all around school and home all day.  God takes my burdens!  Thank you, God!


Anna


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