God at Work: Part II

Thanks for all those who were praying for my conversation with Andrea Monday! God is faithful and hears our prayers. 

I was able to talk to Andrea Monday morning. She told me how she thought she was saved, but she had been reading 1 John, and she realized that she has sin in her life. She explained that according to the Bible she was perdida, lost in the darkness. 

I John 2:9-11

⁹ Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. ¹⁰ Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. ¹¹ But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.

We talked about sin for a while, and how it separates us from God. Andrea was very familiar with all this. Then I directer her attention back to the first chapter of I John. 

I John 1:9 

If we confess out sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

We talked about the need for salvation, and I asked her if she had ever asked God to forgive her sins, and except Jesus's sacrifice as a payment for her sins. She said she had already done this, but was confused at how there could still be sin in her life. I explained the difference between justification and sanctification. Justification is a ONE TIME thing that happens when we become a Christian, being made right before God, so that when He looks at us he sees that the debt has been payed for by Jesus. If we are justified our relationship with God is restored.

Romans 10:9-10

⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Then from that point on we are in the process of becoming more like Christ, that is sanctification. The Bible is clear that once we are saved, that doesn't promise us a life without sin, however now we know where to turn when we do sin! 

I John 2:1-2

¹ My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ² He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

Philippians 1:6

⁶ being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Andrea and I talked through this for a while. I asked her if she was sure that she had taken that initial step and asked Christ to forgive her sins and become her Savior. She was quite convinced that she had done that before. I then encouraged her that I could see the evidence of the Holy Spirit in her life: helping her understand the Bible, and allowing its words to really sink in and point out sin in her life. I also shared with her that we are still humans, and we live in a fallen world. We will still face the temptation to sin, and at times we will fall into sin. However we also have the Holy Spirit to give us strength to overcome sin, and hopefully help us live more and more like Christ every day!

Andrea and I prayed together that she would be able to not only ask God's forgiveness for the sin in her life, but also ask forgiveness from the people in her life that she has hurt. 

I am so blessed to be able to have one on one conversation with a student about not only reading & interpreting the Bible, but also wanting to put it into action! Praise God for opportunities like this and reminders of who HE is, and what HE has done for ME!

After my conversation with Andrea I was reminded and convicted to be actively reading the Word and examining my own life with it. I am drawn to one of my favorite verses...

Psalm 139:23-24

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Test me and know my anxious thoughts.

Point out anything in me that offends you,

And lead me along the path of everlasting life.

God bless,

natalie

Pablo, Grazia, & Andrea making Father's Day cards back in June. 

GOD at Work!

Hello again Friends and Family!

First, I would like to apologize for the extensive "break" from blogging. THANK YOU for your faithful prayerful and financial support, despite the lack of updates from me. God has been and continues to be faithful and is working is so many ways. I'm very excited to share with you!

I will be filling you in on the many of the eventful, challenging, and encouraging things from the past several months in the next few blogs, but today I'd like to share what's currently on my heart.

Friday afternoons around 2:20pm I am usually clinging my last few ounces of patience as I try to keep the attention of twenty 5th graders who are just as anxious as I am for the 3:00 bell. However this past Friday was different. We are currently studying cells in science (one of my favorite chapters), and the students have done an excellent job learning the basic parts of the cell, understanding how God has designed the DNA in our chromosomes to make us just the way we are, and how cells reproduce through the cell cycle! Well, Friday we got to the last lesson in the chapter: Cancer.

The students had known all week that we would be learning about cancer on Friday and had a made a few comments, but nothing that really caught my attention. However when the students opened their text books to page 36, I began to notice many student's uneasiness towards the topic. (To give you a little background, several of my students's families are greatly affected by cancer. One student's sister, who was one of my 8th grade students, has battled with cancer for 3 years; another student's mom recently went into remission from skin cancer, and several other student's have grandparents, aunts, and uncles affected by cancer.) Many of them were commenting something like, "Miss Carroll, do we have to talk about cancer, it makes me sad for my aunt." I asked them to raise their hand if they knew anyone with cancer. Almost all the hands went up. Then I asked if they knew anyone who had had cancer, but now didn't because a doctor was able to help treat it. Again many of them raised their hands. Then I added, "Do you think those doctors had to study cancer in order to help those people be healed?" I explained that sometimes we have to learn about difficult topics in order to be knowledgeable and help others. The students were new motivated to start reading and learning about how cancer forms.

We continued on with the lesson, and I noticed an extra sense of respect among the students as several commented and asked questions. As we finished reading about different ways to prevent cancer and various forms of treatment, a few students began to become paranoid about cancer and scared by the reality that so many people are affected by this disease. The "What If" questions began. "What if... I forgot to wear sunscreen last summer, does that mean I have cancer?" We discussed a few of these questions, and then I stopped.

The Biblical integration light bulb turn on! I hadn't planned for it, but I serve an awesome God who has filled me with his Holy Spirit and guides me, even when I least expect it!

God gave me the words to say as I reminded the students that we are not to live in a spirit of fear, but instead we are to live by His Spirit! We do not have to be afraid of cancer, or even death, because we can know for sure where we will spend eternity when we die. I shared with them how I do not fear death because I know I will see my Savior in heaven when I die.

Romans 8:15-17

¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

II Timothy 1:7

⁷ For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

We talked about the difference of not wanting to die and not being afraid of dying. We should not want to die because every day God gives us life here on earth it is because He has a purpose for us! To end the lesson I reminded them that if any of them do not know if they will spend eternity in heaven with Jesus that they can talk to me or any of their other teachers.

When the 3:00 bell rang, I was feeling so refreshed and excited about the great opportunity God had provided to remind them of such important truths through a science lesson! But wait.... God was not done working! As I was signing students' planners in the hectic last minutes of the day while we wait for their rides, Andrea one of my creative, dramatic,  and lovable students shyly asked me, "Miss Carroll, would I be able to talk to you about whether I'm going to heaven or not?"

I quickly responded, "Andrea, I would LOVE to! That is my favorite part about being a teacher here at MCS!"She hugged me as tears welled in her eyes.

As there were only a few noisy moments before her ride came, we decided that we would both be praying about it all weekend, and that Monday... (Tomorrow, September 10th!) we will talk one on one!

Please pray for Andrea and me and the conversation that we will be having tomorrow!

I'm so excited to share about the many other ways God is working here in Lima, but right now I need to rest for my big day tomorrow!

Reveling in HIS love,
natalie

My 5th graders with one of the guest speakers during Missions Month at MCS.