Chasing After Him and Reaping the Benefits

Not gonna lie, the last couple weeks have been difficult. Perhaps it has been the jetlag or the craziness of spring semester, the amount of pre-teen hormones in my classroom or the combination of all three. Tough times require us to lean that much more on the one who leads us beside quiet waters. I was reading a devotional last week that was stressing the importance of seeking not after blessings, but after His face. When we seek after what we think is best for us, we usually end up disappointed and even more stressed than before. But, when we seek after His face, those blessings just fall into place and usually show up in the most unexpected ways. In spite of the hard stuff, I have striven to seek His face and have ended up with eyes to recognize some blessings.
So, here's a few ways that He's blessed me in the past couple weeks:

1. High Schoolers: Last Friday, I spoke at the youth group about living intentionally. It was a smaller group, but I was confident that He hand picked the students He wanted there to hear what He was going to say through me. I had them do some reflecting on their "theme" for 2009 and challenged them to come up with a desired theme for 2010 (thanks to Pastor Bob for the idea:)). I am blown away by the high schoolers at BAIS. He is writing such incredible stories in their lives and I am so humbled that I have been written into some of them. Please be lifting me up as I continue to connect with them and attempt to pour into their lives.

2. Stories: We are continuing to prepare for our trip out to the islands in April. Our last meeting was focused around stories...my story, your story and how those connect to His story. It was so cool to hear some of the encounter testimonies from the students and leaders and to see His clear hand of provision, protection and power. He's put together a pretty strong team this year. I am anxious to see what He's got in store for us. Please be lifting up the team and the finances as our deadline and departure date quickly approach.

3. Dancing: Last semester, along with trying to learn "Thriller," I taught my students and several other classes the "Cupid Shuffle." This semester, I brought back two new songs for my kids to try: "The Electric Slide" and the "Cha Cha Slide." With fourteen students on the verge of their teenage years, times can get a little tense in the 5th grade, so to provide some relief, we dance! After they agree that dancing is cool and not lame, they have a blast and afterwards, everyone is in a better mood:)

4. Singing: I have also found that another method of relieving stress is karaoke. I confess that I have a slight obsession with this pastime. After a day of crowds and traffic, a few of us decided we needed to do a quick session of karaoke before a birthday dinner we had to go to. Now, here in Asia, they do karaoke differently. It isn't in bars. Instead, you rent private rooms with a TV, karaoke machine, micrphones, and couches. You can order food and drinks to be brought to your room as you are belting out Shania Twain and Kelly Clarkson. It is a beautiful thing and definitely a reason to visit me here in Indonesia:) I am still trying to come up with a creative and educational way to integrate karaoke into the 5th grade curriculum, but in the meantime I will do outside the classroom any chance I can.
5. Sharpening "Sisters": I am blessed with some amazing "sisters" here in Indo who are incredible listeners, strong shoulders to cry on and solid sources of wisdom and truth. He is so good to provide people like that who can tell it to us straight, but do it in love. I have been blessed by their friendships here and am humbled each time He uses us to strengthen and support one another.
My prayer for you is that you would seek His face intead of the blessings and that you'd have eyes to clearly see how His love and beauty are chasing after you each day.