Ponderings on the Path

I've been delinquent in blogging. The past few weeks have flown by. There have been lots of things on my mind lately but I haven't made it to my blog. Many of you may already know but I have decided not to stay for another year in Portugal. I'll be headed back to Rochester at the end of June. This year has been a great learning experience in many different ways! I'm thankful for that.

I don't know what my job will be when I return home, but I am planning to take a break from teaching. I've been working on getting my resume ready and beginning the job search on line. I'm usually the type of person who likes to have all the plans made and knows exactly what I'm getting into. This year has been great in teaching me patience, faith, and trust. God has been my source of strength, provider, and sustainer in numerous ways! I like to run ahead and tend to worry when I don't have all the answers. I'm happy to say that I feel at peace knowing that God has a plan for me, including a job, when I get back home. It's ok for me to not have all the answers; I just need to have patience and keep trusting. God has brought me this far and been with me each step of the way - I know He'll continue to be with me in the weeks and months ahead.

My students finished taking SAT tests this past week and I wrapped up my last chapel of the month. I was inspired to read Crazy Love by Francis Chan after hearing about it from some friends back home and used that to share in chapel (I'd definitely recommend the book). The book has been very thought provoking and caused me to think about the direction of my life. God longs for us to want to serve Him, not to be lukewarm or conform to the world, but to have a correct perspective of eternity and be obsessed with Jesus. I can get so caught up in the here and now that I miss out on what God has for me. A final thought from the last chapter of the book is this: "How we live our days is...how we live our lives. We each need to discover for ourselves how to live this day in faithful surrender to God as we "continue to work out [our] salvation with fear and trembling." (Phil 2:12)" Am I making choices today that lead me down the right path and allow me to experience God's joy and peace?