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Enjoy your reading non-electronically, except, of course, for your lamp.
Soon after I became a Christian, I was called by the Holy Spirit to work with children and young adults with special needs. Something that I never would have considered before (my training is in environmental planning/science). I now volunteer three days a week while my youngest is in preschool and I am applying to graduate school to teach children with special needs. I pray before I walk into the classroom, I pray while I am there, and I pray when I leave. I pray for the children, I pray for the teachers and I pray for their parents. I constantly feel so full of the Holy Spirit that I want to jump for joy
Blessings to you all!!!
Good luck to you on your journey and may God bless and make His presence known every step of the way. I remember when you first posted that you felt called to do this, and I'm so excited for you!!! Good luck!!
I'm probably not the best person to answer your question about balance, but I've definitely gotten a lot better and calmed down a lot since I started posting here. There are still times when I get caught up in the whole "religious" side of being a Christian and the notion that unless I'm doing something church related or praying or Bible reading, etc., that God isn't pleased with me, but I keep myself in check by remembering that God has made me a steward of what He's given me to work with in life, and it's my responsibility to make the best use of it as a witness to those outside of the church. This goes along with the scripture (I can't remember the exact verse at the moment as I don't have my Bible on me, but I believe it's Galatians 3:22) "Whatever you do, do it with all your heart as unto the Lord". It reminds me that I don't have to be caught up in the whole church thing and like you said, a literal reading of Thessalonians for God to be pleased with me. Once I realized that God is pleased with me not because of my works, but because of Christ's sacrifice and the fact that no matter what I do I'm to do it with excellence whether it's washing dishes, doing homework, cleaning my clarinets, or some of the bigger things like ministering to someone in need, it helped me relax a lot more.
Sorry this post was so long, I'm really tired and rambling.
I just love to worship God and I think the key has been to find a way to worship God throughout my day and in all my daily tasks. I'm still not very good at it but hopefully with time I will get better! I think we all find ways that we feel most connected to God. For me it has been important to connect with God as often as I can. It's not always easy with a screaming 3 year old!!!I totally understand the busy part! I'm back in school now as a part time student making up missing credits before being full time again next year and still working my 32 hour a week job, so it's hard to find time to pray and what not. For awhile I tried getting up at 7 a.m. so I could read scripture and pray for an hour, but since I don't go to bed until 1 a.m. sometimes it was disastrous. Now I try to listen to Christian radio while driving, jam out to praise and worship while I study, and read my Bible on my lunch break if it isn't busy. Good to hear from you as well!
