Sweet Moments

Sweet moments are blessings from the Lord.

As a teacher, nanny, and capturer of life (photographer), my life is never short of those precious moments which make life worth while. In the midst of screaming babies, defiant kiddos, frustrated parents, and chaotic situations--it's often hard to find sweet moments, and when they are found, typically we throw them away unaware that they even happened.

The Lord uses these moments in my life to affirm that what I am doing is what I am supposed to be doing, or that where I am at in life is exactly where He wants me to be. So this week was a wonderful blessing when given so many precious moments.

The first came while on my first day of nannying a new family. There are 4 kiddos ages 8, 6, 2.5, and 7 months. The 7 month old baby girl is still nursing so that first day on the job was not ideal (as clearly I did not come with the 'goods' that a nursing baby would prefer to have.) Needless to say, naptime was a struggle. After hour 3 of the rocking and crying and patting and crying and sweating and singing and dancing and crying and crying from her and crying from me to utter exhaustion from both of us, I was ready to give up completely. My last trick, worship. I knew if I couldn't get her to sleep I was going to bring Jesus into that room and maybe He could! So I started singing "How Great is Our God" to this screaming baby who was in all sense of the word, fighting this nap time. Instantly, she stops crying, sticks her hand up from where I am cradling her, and caresses my face. Then, she starts cooing along with the worship. It was the most beautiful sound in the world. This baby, new to life and unknowing to anything in the world, who is sleepy and sad and mad and hungry and all other kinds of feelings, takes a sweet moment to worship her Jesus. It's like she KNEW. And I really believe that babies DO know, and have just as much capability of worship as grownups. It was utterly AMAZING. Within minutes, my crying fussy baby fell fast asleep, wrapped in peace from our sweet Savior.

Some of the most precious moments I encounter in my life in general are those teaching moments with children whether it be in my classroom, in Wal Mart, at church, or at home. I love teachable moments and I love when children respond positively and soak up the growth of their brains. As a new teacher, satan loves to remind me how what I do isn't as good as ole so and so who's been teaching for 20 years, or you know who who actually has a degree in what she's teaching. Sometimes I say poo on you satan, and other times, in my moments of weakness or when I am not focused on the Lord completely, I catch myself believing the lie. Today, on two completely separate occasions the Lord reassured me that I am in the right place doing exactly what He has called me to do.

This morning during my quiet time with Him, God gave me a word for a friend of mine who is also my student and no stranger to the FOA stage where I work. It was about following his dreams and knowing he has a big heavenly Father to catch him if he doesn't succeed. The phrase that caught my attention was "I used to be scared of NOT succeeding at things that mattered to me. Now I am scared of succeeding at things that don't." This guy and I have had many a conversation about college and pursuing theater or playing it safe and going to a state school and getting a business degree etc. I told him if I were him I would dream big or go home. God is in the business of telling us our business while on earth and a way that He has done that is by giving us specific talents and giftings. Who are we to throw those away for safety and backup plans? The student responded with a sweet message about how I am helping him as a person and as a performer and how thankful he is for me. WOW! What kind words!! I obviously am not doing anything. It's the Lord working through me!

Then after class today, a student I had almost a year ago, dropped by my classroom to let me know that he got accepted to AMDA in LA! He told me about his audition process and asked for my advice for things to have and know once he got to school. He thanked me for pushing him in class to be confidently fearless when going for those notes in his upper register and said he thought about what I would be saying to him if I were at his audition with him! He said the school LOVED him! This school will change his life and be that next step in following his dreams as well. We then talked about not letting the city and other people change him (he is a PRECIOUS Christian boy who loves him some JESUS!!) We talked about him going in and being the light of Christ for a city and for a group of people who may not know the Lord at all! I am confident that he will go in there and love on those other students and radically change things for the better everywhere he continues to go in life. And again, it had nothing to do with me but wow what a blessing to be a part of his story and his life!

The Lord is so good and so faithful, and He is ALWAYS trying to talk to us and love on us--we just get so wrapped up in us that we forget to look for Him and listen! But when we stop, and look, and listen...we get to be a part of some of the sweetest most precious moments that life has to offer!

In Him,
Meg