Shakin' things up....

My oh my. My heart is in a whirlwind today. Such an awesome day at church yesterday. The Word of God was opened and spoken and did not return void. At least not in my heart (and obviously in others too as they came forward). I had done the work to be prepared and God was faithful in doing His Work in me! LOVE IT!!!

Anyway, as I taught my little group of girls yesterday I must say that in the middle of my lesson I glanced around the room and every single girl had her eyes on me. They were listening y'all. They were engaged. It nearly took my breath away. In fact, a huge lump formed in my throat and I had to stop and get a drink to keep from crying right there. We so often think of teens as this lost, attitude carryin', smelly (well they are that) group of misfits who are just trying to think up ways to make our lives miserable. Well, I have to tell you that my attitude, my heart has been changed! In 3 short weeks the Lord has shown me pain that I don't think I could've withstood at their age, courage to go against the grain, excitement over the "little" things and joy that makes my cup run over! These girls got it goin' on. They're bright, they're beautiful, they're funny, they're truly amazing. I'm gonna talk to them about sharing some of their testimonies with some of you - of course COMPLETELY respecting their privacy and changing their names - but just telling you some of the stuff they're dealing with. AMAZING! I didn't really think that I would be able to teach them a thing - and really I don't have anything but Jesus to offer them - but last night on my way to the car one of my girls shouted across the parking lot - LIFE ISN'T FAIR SOMETIMES MS. VAL! (that was our topic) Can you imagine? I mean, here we were nearly 8 hours past our lesson and she still remembered!! PRAISE GOD!!!!!!!

So last night, Dr. Rummage issued another challenge. Oh boy, y'all better get ready. It was PAINFUL! More to come this week.....