Special Moments

It just so happened that the last time the 5th graders met for Bible Club there were no 5th grade girls, but there were 2 student volunteers, Cecily and Amber who are both 8th graders at the Impact Leadership Academy. When it came time for the Bible Lesson and talk sheets, Mr. C took the two 5th grade boys into the room next door and the student volunteers stayed in the classroom with Mrs. Renee. Let me tell you, I was thinking to myself, “Oh great! Another lost opportunity for a story!” With much hesitation, I decided to stick around. I was not sure what the girls were going to do, until I saw Mrs. Renee hand each one a talk sheet and a Bible. I really appreciated Mrs. Renee’s fervor and “go get it” attitude. There was never a question as to whether or not they would be going over the 5th grade lesson; frankly I thought they would just talk about miscellaneous topics not related to the Bible Lesson. I am so glad I stuck around because the conversation produced from the lesson was wonderful. They read together verses out of different books of the Bible on the topic, restraining yourself, to be more specific. They talked about things like gossiping and holding your tongue. Each one talked about a situation they had run into in the past week where they did not restrain themselves. Then they talked about how next time they could do better. One of the verses towards the end of the lesson about the tongue prompted the two girls to be very open about their own personal lives. They shared with Mrs. Renee about their fears of going to High School in the fall and about some things in their home life. Talking about these things led Mrs. Renee to ask the girls if she could pray with them and the issues they are facing in life right now. What a sweet moment I was able to witness, and I know Mrs. Renee will not forget the time she shared with these two very special girls. It was wonderful to see God working and I am so thankful that something in me was telling me to stay in the classroom that night, boy what an opportunity for a story I would have missed if I would have left!

Encouraging others...

I have yet to find a person who does not like it when someone else encourages them.
God places people in our lives to encourage us, and I am so thankful He has done so.
Before learning about the Bible Lesson for the evening Mrs. Jeanine (Pre-K Classroom
Teacher) asked all the little students to go around the table and tell the person to
their right something they liked about them. Libby told Alejandra that she liked her
brown eyes because they were like her dads. Alejandra told Maliah that she liked her
star earrings, and Maliah told Jamiah that she really liked her dress. They continued
around the table and when they had finished Mrs. Jeanine asked them if it felt good
to tell some one else something they liked about them. All of them agreed that it did
feel good. Encouragement is what the Pre-K students were learning about. They were
learning about the story of Saul and Barnabus. They learned about how Saul was not
a very nice man and not many people liked him, but God placed a friend in his life
named Barnabus to encourage Saul. Barnabus believed in Saul, he believed that Saul
could be a better person and he also knew that God had the power to change Saul.
Barnabus told everyone that Saul was a good man and God did change Saul! Barnabus
encouraged Saul and he helped him encourage others.