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When my soul was embittered,

when I was pricked in heart,

I was brutish and ignorant;

I was like a beast toward you.

Nevertheless, I am continually with you;

you hold my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel,

and afterward you will receive me to glory.

Whom have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;

you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.

But for me it is good to be near God;

I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,

that I may tell of all your works.

                                              -Psalm 73:21-28 (emphasis mine) 

You kind of always know in your head that you’re weak, but a lot of times forget it about when things are really easy and you’re relying on yourself. And then there are times when all your strength and pride are knocked out and you’re forced to face the truth, that you actually don’t have it all together and you’ve been fooling everyone, including yourself. Hey everyone, that’s me. I’ve gotten pretty good at being “brutish and ignorant” towards said weakness and that is scary.

Thank the Lord, though, that He deals so graciously with His children. Just look at those promises up there: “Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.” I am undeserving, but He is unfathomably kind and patient in my slow, repetitive learning of these things. (Sanctification, PTL.)

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Finishing the college season and moving onto the next season (right now, support raising…cringe.) is incredibly stressful, and man, am I seeing this verse in my life right now. God is the strength of my heart; strong even when I think I am and I see His strength when I know I’m not. I love how John Mark McMillan says in one of his songs, “I know that I need You, but sometimes I know it more.” It’s true. I know it best when what needs to be done cannot be done on my own. God is my portion forever; He. is. enough. No matter what I think I need to survive, my God is more than enough, and not just for a little bit, but forever. I’m praying to truly believe these things about Him.

“For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. But for me it is good to be near God…” May the Lord bind me to Himself. Paul often identifies himself as a doulos of God, aka slave/bondservant/one who has no regard for his own will, but Christ’s. I pray that He would continually make me weak to be His bondservant, “for a day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.” (Psalm 84:10) 

Spending the last two semesters as an intern in first grade and second grade classrooms has provided me with so much entertainment. Bill Cosby was right; kids really do say the darndest things. I have been saving these little nuggets of hilarity/wisdom/cuteness to read when I need a good laugh, so I thought I would share them with the internet. 

“I’m proud to be an American because…in America there are a lot of people to play with. I like to play with people.”

Teacher: “Put your finger in front of your mouth to remind yourself not to talk in the hallway. Josh, why isn’t your finger in front of your mouth?
Josh: “It’s invisible.”

2nd grade girl who had to use the restroom very badly: “It’s like I got a pamper on and it’s all about to come out!”

Another 2nd grade girl who had to use the restroom: “I gotta get my business done.”

On the day of the Great American Teach-In, a police officer came in to talk to the 2nd graders. One student asked, “Do y’all do karate on people y’all arrest?”

“I was born in 1998, a flying squirrel.”

2nd grade boy: “Miss Poletz, there is a beautiful woman in my life. She is tall with glasses. When I see her, I will tell her.”
Me: “Oh really? Is she in kindergarten?”
2nd grade boy: “Noooooooo!!! How can I marry someone so small?”

Teacher reading a book to the class: “There was kissing on TV…I hate kissing on TV.”
Class: “Eeewwwwww!”
2nd grade girl: “You mean y’all don’t kiss yo momma? Please.”

2nd grade girl, to me: *shaking her head at the rowdy class* “When are they gonna learn, Miss Poletz, when are they gonna learn?”

“I need peace and quiet!! I do not get peace and quiet all day!” 

1st grade boy #1: “I had two fathers, buy one turned into a snake after he got the essence of a snake.”
1st grade boy #2: “Where are you from again?”
1st grade boy #1: “Bangladesh.”
1st grade boy #2: “Oh, I guess people can turn into things in Bangladesh.” 

Me: “What is hail made of?”
1st grade boy: Feathers!!!

1st grade boy, talking about me going to Italy: “It’s time for you to pack up and go to…whatever country that is…”

1st grade boy: “I’m going to get $50 the fastest way I know how and get 50 puppies!”
Me: “What is the fastest way you know how?”
1st grade boy: “Steal it!!”

1st grade boy: “Hopefully I will be the second brown-skinned president of the United States.”

1st grade boy, after I called him Sir: “No, I am Ma’am. Sir is for men, and Ma’am is for women, and I…am a fish, swimming in the deep ocean.”

Me: “Explain your thinking on this answer.”
1st grade boy: “I was thinkin’ about goin’ home!!!”

From one student’s writing: My fish feels soft.
Me: “You feel your fish?”
Student: “I just feel him then drop him back in the water!!”

Me, on Groundhog Day: “Does anyone know the the famous groundhog’s name is?” Student, with gusto: “MARTIN JR!!!!” (MLK Jr.)

When asked to define ‘estimate,’ one student said, “Its like…I think they stank. I don’t know that they stank, I just think they do.”

2nd grade girl, remarking about my lipstick: “Miss Poletz, I like how you fixed up your lips…is that KoolAid?”

“Rainy days are happy days.”

“What is that stuff all over you?” said a child to me in regards to my freckles.

“Glue smells kinda pretty.”

truthofgod:

He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant. He grew up in another village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30. Then, for years, he was an itinerant preacher.

He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a home. He didn’t go to college. He never lived in a big city. He never traveled 200 miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself.

He was only 33 when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his garments, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave, through the pity of a friend.

[Twenty] centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race. I am well within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned—put together—have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one, solitary life.

- Dr James Allan Francis

How lovely is your dwelling place,

O Lord of hosts!

My soul longs, yes, faints

for the courts of the Lord;

my heart and flesh sing for joy

to the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home,

and the swallow a nest for herself,

where she may lay her young,

at your altars, O Lord of hosts,

my King and my God.

Blessed are those who dwell in your house,

ever singing your praise! Selah
Blessed are those whose strength is in you,

in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

As they go through the Valley of Baca

they make it a place of springs;

the early rain also covers it with pools.

They go from strength to strength;

each one appears before God in Zion.

O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;

give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah

Behold our shield, O God;

look on the face of your anointed!

For a day in your courts is better

than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

For the Lord God is a sun and shield;

the Lord bestows favor and honor.

No good thing does he withhold

from those who walk uprightly.

O Lord of hosts,

blessed is the one who trusts in you!

whiteflagxp:

A Facebook friend just posted this:

I have faith, I believe in a higher being, I will not fail or fall, I will NEVER EVER let anyone bring me down again. It is MY time to shine, my time to stand strong. Don’t stand in my way because you will get pushed down. I want the world and I am going to take it. LIKE IT OR NOT. I DESERVE IT!

I believe this summarizes the way many people feel toward their version of “God”, which, in actuality, is a form of self-worship called Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. 

• “Moralistic” = God wants me to be a good person (and I am).
• “Therapeutic” = God wants me to be happy, and will help me achieve.
• “Deism” = My belief is in a generic “God” or “higher power”. 

Each of these points is directly opposed to the gospel of Jesus.

“I have faith, I believe in a higher being” is the feeble attempt to quench one’s innate inner thirst for God. And this made-up god seems to be expressly given to satisfying the specific longings of each individual’s hearts. To “give them the world”.

Keep in the back of your mind that most people think like this. This is a tough idol to fight against, because the drug of self-worship is perhaps the most addictive in existence. There’s only one cure for it, and that’s the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Only it can breathe life into death and decay.

Seek to glorify God in every way above your own self, and fly right in the face of this new-age sorcery. People will see, and people will wonder.

Soli Deo gloria.