I was sitting in my classroom this morning while my class was at PE and I was thinking about the children in my class and I found myself asking, "Why do these children have to go through so much when they are still so young?" It seems that so many children are raised in dysfunction and they don't know any different. I have such a sweet, sweet class but so many of them have been through more than I feel like I could even handle.
I have three children in my class that are currently living with foster parents, one that needs to live with foster parents, two that live with grandma because mom is on drugs and dad is MIA, one whose mom is a recovering alcoholic, eleven who live with single moms, one who lives with dad, one who tell me that her mom and sister "cuss" at each other all the time, and only four that go to church on Sunday mornings.
As I was sitting there I began to pray for God to give me compassion so that I can love these children as I know Christ would want me to. I realize that the reason these children are in the situations that they are in is because we live in a fallen world and Satan is hard at work. The thing that breaks my heart the most is that the children don't realize that their circumstances should not be the norm. I began to walk around the room and pray for each student in my class, it was one of those moments when the Holy Spirit just completely broke in and I began to cry as I prayed for my children. I asked God to use me to love and minister to these children. I prayed that my burden for them would not be something taken lightly. In that moment while walking around my classroom, the Lord spoke to me and assured me that I am right where He wants me to be.....this is my mission field for now. Don't get me wrong, I have always loved my classes and realized the importance of loving them, etc. but I believe God has something else in mind for this one.
When my children got back to class, I spent the next 20 minutes walking around praying for them while they worked, trying to keep them from noticing my emotion. I know I was supposed to be teaching, but God had other plans this morning. I just love it when God interferes with my agenda and I am able to embrace the moment.....unfortunately, I think I allow moments like this pass me by all too often.
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How precious those prayers are to God. Rick was one of those children, and to think he might have had a teacher who cared enough to sacrifice "free" time to pray over him... what a blessing!!
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