Child like eyes...

As you may have noticed I have a true love and heart for the underdog. As a young girl I remember fighting tooth and nail to not be a girl who was struggling. Many don't know that I spent most of my middle school years in a special education room waiting until the bell rang before I walked through the doors.

Before I was in tenth grade I spent one hour of the day lingering around the halls so that no one would see me walk through the doors of the "special education" room. Yes, as a young girl I struggled with reading and spelling. As you can imagine this effected alot of my learning as those are key things to any other learning.

However, I remember one day deciding that I didn't want to be in the class anymore and that I was going to work hard to prove that I didn't need to be. I believe that years of prayers lifted up by my mom helped me be determined and that God gave me strength to push through. Her frustration and the frustration of the teachers was nothing more than a heartache for me. I knew I wasn't smart and instead of giving up like most kids, prayers were heard and God came to save the day.

I know that in my own strength I would have never been able to get A's and B's in my Junior and Senior year of High School. Or that I would have graduated from High School a year early with college credit classes nor got through University with high marks. As a first grader I was unable to read and spent the summer learning to just be able to read the basic words that now kids have to know before they are even in Kindergarten.

With all this said God has placed a soft spot in my heart for those young kids in our Sunday School classrooms that don't have someone to pray for them to over come the obstacles that have been thrown at them. I pray some how God will give me a chance to give to these young souls that hurt and are embarrassed of what they have been dealt.

God loves all and is no respecter of persons. He says that if we don't come to Him as a little child that we can not enter into the kingdom of God. I believe this is because kids can see things with hope. If we do not have hope for them when they are little we will take away that true beauty of a child.

Today my prayer is for all the Sunday School teachers around. Don't give up on the one who is struggling and who can't keep up. Don't let them get frustrated on what you are trying to teach them. One of my best memories of teaching Sunday School has been working one on one with kids who are unable to read or write correctly. I pray that each teacher has an opportunity to watch the light in a child shine when he or she feels like they have succeeded. To give one child the opportunity to feel like they can over come and make it in this world that makes the good kids shine.

Teach your students to be over comers and give them what they need to work through what they may struggle with. Don't let them give up and throw in the towel because things are to hard. Give them the tools to be able to do what you know they can do and allow them to feel like they are not different in a bad way. You never know your teaching in a Sunday School classroom could be what helps them in their daily schooling and that would open the eyes of many through out.

All learn at different levels and truthfully looking back at my life I'm grateful that I struggled because it has given me a heart to care for those who truly were just like me. A heart to pray for students that didn't have the support system of prayer like I did.

Open your heart today and pray for those students who don't have parents praying for there learning. Pray for those young kids who need someone to love them enough to care about there success in life through education. Yes it may be something of this world but it is also something that God can use to speak to a child. It is something that can show to a child truly how special GOD see's them.

I'll be home for the holidays...

I love the feel of the Thanksgiving and Christmas Season. The way the trees on main street are all a glow with beautiful white lights, Smokey the Bear is dressed in his mits and scarf, and the street light banners are in red to display our holiday spirit. The drive down main street is truly beautiful when you look at the art that is put into each creative display.

Many say that the holiday season is not a Christian holiday but I see it differently. I see a time when my family comes together and celebrates around a table of food and tradition. Carrying on the one of very few cultural traditions in the family.

Before I went to Sweden I never looked at the importance of culture or tradition. I never saw the importance of allowing your family traditions to be passed on from one family member to another. The United States and even Canada has became countries that have little historical traditions. Yes, I do understand that some traditions are not ones that should be continued but the time of family is, I believe.

The Word tells us that the elderly women should teach the ways to the younger women. Do you feel that we are passing on traditions?

Christmas to me is of course first and for most a time to remember the birth of Christ, but as a Christian I think of that daily. When it comes to the holiday season I look at it as a warm time of family. A time when snow covers the ground reminding me of a long winter ahead, the lights in the streets a reminder of the warmth of a light to this world that only came by God, and smells of apples and cinnamon that bring an understanding of how blessed we truly are to be able to fill our bellys with sweets.

I do understand that to some this time of the season is not recognized and to be truthful that is just fine. I respect that and feel that you have your right to feel that way. However, for myself this time of the season is a happy time and a time when I look at my culture and my history. The time where I can give back to my family the time I may not be able to during the year.

I truly pray that you see through eyes of a child this Christmas season. Be thankful for the things you have and be thankful for the things you don't. Passing on traditions that may not have been noticed as traditions. If your a young person as your grandparents' and your parents' about family traditions.