Sunday School and Bible Studies

So this past Sunday was my second Sunday to go to Sunday School. To say I was nervous about going is an understatement. However, I felt like joining a Sunday School class was something I needed to do. I prayed about it. A lot. And God gave me the strength to step out of my comfort zone and go. And I liked it :) So I went back again this past Sunday. The first Sunday I went they were starting a new study on prayer. It felt like such a "God" thing that I have felt the need to pray more and I have done a pretty good job about praying each night before I go to bed. I still need to work on praying in the morning. Hopefully, when I have adjusted back to the working world I will have some moments in the morning to spend in prayer. The past two mornings have been difficult. I have struggled to get out of bed. I have slept late. So by the time I am really awake and not just kinda awake I am in such a rush to get ready and get out the door that I miss having a moment of prayer. There is a young adult Bible study that meets on Thursday's at 6. I am hoping to be able to leave extended day at 5:00 instead of 5:30 or later so that I can rush home, let Bella out, give a little something to eat, and (hopefully) get me a little something to eat.  I am still a little nervous, but I will make it, hopefully, somehow. It also means I have to give up my afternoon/evening naps. Sigh. I know I need to give them up irregardless, but I love them so.

This a journal I got for Christmas from one of my students. At first when I saw it I thought, "Oh. A journal. I don't journal. I am lazy and I don't like to write. I prefer to type. I guess I will put it in my desk and let it gather dust there." Well, it sat in my desk for a while. Then I had a revelation. In my attempt to learn scripture I thought it would benefit me to write it down. Then it would stay in my memory and I could easily and quickly flip to it. So I started with Ephesians 4:32.

"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ God forgave you."

Then another revelation occurred. God forgives me every time I mess up. All I have to do is ask for forgiveness. Not so fun fact: Forgiving others is VERY hard for me. I am not really sure why, but it is. I get mad, and stay mad for a long, long time. Now thinking back on it, I am slightly embarrassed about it. I would just stay mad and not forgive, and the only person it hurt was me. I would be mad, angry, sad, and heartbroken about it. But as I repeated that verse each night, it dawned on me that God was trying to tell me to forgive others. If He can forgive me then I can forgive others. So I prayed earnestly for God's help in forgiving some certain people in my life. I know that I can't forgive them on my own, but with God's help I can. I can do all things with God's help. So in this moment of revelation I wrote down my prayer directly under this verse. I have prayed that prayer daily, and I feel so much more at peace with the situation and with those people.

This is the prayer calendar that Asbury put together for this year. It gives scripture to read throughout the year, which I need to be better about reading. It also gives a ministry to pray about for that week. Some of the ministries are things going on over seas and last week it was the Downtown Rescue Mission in Huntsville.