Updates and Prayer Requests

I have a lot going on right now so this post is just going to be done in a short, bulleted list.

• Tonight I joined a new bible study and I LOVE IT!! It is, however, not at my home church, and for a lot of reasons, I'm happy about that. Ever since the beginning of my senior year in high school I've been unhappy with the leadership in my church. But I stuck around because in a year I was moving off to college, and I was involved in a really strong youth group that pretty much consisted of all my friends. But now that I've moved home and matured in my faith, I'm starting to get agitated at the way my church leadership is being run and the content of the sermons. I think I was spoiled in Tuscaloosa because even though I went to 3 churches down there, all 3 had amazing pastors who were willing to tell the truth whether it hurt or not. Now, I feel that the only thing I'm being fed each Sunday is a bunch of FLUFF. Fluff that fits into note sheets where the first letter all start with "P" or the first letters all spell out "faith." Please. The Word of God does not fit into a mold. Sooo I've joined a new bible study at a different church in town and will be visiting that church on Sunday morning. Please pray that we go where the Lord is leading and not because of our emotions.
• Okay, back to the bible study. It's Beth Moore's book So Long, Insecurity. Before I started reading this book I felt pretty confident. I mean, I used to be extremely insecure about my looks and even after losing over 30 pounds, I still battle those demons but my thoughts were "What woman doesn't??" Well, let me tell yall, Beth has showed me more insecurities in my life that I didn't even know existed because I had just been living with them. First is my job. The board of education finally granted retirement to the teacher I replaced. Now because of legal reasons, the job is open to anyone who wants to apply. Of course I applied but now I'm worried that a million other people who are much better at teaching than me also applied. I'm also worried about not hearing anything about my job. What is this?? Insecurity!! Please pray that I allow the Lord to work in my life the way He intends, and also that I give my worries to Him.
• Quick sidenote, before I started writing this I had no idea this would turn out into a list of prayer requests. I just love what God does in my life!
• Tomorrow my team and I weigh in after finishing our first week participating in Scale Back Alabama!! My goal is to have lost 2 pounds this week and hopefully I lost over 1!! I have a possibility to win $1000 in this competition so I'm definitely taking it seriously!
• I had a teacher moment yesterday where I just had to be honest with my students. I was writng the answers on the board after they would call them out. We were in the middle of describing the human characteristics of an animal character when a student called out a word that I have no idea how to spell!!! Now as a teacher--as an English teacher--what do you do??? Well, I thought about it for a minute and said, "Okay, you can put that on your paper but I have no idea how to spell it so I'm not even going to try to write it on the board." That just blew their 7th grade minds! A teacher not knowing how to spell a word?!?! (See, I can't even spell it on my blog to tell yall about it ha) So then a student said, "Let's try to come up with big words that she can't spell!!" And someone yelled out "hippopotomus" to which I laughed very hard. I love these kids!