praise you in the storm

So Matt & I have been really blessed this year. We have had a wonderful first 10 months of marraige. I was starting to wonder when this "rough 1st year marraige" stuff was going to happen. And then it came. Last Thursday Matt was informed by his principal and assistant principal that his contract with the district would not be renewed after this year. Matt is apparantly an "incompetant teacher". Whatever. The entire dismissal packet is full of lies. The school never did anything to help Matt this year. The first year of teaching is supposed to be an "assisting year" and the second year is the "evaluative year". No assisting happened to my husband this year. The superintendent and the assistant principal (his "mentors") would come in to observe him and give him no feedback at all. How is he supposed to improve if he is given no feedback. Anyway--this is the part where Matt & I are pretty bitter. He was fired for no good reasons at all and most of the reasons they gave were lies. This leads us to figuring out where our future is going. Matt doesn't really want to teach anymore and is looking into many options. I will be working at Impact full-time this summer to save up money for my internship in the fall. Please pray for Matt & I as we make these transitions. Also pray that we will not be bitter about this whole situation. We know that God has a purpose and a plan for it all. We are trusting in Him. He is in control.

And I'll leave you with my life song right now...

Praise You in the Storm by Casting Crowns

I was sure by now
God You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
And stepped in and saved the day
Once again, I say Amen, and it is still raining

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear you whisper through the rain
I'm with you
As your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

I'll Praise you in this storm
And I will lift my hands
You are who you are
No matter where I am
And every tear I've cried
You hold in your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will Praise You in this storm

I remember when
I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry
You raised me up again
My strength is almost gone
How can I carry on
If I can't find you

I lift my eyes into the hills
Where does my help come from
My help comes from the Lord
The maker of heaven and earth

encouragement

"My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me."
Psalm 63:8

This verse has been such an encouragement to me recently. There are lots of things going on in and around my life and right now I just don't know where it is all leading to. But that's not for me to know. God knows the future and holds me in the palm of his hand. What a comfort!

We interrupt this marraige...

I saw this bumper sticker the other day that said, "We interrupt this marraige to bring you racing season". What truth this bumper sticker holds in how our society looks at marraige. We interrupt our marraiges for anything. We put anything and everything, including our kids, in higher priority than our spouse. This is not what God intended. When I married Matt, I made a covenant with him and with God that I will love him and be his wife until "death do us part". Nothing, except God himself, should be held in a higher priority than this covenant. That is why I had the word "hesed" engraved in Matt's ring. "Hesed" means covenental love...not just love in the good times when I feel like it. A hesed type of love is not just a commitment, but a covenant. Our society has made marraige a covenience, not a covenant. This saddens my heart.

In other news, Winthrop won the Big South Championship again. Go Eagles! Going to the "Big Dance" once again.

I am so thrilled about my placement with Lutheran Family Services for my internship next fall. I will be working with their therapeutic foster care department. Basically, I will be doing home studies for families who wish to become foster families, home visits and check-ups on foster homes, and mentor some of the kids. I'm so ready for this new adventure!

Next week is Spring Break. It's hard to believe the semester is more than halfway over, but I am thankful. I'll be working Monday and Tuesday but on Wednesday I will head up to Lake Waccamaw to visit my parents. I haven't seen my parents since January and couldn't miss them more. I truly hate the fact that they live 3 1/2 hours away and I work all the time. I'm going to leave my sweet husband in Rock Hill and spend some quality time with my parents. It kind of sucks that Matt's Spring Break is a month after mine. But I am excited to see my family.

End of my ranting.