Grateful for a game of basketball!

Grateful for a game of basketball in the gym with the boys on Monday!

I am a teacher, I work with 4, 5, and 6, grade black boys who just happen to have Emotional Behavior Disorders (EBD). I walk into the darkness each day from 9-3:30.  I cry out to the Lord for these boys at night as I lay my head on the pillow. I pray for them on my way to work. When one of them gets angry at me during the day and tells me to "f" off or calls me a "b", white woman that I am, I bring peace and calm and I begin to pray for them. I bring empathy and compassion as one boy says, "Mrs. P. when I got angry today at you, it wasn't you I was angry at. It was just that my mom told me last night that my grandma committed suicide". He cries and I listen. It's true I walk into the darkness daily but I bring the light because I am Living Sent. 

 I come home today after a full day with the boys. I remember that I belong to Him and my heart is full of gratefulness.


Gratefulness knowing that I have been on the receiving end of gracious comments too, the ones He whispers in my ear, "you are mine, you are worthy, and you are amazing".


I know the power of well-chosen words. I speak them as a teacher and I hear them from the students; "Thanks Mrs. Pederson, Can you help me Mrs. Pederson?"


Still counting and speaking my gratefulness


807. a cold winter day

808. the cardinal on the bird feeder

809. the amazement of the grandchildren as they watch the birds and squirrels eat

810. warm coffee

811. reading Bible stories to the kids

812. a day for warm pj’s

813. heat for the house on a cold weather day

814. sitting face to face with Him

815. His love washing over me

816. a warm embrace from the golfer

817. just a simple egg and toast 

818. grateful that my life is not defined by my own pain but by my union with Christ

819. warm chili served by the hands of the golfer

820. a good night’s rest

821. knowing I am loved, chosen and called

822. a game of basketball in the gym with the boys

823. grateful to have a teaching job


I speak these words to Him, make me an "oak of Righteousness," partnering with You in the restoration of the shattered lives of these boys. 

5 Minute Friday .... Empty

Start ....

Not sure I can write for 5 minutes on this but will try anyways

Empty; it's how I felt today cause I did not have to go to work and I did not put anything on my to do list

Empty; it's how I felt yesterday when I learned that my daughter-in-law had lost her baby the second time around

Empty; it's how I feel when I long to be close to my daughter in Texas and her kids

Empty; it's a feeling that has been coming over me due to the deployment soon of my youngest daughter

Empty; it's how the house feels on any given day

Yet, I think about the opposite of empty and that is full .... full of memories of fun and fellowship and family and times of reading the Word and once again being filled with His promises to meet me where I am either feeling empty or full or even in between ...
God is Good, All the Time! All the Time, God is Good!

I did it 5 minutes no edits

Stop ...

A vision without a plan implemented is ....

Some thoughts from Sunday’s message that I am living out today are:

I must be an effective ambassador for Christ in my neighborhood.

I must go forth with faith, boldness, and ability.

I can be a bringer of peace to Plymouth.

I can intentionally cultivate opportunities to spend time with unbelievers.

Because I know the Gospel is the answer for all and because I am called to be an everyday apostle here: “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two (I am one of the 72) and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town …” (and the suburb of Plymouth, MN, where I live) Luke 10:1-12 I must LIVESENT!

Finally; a vision without a plan implemented is merely a good intention.

Some questions I am asking myself and you could be asking too are:

What do I know about my neighborhood?

What kinds of people live there?

What do I think people struggle with?

What do I think they care most deeply about?

Listen to the whole message here www.newhomechurchmn.org

He Whispers

These are the whispers I heard this morning:

Beth, you are to love people but you are only asked to please Me!

Beth, remember,

I am your Fortress
I am your Stronghold
I am your Delieverer
I am your Shield

Take refuge in Me!

#3 An embrace and a smile

These are the times we will miss ... times of family, love, embraces and smiles ....


As I think forward to the next few weeks I realize our youngest daughter will leave us to deploy, to fight for our freedom, to serve our country and our "one nation under God". The question I receive many times in a week now is, "How are you doing as a mother?" I don't always know how to respond but I know that I released this one to God some 23 years ago and it is for this reason that I spend some time tonight sharing one more letter from boot camp 2007.

Dear Family,

Hey you guys! I miss ya'll like crazy! There has been quite a few interesting things that have happened since I left the great state of Minnesota. I've been at reception battalion with the 43rd unit. There has been a lot of waiting and barely any sleeping. ha ha! I got here at 12 am on Thursday morning and they had us doing stuff 'til 3:30 am. Once we got to the barracks, we had to shower and get our beds made while it was dark. I got to bed around 4 am and wake up was at 5 am. I got a lot more sleep on Thursday night. Today our Drill Sgt. told us that 20 of us would have the opportunity to go to a rodeo on Saturday night. He went thru everybody and had people guess the number he picked. By the last five, he picked out something in the book that we would have to do. The first thing he asked was, "Who can sing the Army song?" I rasied my hand, and he picked me. I stood up, sang it loud and got a ticket!! So tomorrow, I get a break from base already. Woo Hoo! I got my uniform today. It made me feel really important. Seriously, I feel honored to put this uniform on. It's hot as heck, but that's OK. The girls are nice and so are the guys. I'm actually going to church on Sunday with one of the girls. Please keep praying that everything keeps going well. I love you all so much. I'll write you again as soon as I know my address!

Ashley

wow, guess Ashley said this is the second time I posted this letter so ... next week a new post with a new (old) letter!

Happy Belated Birthday

Last week on my daughter Carrie's birthday I was in bed so sick with the flu that I missed calling her and singing Happy Birthday. I believe this was a first for me in her 31 years of life. You see, even though I just make a joyful noise when I sing, that has never stopped me from singing on her birthday and singing loud in church. I remember though when Carrie was young and I heard her sing

 Jesus Loves Me.

I not only recognized that she could not sing either, but I told her so. Oh my, how could a mother do that to a child so young. Now we tell the story as adults and laugh, although at the young impressionable age she was, I could have damaged her, but thankfully did not.

Today, I look at this one who used to be so young, now grown-up as a wife and mother and I am so proud to call her my daughter! There are so many things I love about Carrie ....

I love her heart for others

I love the way she loves others well

I love that she continues to be her "daddy's girl"

I love her honesty

I love her love for Jesus

I love her creativity

I love that she loves her family well

I love the woman she is becoming

As I looked back in my journal from 2009, February 10 I wrote;

"As I read Psalm 40 today Lord I pray especially for Carrie as it is the day to celebrate her birth. May she seek You, rejoice in You and be glad in You!"

Carrie you are Amazing, Chosen and Called! I love you more!

Happy Belated Birthday!

What are you doing in April?

What are you doing in April?

Do you blog?

Why not join me in a blogging beach party

through the community of (in)courage?

Find out more about it through the link above!

Delighting in Him and him

  

linking up here today with the prompt "Delight"!

It is a delight to know Him

It is a delight to know that he has created the gift of marriage

It is a delight to know that he brought us together 38 years ago

It is a delight to know we have been through ups and downs

It is a delight to know that we have been faithful to one another

It is a delight to see our family grow through marriages and grandchildren

It is a delight to spend long evenings together

It is a delight to read together (the book now: Love and Respect)

It is a delight to set the table for two and enjoy a prayer together

It is a delight to know that God has chosen and called us to love one another

It is a delight to know how hard he works to provide

It is a delight to feel his physical touch and to hear his words of affirmation

It is a delight to know he loves me and I love him

It was a delight to come home to this pretty new gift with this poem written on his heart

Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
All these Red Goodies
Just for you!

I love you more

But not more than

He loves you

Terry

Living Sent Today, Monday February 6, 2012

Our Young Adult and Men’s Pastor at our church is preaching a series entitled:

LIVESENT: Sparking Missional Dreams

“Living Sent on Mission with God”

He actually asked us to take out our cell phones on Sunday morning during the message and text or tweet and for those of us who have blogs; blog so here goes ….

Learning on Sunday and putting into practice on Monday these ideas:

The mission field is no longer over there; the mission field is now right here so …

This is an invitation to dream together as a church.

May I live my life with this purpose—this responsibility: to share the mission of Christ as my own!

May I be about the mission of God and may I flood the world with the sublime blessing of knowing, following and worshipping Jesus Christ.

In Gen 12:1-3 God asks me to “GO” …. So I will be a blessing.

In Acts 3:25-26 God will bless me by turning me from my wickedness

In Gal 3:7-9, 28-29 God states this is me of faith and that Jesus Christ is the blessing.

So Pastor Bryan has left me thinking and asking myself:

Will my life be defined by my mission or will my life be defined by God’s mission?
Will I ask God to join me in my pursuits or will I join God in His pursuits?

How about you … how will you answer these questions?

In His Arms, Beth

Dear Dad

Been home reading my Bible and thinking a lot about family again tonight. Even went to the photo albums to just enjoy pictures of the family. Then I went back into my archives of letters and reread some. There is just something about reading what has been written in the past that brings to mind God's faithfulness to our family. So here I post a letter from a son to his dad while in treatment at Teen Challenge!

Dad,

Hey thank you very much for coming today. It was nice to chat with you. Well I want to give you this 20 dollars for March. I gave you that last twenty for Feburary so this is for this month. I am so excited for what the Lord is planning for me in these last few months at Teen Challenge. I am so blessed that I got in here and am truly thankful for the decisions on you and mom's part to give me the much needed nudge. Well, I hope you feel better and that your visit to the VA goes well on Monday. God bless and I love you. Something I am doing for that class with my mentor is this week in the morning and night, praying that prayer of Paul in Eph 3:14-21. I personalize it and it is very helpful.

I love you dad, Adam