Ready or Not

“Such is the confidence that we have through Christ in God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”‭‭  2 Corinthians‬ ‭3:5-6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

We start back to school in two days and people keep asking me, “Are you ready?” The honest answer is “no.” I’m excited about school and looking forward to starting back, but there are many things I was trying to get done this summer that I didn’t finish. I had a goal of focusing on potty training with Evie this summer, but we only made a little progress in that. My classroom is still not fully organized. Since we have been adding new students throughout the summer, I’m not even certain if we have all the curriculum and materials needed for this school year. (It is tricky getting heavy textbooks across the ocean and many of them are supposed to arrive on the day before school starts.) I also still need to print schedules for teachers and students, and work on lesson plans. But while all of these things can feel a bit overwhelming, there is something more that has been weighing on my mind.

It has always been our desire for our school to be a place of grace. A place where students know they are loved and safe and learn to live out the truths of the gospel in their daily lives. We certainly do not do this perfectly and our school is far from utopia, but this is our goal and what we are working toward with our students. We want them to have much more than knowledge when they leave our school. We want them to know Jesus more because of the relationships they have had at our school which demonstrate the love and grace of Jesus Christ. This goal is certainly not something that we can accomplish on our own. It feels overwhelming to try to create that type of school atmosphere, particularly when one third of our students will be new to our school. There will be new social dynamics, everyone trying to figure out where they fit, and all of this with kids who have experienced much more transition and sometimes trauma than the typical American kid. It is exciting to be able to love on and disciple these kids, but the task is definitely bigger than me.

This week the sermon in our church was on the passage above. I am not sufficient to the task of these upcoming challenges, but my "sufficiency is from God, who has made me us to be ministers of a new covenant." He made us teachers to be ministers to these students and He is sufficient to the task! One of my favorite worship songs that I learned many years ago is "He is Able."

He is able, more than able, to accomplish what concerns me today.
He is able, more than able, to handle anything that comes my way.
He is able more than able, to do much more than I could ever dream.
He is able, more than able to make me what he wants me to be.

So today, as I see how I am not sufficient, I am going to remember that Christ in me is sufficient and He will accomplish His good purposes for today. So even if I am not "ready," God is and He will give us the strength and grace to do all He has called me to do today. He will do much more than we could ask or image. (Eph. 3:20)

When Yes Feels Like No

On Sunday, David preached a sermon on a section of second Corinthians that contained this verse

"For all the promises of God find their Yes in Him (Jesus). That is why it is through Him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory." (2 Corinthians 1:20)

While David preached about how all the promises of God find their Yes in Jesus, he also talked about what it looks like when  the yes we receive from God doesn't always feel like a yes to us. Our family got some opportunity to put this into practice when we found out on Monday that the judge who heard our petition for adoption has been called away to hear cases in Northern Uganda for a month. Apparently all his other cases are "on hold" for now. Later on Monday, we got word that the teacher is definitely not going to be joining us for this school year. David had taken time on Monday to pray specifically about these two things. That certainly seemed like two "no" answers to our prayers.

Going back to Sunday. Since David was preaching I had signed up to lead the Kids' Time. Sometimes that is a brief lesson before the sermon and sometimes it is incorporating the kids into the sermon. This week David and I had come up with a plan for the kids to read some of the promises of God that find their Yes in Jesus about halfway through his sermon. After one child would read a promise, all the children would shout "Amen!" Some of the toddlers even joined in with their "Amen." These are the promises of God that we affirmed at church:

Exodus 14:14 - “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” 

Isaiah 40:29 - “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” 

Isaiah 41:10 - “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” 

Deuteronomy 31:8 – “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” 

Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” 

Psalm 86:5 – “You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you.” 

Isaiah 40:31- “but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

 Psalm 84:11 - "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly."

 While these answers to our prayers on Monday felt like a "no" we remember that these promises of God are all Yes in Jesus. God is fighting for us. He will give us His strength and uphold us. He is our God! He goes before us into this coming school year and has plans for our good, to give us hope. Our good Lord is with us and loves us. He will enable me to do whatever He calls me to do this school year. He will give me the strength to wait for this next month and will go before us in our court ruling. And he will give us what is best.

In David's sermon, he referred to John Piper's sermon on this same passage in 2 Corinthians. One of the main points Piper made was that, "God will answer our prayers in the way we ask or in a way that is better than what we asked." I don't see how it is better for us to need to scramble this month to find a new teacher or reshuffle the schedule, but I am going to trust that God has something better for us. I don't understand why waiting another month for the judge's ruling on Evie's adoption is best, but God does. He is good, abounding in love, working for our good. And even though we don't see or understand the "better" plan that God has, we will walk by faith and not by sight. And when our faith is weak, we will pray like the father in Mark 9:24, "I believe; help my unbelief!"