For GOD hath not given us a spirit of fear....



This week is VBS week at church and the hubs and I are both teaching.  For those of you just stopping by, let me tell you a bit about the area in which we live.  We live in a town with a population of less than three hundred.  The nearest gas station is seven miles away, the nearest grocery store is 15 miles away and the nearest town with a population above 10,000 is 30 miles away.  We have no geographical draws, no industry, just fields, creeks and churches.  Ironically, within a 10 miles radius we have at least 20 churches.  This setting may or may not seems ideal to you, but it is a piece of heaven here Earth for me!  This week, FIVE local churches are having VBS as well.  We believed our numbers would be down this year.  In fact, we were sure of it.  Many of our "typical helpers" were on vaca or sick, and we weren't worried about it....thought we had it covered.  Guess what?  We were wrong!  Lol.  Last night we had close to 150 kids.  Seriously over half the population of our town! We were floored.  And, thanks to GOD we handled it.  We ran out of food, we exhausted supplies, etc., but nothing that can't be quickly replenished. Many of the children are bused in--they don't belong to any particular church and some have never stepped foot in church.  By all accounts they should be rowdy and somewhat clueless, but these kids are amazing.  They listen, are thankful, participate.  It has been such an amazing experience.  Even more amazing has been seeing our close-knit group of workers step into different roles and excel.  I see confidence and love in people who have NEVER shown such traits before. 

Our theme this year is COLOSSAL COASTER RIDE.  Our verse for the week is 2 Timothy 1:7 (KJV)  For GOD hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of love, power and of sound mind.  The kids are soaking this up like little sponges.  As parents and adults, we like to hope we can protect our children from the unknowns, the up and downs of life.....the scary roller coaster rides, but unfortunately none of us are exempt.  Only GOD can give us solid footing and provide us with peace and the strength to serve him with boldness...even through adversity.  

Even though I am teaching, I can't help but marvel at what GOD has been teaching me this week.  My best friend has been fighting for her life since Sunday and we still don't know whether she will live or what her quality of life will be life.  I have had to pray REALLY hard to keep from being overwhelmed and fearful.  This week's VBS lesson has helped me so much.  Praise be to GOD! So thankful GOD is working even in areas that seem too futile to demand his attention.  He cares for us all!