Loud and Clear...

I honestly don't even know where to begin with this one folks. It absolutely blows my mind how God works. Really. Truly. It does. When he wants me to get something, He makes darn sure that I hear it. This was one of those weekends...

(How's that for a teaser to keep y'all reading?)

I woke up on Saturday morning and went to school. After spending about 5 hours there re-doing all of my lesson plans, I finally left for the cities. Sarah is pretty much the best ever. We'll just say that :)

We went to the Aaron Shust and Michael W. Smith concert at Grace in Eden Prairie. I have seen MWS on many occasions, but I've never had a night quite like last night. We got to talk to Mary, Abby, & Josh during the intermission and it was wonderful to see them! I could go on and on and on about the randomness or the funny things that happened, but I'm going to skip that due to how much I have to say.

I really can't even find the words to explain what I felt last night. But I sat there in tears and with chills for a good portion of the night. Aaron Shust is an incredible artist. "My Savior, My God" is still one of my all-time favorites and singing it a capella last night with thousands of other people just lifting their voices to God was amazing. Having said that, the song that hit me the most last night during his performance was one of his new ones. It's called "Watch Over Me." Here's the beginning of the song:

I was lonely
You came waltzing over to me
And Your eyes saw right through me
And You heard each one of my cries for help
And You came to rescue me
I was broken
Every prayer that I had spoken
Reached Your ears and all my tears weren't cried in vain
You carried all my pain
And put me back together again
You watch over me in the darkest valleys
You watch over me when the night seems long
You help me to see the way before me
You watch over me; You watch over me

I absolutely broke down. Tears streamed down my face and I sat there in awe of God. How comforting is it to know that HE is ALWAYS watching over us?! Oh man, just amazing.

MWS's big revelation for the night was that he wanted us all to know that we are children of God. And that His love for us is so vast we can't even comprehend it. He said that when he's having a bad day, he reads Psalm 139. The part he recited for us were verses 17 and 18, which say, "How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you."

I left the concert feeling wonderful. I felt loved and special and I don't even know. Sarah and I were super hungry, so we drove up to Southdale and had dinner at Maggiano's (sp?). We finally left the restaurant a tad before midnight. Niice!

Fast forward a few hours... Sarah and I get up and go to her church this morning, which I loved, by the way! They're doing a series on Connections. So, connecting with God, with others, etc. Today was about connecting with ourselves, in essence, "loving ourselves." The pastor said that instead of asking ourselves, "Who am I?" we should ask, "Whose am I?" And the scripture, Psalm 139.

Whoa! Okay, God, I get it. I am Yours. I was created in your image and You are happy with me. I was created for a purpose, and that purpose is good.

I was back at school tonight, and as I was leaving I started telling another teacher about my weekend. As soon as I said that I felt like God was telling me I was here for a reason, she stopped me. She looked me right in the eye and said, "Janet, you know what that purpose is now, right?" And I started crying again. Yes, I do know what that purpose is now. It has become blatantly clear to me in the last month.

I was meant to be a teacher, it's just that simple. I spend hours and hours at school, but I'm always happy. Even after a tough day, I'm smiling. I love going to work every day. I love writing lesson plans and thinking of my kids and how they're going to do it. I finally feel like I'm doing what I'm suppose to do; like God has always planned for his to be happening right now. I am so thrilled with where I am and I'm so excited about all that is in store.

So again, to those of you who helped me reach this point, I thank you. I really do. I feel like I can't stop smiling; like I'm glowing. I am so thankful for a wonderful weekend full of friends and faith and I'm thankful that God has been watching over me this whole time, and has brought me to this place. Our God is truly an awesome God!