My Name is Sarah...and I want to give glory to God

At Church of the Redeemer, we typically have a time of testimonies. People stand up and share about how God has been at work in their lives...and as a person stands, they say, "Hi, my name is _____, and I want to give glory to God." and the rest of the church chimes in and says, "AMEN." And then the person continues on and shares about how God is at work. I always enjoy hearing these testimonies and got to share my own testimony a few weeks ago about how God has been at work in my workplace among some of the students and through a series of different things that were difficult for me emotionally, but how God has been victorious through it all, how he's been preparing me in stages, and how he's given me a calmness and peace.

I want to give God the glory for a few other things as well. I went through mostly a whole school year of working with middle school students, an age group that I never really thought I would work with, but God used this opportunity to mold and shape me more in working with youth, He humbled me, and He allowed His glory to be revealed through my weakness. I have definitely let pride get in the way while in the workplace, and especially being in a place where my teaching is being questioned by 6th graders on a regular basis was definitely difficult. God has been very clear and spoken to me through some of those difficult days and said, "Sarah...your identity is not found in this job, in these students that you work with, or your coworkers....your identity is found in God and God alone!" That promise that God is at work, whether I am having a good or bad day with my students and God's glory being revealed in the workplace and at work through the lives of my students through their improvements, and through conversations about God and faith and praying with my coworkers has been a great encouragement to me everyday. One scripture that I continually meditate on and come back to is Lamentations 3:22-23: "The Lord's lovingkindness indeed never ceases, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning, Great is thy faithfulness." Seek God in all places of your life...especially in the workplace....He will be clear and show up, even if you are not asking for it! :-D

So we have also finished our 1st year of the Servant Partners internship! I cannot believe it. Time has gone by very quickly, and I feel that I have grown so much more in the past few months with my teammates through joyful and difficult situations. This summer we will continue in our ministry projects of hosting bible studies with our neighbors. We are also going through a period of discerning our natural gifts, acquired skills, and spiritual gifts (gifts set). This will help determine what the 2nd year of the SP internship will look like, and what areas we should focus on, especially for ministry.

Something that has been more dificult for me recently is finding out heavy news about some friends. Please be in prayer for my friends for physical healing.
My college friend, Nick, that I knew through Intervarsity and Camp Titan, went to South Africa to volunteer there for the summer in hopes of figuring out more of what he wants to do with his life and such...was horseback riding, he fell off, was knocked unconscious and rushed to the hopsital. Nick had a blood clot that the doctors were able to take care of, but then had an infection in his lungs. He was taking a medication that had paralyzed his body, but he was just recently taken off of the medication and so he has been able to move his arms, legs, hands, etc....and is hopefully going to be able to speak soon. Nick is heavily sedated, and when they tried to breathe using the ventilator, he was struggling. They also just found out that he has pneumonia and is going to be treated with antibiotics. Nick is healing in God's timing...but please continue to pray for him that he will be patient and strong through this time, and that he will feel God's presence at work through this, and the power of people that are praying for him. And I want to praise God that his family has been able to go over to South Africa to be with him during this difficult time, and relay information back to us in the states through emails and facebook messages.
I also found out this past week about my friend and coworker, Daniel, who was having some coughing problems for about a month. After medicine trials and numerous tests, Daniel found out that he has a tumor in the center-left of his chest that is above the sternum and below the heart, and is about the size of a grapefruit. Some things to pray specifically for Daniel and his wife are that the tumor would be benign (cancer-free), that it would be easy to remove, that the cough supressants would help with Daniel's cough, and that he would be present and take things day by day. Daniel has shown a great sense of peace and calmness as he has shared, which has helped me to taking this in and receiving this information about a dear friend. Praise God also that He has allowed Daniel to receive so much these past months with work, in his recent marriage with his wife, and that he had received a clear word through prayer about not beginning to intern with Servant Partners until a later time.

Thank you for your prayers!!!

My friend, Nick...please pray for him!

SP Commencement for the 2nd years: my PLN buddies - Scott and Daniel...please pray for Daniel!

My SP Team - Lisa is in the middle in the wheelchair...please continue to be praying for her for physical healing and the rest of our team as we are continuing our ministry project until the end of August.