Saturday Morning....Wow What-A-Week!

Hi friends,

It is Saturday morning here in Barbourville, Kentucky. I am getting ready to head out to the gym with my hubby. This was my first week back to work after Fall break and let me tell you, I can definitely feel it. It's amazing how just 9 days can make your body get into a new pattern of not standing all day. My back and feet have ached this week from standing 7.5 hours a day, because contrary to the thoughts, not all teachers sit behind their desks. Actually, I rarely sit down. Its cherished when I do. *HERE'S A PIC OF ME WITH ONE OF MY STUDENTS A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO*
I have had an awesome week with my Savior! I spent Wed. melancholy and weepy. I could have sworn that I saw Danielle coming to sit with me in Church. It was so real that I had to walk out for a few moments to gain my composure. Wed. night was tough but God's grace is sufficient.
Thursday night, I decided to revamp my Prayer/Bible time. I have OCD (truthfully!) and I sometimes have a hard time during my prayer time if I leave something or someone out. I know that satan uses this, so I decided to outline the "Constants" on my prayer list, so that I can refer to it if needed. In the midst of that, I decided to research prayer. It's funny, I have been a Christian for 16 years now and I have prayed for years. However, I sometimes wonder if I am praying effectively. I am not concerned with how the world views my prayers. My only concern is speaking to my Jesus in the correct way.
Now this may sound silly to some of you reading this. I know that God hears my prayers and I know that He answers them, its just that I want to be more effective in my Praises for Him and more effective in my intercession for the lost and those who are in need. I also want to be more effective in praying for myself, something that I recently realized I do not do enough. I guess it's the feeling of being selfish, but I really have begun to realize that in order to help others, I have to ask God to help and work on me more often.
So in my search for Prayer advice I, of course, consulted my Bible and I also went to the Billy Graham organization website. I really admire Billy Graham because he has stood the course, ONLY because he really listens to God and puts Him first. I once read that he will not even enter an elevator with a woman unless there are other people present, just so that no one will be able to assume or accuse him of something. This keeps his testimony clean. I am not saying he is perfect, obviously none of us are, but I really believe that he leans on the Lord for guidance. It also helps that my Mamaw Brittain really admired him as well and sent his organization gifts throughout her life. She received his Decision magazines and for about 2 years after she passed away, I continued to receive those magazines out of their kindness towards me. They also sent me a lot of information about the comfort of God when she passed away. *MY MAMAW BRITTAIN HOLDING MY COUSIN AND I WHEN WE WERE BABIES (I'M THE ONE WITH THE BABY DOLL AND BROWN HAIR)*
When I searched the website, I found a lot of good information on the site. I also spent time looking up how to study the Bible. Yes, I've read my Bible my entire life, however, I want to learn how to do that more effectively, too.
I urge those of you reading this to visit the Billy Graham website. There are a lot of awesome things there. There's a whole section that contains questions that people have asked Mr. Graham and his Biblical replies to them.

PS. Please, continue to remember Hannah. Please, add a previous student of mine that I will refer to as on "T" on here just in case his family doesn't want me to use his name online. He has a cancerous tumor on his liver and will be having surgery in the next few weeks. Pray for God's mercy on his precious, little life. He is truly a miracle child already and I have faith that God will continue to use his life to bring people to Him.