emmi escrita

I am officially home in Kansas City. I got into town early Wednesday evening and went straight to the Wetzels’ for the OSL Midweek end-of-the-year party and found this:

Not a bad way to arrive home, if you ask me.

My last few weeks in Florida were really wonderful. I had expected to feel rushed and stressed, but everything fell smoothly into place, giving me the opportunity to spend time with the people that I love there. It felt good to say goodbye fully. Some of my favorites were celebrating my birthday with friends, the beachside brunch that Val organized so that I would have the opportunity to say goodbye to the Wednesday night Bible study ladies (thank you for your prayers!), and my last day with TWLOHA, when my coworkers were adventurous enough to eat Cuban food with me and waved goodbye as I drove away. Thank you all for the love you have given me, and thank you for this year. When I was driving to Florida this time last year, I never could have imagined what I would find there, and I am glad to have experienced it and to carry it with me to the next season.

The drive home went so much better than I could have imagined. Driving 1300 miles by myself has never been something that I’ve really desired to do, but I ended up enjoying myself. A big thank you to Savannah and her family for letting me stay with them on Tuesday night. I spent the drive praying, singing, listening to audio books, and processing all that I was leaving behind and driving toward. I also saw some beautiful country. Tennessee was my favorite state to pass through:

Since I’ve been home, I’ve been diving right back into Kansas City life. Mary and I had a HiHat date on Thursday, Dad and I had sushi with my cousin Marc and went to see his wife Ericka perform in The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, Carly and I spent the afternoon on the grounds of the Nelson yesterday, and Dad and I had the opportunity to see the ballet at the Kauffman Center last night, crossing a dream item off of my KC bucket list.

All in all, I am thankful to be home, getting back into the groove of things and catching up with people I love.

Thanksgiving…

• For safe travel home.
• For home itself. Being back here feels kind of like being wrapped in a warm blanket. I am thankful to have such a place to return to no matter what else is going on in my life.

Please pray…

• That I would be intentional about my time at home, that I would be diligent to prepare for Institute, apply for jobs, and study for the Praxis while enjoying time with friends and family.
• For trust that the Lord will provide a teaching position, just the right one, that as I obediently and diligently continue with the hiring process, I would not worry about the outcome but remember God’s faithfulness to provide.

Over the course of a few days this week, I read and reflected on the book of Amos. It may seem like an unusual book to dive into, but I’ve been wanting to spend more time in the Old Testament, and when a verse from Amos came up in a devotion I was reading earlier this week, I decided to give it a try. And although Amos is a contemporary of Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah, who all spoke out against the sinfulness of Israel and Judah and prophesied about the consequences that the Lord would have for them (not exactly happy-go-lucky reading), I did end up finding a message of encouragement in Amos. For, although the people of Israel chose self-fulfillment over God’s righteousness, the book of Amos still ends with God’s promise to sweetly restore Israel to Him.

Here are the things that stood out to me most when reading Amos:

We are a sinful people.

[The people of Judah] have rejected the instruction of the Lord, refusing to obey his decrees. They have been led astray by the same lies that deceived their ancestors. [Amos 2:4]

In our sinfulness, we are doomed to repeat our mistakes and the mistakes of those before us. When we turn away from the Lord, we forget all that He has taught us and all that He has for us.

The Lord uses the unexpected.

But Amos replied, “I’m not a professional prophet, and I was never trained to be one. I’m just a shepherd, and I take care of sycamore-fig trees. But the Lord called me away from my flock and told me, ‘Go and prophesy to my people in Israel.’” [Amos 7:14-15]

The Lord often calls unexpected and seemingly unequipped people. But no matter our training or experience, we are to be obedient to Him and to follow Him wherever He leads us. What an encouraging reminder it was for me to read about a shepherd that God used to share His Word with His people and to see the way that Amos acted in obedience as I prepare to move to Colorado and to teach. I pray that I might be obedient as Amos was and value reflecting God’s glory over remaining in a place where I am comfortable.

Thirst for the Word.

“The time is surely coming,” says the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread or water but of hearing the words of the Lord. People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from border to border searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it. Beautiful girls and strong young men will grow faint in that day, thirsting for the Lord’s word.” [Amos 8:11-13]

This is so difficult for me to imagine, maybe because I live in a world where so many of us, myself included, reject the Word of the Lord. What would it be like to have such a thirst for God’s Word that I would search it out relentlessly? That is my prayer today, that I would come back to the Word again and again, hungering for what God has there, hungering for Him and Him alone. I pray that I would find my very life in Him.

God is good- better than we deserve.

“I, the Sovereign Lord, am watching this sinful nation of Israel. I will destroy it from the face of the earth. But I will never completely destroy the family of Israel.” [Amos 9:8]

“In that day I will restore the fallen house of David. I will repair its damaged walls. From the ruins I will rebuild it and restore its former glory.” [Amos 9:11]

Like any good parent knows and practices, consequences are necessary to teach a child to turn from harmful, disobedient actions. But although God must punish Israel for breaking the covenant, He does not destroy them. In fact, even as He uses Amos to detail the coming consequences, He also promises restoration for Israel- sweet, full, abundant restoration!

And that is the heart of God for His people- Although He is good and just, helping us to turn away from our sin to His best, He will not let us be separated from Him forever. What He promised Israel at the end of Amos was just a foreshadowing of what He would do through Jesus. As we are sinful and cannot keep the Law on our own, “a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” [Romans 3:21-24]

Amen.

In August of last year, my friend Grace started a blog chronicling her adoption journey. I met Grace during my senior year of college when I began going to her church. Grace is one of those people who have the love of Christ just dripping from their pores, so when I learned that she was praying to adopt a child with Down Syndrome, I knew that it was a story I wanted to follow.

Fast forward eight months, and it is impossible not to see God’s fingerprints all over this story. He has moved in big ways through paperwork, approvals, home studies, and funding. And beyond the routine aspects of an adoption, the Lord is working big things through Grace and other parents who are adopting children from the orphanage where Samantha, Grace’s daughter, lives.

After these orphans have lived so long in neglect and deplorable conditions, light is shining into this orphanage. Changes are being made, resources are being sent, children are being adopted by families who will love them and care for them. Those responsible for the care of these precious children are now held responsible on an international stage, and so many are praying for them. The Lord is fulfilling His promises, showing His love, and revealing His glory. He is setting captives free [Luke 4:18-19].

Grace is in Bulgaria RIGHT NOW meeting Samantha for the very first time. The photos and videos that she posted on her blog today brought tears of joy to my eyes. I want to encourage you to head over to Grace’s blog and read this story that is still developing. You may even want to read it from the very beginning. I believe that the Lord is using it to reveal His heart for His people, and I know that I am ministered to every time Grace posts something new.

[photo credit]

If I am honest with myself and with the Lord, I have a lot of fear about getting hired. Ultimately, this fear is founded on nothing more than my own self-doubt and a lack of trust in God’s power and faithfulness. But nonetheless, it sneaks into my heart on a daily basis, convincing me of my worthlessness and leading me to ask myself why a school would ever hire me to teach their students.

Yesterday, I allowed myself to go to that place again, but as I was ready to begin that process of worrying, I felt the Lord’s reassurance instead. And rather than asking myself how I will ever get hired, I asked myself why, since I have no doubt that the Lord is calling me to serve in Colorado this fall, would I doubt that He would provide me with a place to serve? Why, when His hand and His power and His goodness have been so apparent in this process, would I worry that those things would suddenly just disappear?

So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you. Deuteronomy 31:6

The Lord is going ahead of me on this journey, and He has plans that I cannot even fathom yet. My prayer through the hiring process so far has been that the Lord would be preparing a school for me and me for a school, and I know that He has a specific fit in mind. Unfortunately, it terrifies me to surrender control, but I am grateful when God tackles all of these obstacles again and again, reassuring me of His faithfulness, even when mine fails. I know that as I find my faith tested, the Lord will show His love to be true, just as He always has. It may not always look the way that I want or expect it to, but it will always be good. I pray that through trials my heart would be transformed so that I would turn immediately to the Lord in all things instead of trying to find confidence in my own paltry strength.

Thanksgiving…

• That the Lord uses difficult situations to deepen faith [James 1:2-4]. This time of waiting is not without purpose.
  
• For my Onboarding Coordinator, Hillary. She has been assigned to help me and several other Colorado CMs with the hiring process, preparing for Institute, and so many other things. Hillary has been a huge blessing- she is responsive, always on top of things, and so encouraging. This process would be so much messier without her.

Please pray…

• That my faith would rest solely upon the Lord, the Rock eternal [Isaiah 26:4].
• That as I seek to be obedient in applying and interviewing for teaching positions, I would remember that it is God’s timing and placement, and not mine, that is most important.

One of the things that I’ve found that most surprises people when I talk to them about working with Teach For America is that, although I’ve been accepted into the program, I still need to apply for teaching positions. So, I’ve decided to dedicate a blog post to explaining the hiring process a little more.

The long and short of it is that TFA can’t simply place Corps Members [CMs are those of us participating in TFA as teachers] in teaching vacancies. We need to apply and interview for teaching positions just like any other candidate. So, this is a little scary because it technically means that I am not guaranteed a job this fall. But TFA was very upfront about this, and apparently, in the last six years that TFA has been in Colorado, only 1% of CMs haven’t been hired. There are also some wonderful advantages to applying and interviewing for positions rather than just being placed in a vacancy. Getting hired by a school means that they have chosen me, believe in my ability to teach their students, and see me as a part of their school culture. And I can’t imagine a better situation that that.

So, what that means for me right now is that I am in the midst of applying for a lot of teaching vacancies. TFA works only with schools where 65-100% of students receive free or reduced price lunch, so TFA-CO has developed a system that they use to inform CMs of what vacancies we can apply for, based on our placements. Part of our commitment as CMs is to apply to every vacancy that TFA tells us about, accept every interview that we’re contacted about, and accept the first job we are offered. So, as the hiring season is about to enter full swing, I am trying to be diligent about getting applications in and praying for the opportunity to interview with some different schools. One of the things I’m enjoying most about this process is the opportunity to learn more about the schools that TFA works with in the Denver and Colorado Springs areas. There are so many different possibilities for next year- traditional public schools, dual language, year-round models- and I’m getting very excited about meeting and teaching my future students.

Thanksgiving…

• I found out today that I passed the PLACE Spanish test that I flew to Denver to take last month!
• TFA posted a ton of new vacancies this weekend, which provides more opportunities to apply and to learn about the schools in Colorado
• That I even have the opportunity to apply to serve as a teacher in the coming years. What a blessing to feel that I am being led to a place where my passions and abilities will be used to serve others.

Please pray…

• For the opportunity to interview with Colorado schools over the next few months.
• That the Lord will be preparing a school for me to teach in this fall, and that He would be preparing me to teach in it as well.
• That I will trust in the Lord, knowing that He has never forsaken those who seek Him [Psalm 9:10].