God LOVES to bring us joy...

I am a first grade teacher. I love (LOVE) my job, but some days I get worn out, I fail to see opportunities that come up. I committed to God that I would share Jesus with my class everyday and every chance I got. So, I do. About 2 weeks ago, it seemed like an ordinary Tuesday. It seemed normal until the afternoon. One of the little gals in my class had a "melt down" in P.E. class. The coach decided to take a teaching moment and talked with her about making decisions that please Jesus. (BTW...I had talked to the class about this very thing in the morning devotion time before snack break. I told them it was impossible to make choices to please God without having Jesus in your heart and then told them how to accept Jesus) The P.E. coach told her pretty much the same thing I had. She then asked the little girl if she had Jesus in her heart, the girl said no, but she'd like to. So...the coach prayed with her. YEAH!!!

The kids in the class could hardly wait to get back into our classroom to tell me about it. So we rejoiced with the angels. A few minutes later another little gal raised her hand and asked me if I would pray that prayer with HER to ask Jesus in her heart. I said, "You bet!". She came up to my desk and I prayed (out loud) with her so the rest of the class could hear and pray along if they wanted to. And so we rejoiced with the angels again. I then thought class was going to get back to "normal", but no...another little girl came to my desk and asked me to pray with her. I was almost ready to hyperventilate at this point. 2 of the girls had gone out into the hallway to work on their monthly scripture memory and the 1st gal I prayed with lead her friend in the salvation prayer in the hall. As we were rejoicing that time, one of the little boys raised his had and told me he had prayed in his heart at his desk, but he would do it again out loud if it wasn't okay to pray in his heart. I told him it was absolutely okay and so we rejoiced AGAIN. What a day it was turning out to be. When the class got back from afternoon snack break, 2 more little boys had prayed to ask Jesus in their hearts. I was so overwhelmed I couldn't keep from crying in front of them. I told them they were tears of joy.

One week later the first little gal I prayed with had prayed with two more of the boys in my class, and I prayed with another boy, as well. So far, 9 out of the 12 have prayed to receive Christ and one in kindergarten. There has been a revival in First Grade this year and I'm so honored to be part of it.

I'm so grateful to the Lord for using me in the lives of these little ones and that He's used them in my life, as well.