March Madness...

No, I don't follow basketball :) But the title of this post pretty much sums up our lives over the past month. Here's what we've been up to:

*3/6-8: took a trip to Grand Island/Lincoln for our niece's 4th birthday (happy late b-day Alexis!)
*3/13-14: to Lincoln to watch one of my students compete in Poetry Out Loud
*3/17: Nate had a 9-12 choir concert
*3/19-20: state speech at UNK (we took 12 kids...almost all of them were double entered and we came home with 3 medals!)
*3/20-21: Nate hosted Southwest Conference Fine Arts Festival (my old choir director...Fred Ritter...who also happens to be my best friend's dad was the clinician for the choir! Celeste and Scott came to stay with us that night :)
*3/24: Nate had a 6-8 choir concert
*3/28: Nate hosted a middle school music contest
*Monday nights: practice with the youth praise band
*Tuesday nights: class
*Wednesday nights: play for youth group

On top of all of this we have been trying to get a youth praise band together at our church to play for youth group on Wednesday nights, I'm taking a grad. course, and starting next week...we will be Sunday school teachers! Whew! Needless to say, we are READY for summer!!! Although it seems like we are gone so much, I wouldn't change it for the world. I'm so happy we have the opportunities to get involved with the youth in our community. Anyway...feel free to check out the photos!

Lincoln-land

On Friday, Nate and I made the voyage to Lincoln because I had a student competing at the state level for Poetry Out Loud. Though this did have a little bit of work involved for me, we did get to have some fun :) Nate and I got to have coffee with one of my best friends, Hannah. Hannah is getting married in August so we went to David's Bridal so I could see her beautiful wedding dress and be fitted for my bridesmaid dress. I was so thankful for the time we had to chat :)

We also spent some time with my sister-in-law Amy and our niece, Denelle. Here is a photo of us from lunch at Noodles :) It is always a fun time with the Nebesniaks...Denelle is a gorgeous and funny little girl. I think she is going to be quite the heartbreaker when she is a teenager!

Who Am I Fooling?

Today and tomorrow I do not have school due to spring break :) It is a much needed break! I thought I would take the time to spend some good quality time in the Word. I don't crack my bible open much, I usually listen to an audio bible on the way to school....so it was nice to actually get to read for a chance. Anyway...I knew wanted to read some scripture on God's promises. So, I googled "verses on God's promises" and this search gave me a good start to begin looking for specific verses. One piece of scripture the search revealed was a passage from 1 Kings...I have never read 1 Kings before, so I turned to this one first. I came upon a verse that I really needed. I love how God reveals just the perfect verse!

“Let your heart therefore be loyal to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and keep His commandments as at this day.” -1 Kings 8:61

Like I posted last week, my bible has excellent footnotes which I rely on to help me understand difficult passages. The compilers/editors of my bible wrote:

Steps to Dynamic Devotion: Make no mistake about it: God gives special recognition to those whose hearts are wholly His. To believe that casual devotion to God is as blessed as whole-hearted devotion is self-deception.
-AND-
Be assured that the Lord's promises are for those whose hearts are fully committed to Him and His ways. Examine yourself for any lukewarmness you need to confess.

After reading all of this, I felt so convicted. I immediately thought, 'who are you fooling?' My heart has NOT been centered on Christ and on His power. I've prayed quite frequently the last few months, but my prayers and my heart have been so self-centered. I've been so focused on wanting my will to come true, not God's. I have led a life of casual devotion to God. Yesterday I had a breakdown...I was so hopeless and was hurting so badly...I have never had as much inner anguish as I had last night. But after reading and praying today, it feels as though a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. It is now that I need to fully commit my heart to Him and His ways because He is worthy of a committed heart. This is a simple truth that I should know...how blinded we can be when we consume ourselves with ourselves. Praise God for His grace.

While I'm Waiting

As I've posted before, song lyrics, poems, and other forms of literature are really inspiring to me (perhaps that is why I enjoy teaching English so much). Because of some trying situations I've encountered this year, I truly believe that God is teaching me patience and to desire His will and not my own. This has been a difficult learning experience. But, I have once again found a song that I can identify with to make this time in my life a little easier. The song"While I'm Waiting" by John Waller is frequent on Christian radio and appeared on the movie Fireproof. The song has a great message about patience and what to do while we are waiting on God's promises for our lives.

While I'm Waiting
I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord

Hope

This year has been a pretty rough year for a number of reasons. I won't go into detail, but the other day I sent an email out to two of my greatest friends- Hannah and Celeste (we have been close friends since high school and still keep in touch, sending one another emails a few times a week). I was having a rough week, so I spilled my guts in this email...laid it all on the line and explained everything that seemed to be going wrong. Of course they emailed me back right away with great advice :) Celeste had mentioned having hope and an open heart. So today I decided to look through scripture for verses on hope. One that really stuck out to me is Romans 5:3-5:

"And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

My Bible has excellent footnotes and broke the verses down like this:

When we (as believers) go through tough times, hope of receiving what God has promised grows stronger. And, we know that hope of great future blessings will not turn out to be false, because the Holy Spirit lays God's love on our hearts.

Though it is difficult, I am trying to be hopeful. To place my hope in Christ and not material things. I am sure that if I can hold on to this hope and surround my life in it, things will begin to become easier to handle.