Miss Conception

    When I was a child, we always had Sunday breakfast together as a family before we would all go to church. My dad wasn't much of a talker. (I think it was mostly from years of my mother cutting down just about everything he said.) Anyhow, when I would come to the breakfast table my dad would always say, "Here she is Miss _________" and he would fill in the blank with something funny like: Miss Ellanious, Miss Chevious, Miss Terious, or whatever would work together with "miss" as the prefix.
However, I never recall him saying "Here she is Miss conception". It would have sounded really weird if he had and my child-like mind at the time would not have been able to figure out what it meant. Now as an adult, I would love to hear him say it, especially this morning because that is exactly how I felt after attending a wedding last evening.
    We were invited to a wedding for the daughter of a family that had left our church years ago. I don't think they left for the best of reasons, but I hold absolutely no ill feelings towards them at all. My daughter and I were delighted to go to the wedding. I thought it would be nice to see old friends once again. What surprised me the most was how many times these old friends told me that they were surprised that I would come. Wow, did I ever hear my dad say (in my head, of course) "Here she is Miss Conception." Somehow, they had gotten the wrong idea about me for some reason. 
    I once attending the church where this wedding was held. I was a very active member there from 1976-1980. I met my beloved husband there and together we served the Lord. We left the church after some painful interactions with the pastor. We were young and didn't know how to correctly deal with the conflict, so after a year of these painful interactions, we left that church, and we joined the church that we now attend. For the last 29 years we have served in our church and have grown spiritually by leaps and bounds. It hasn't always been without its own issues, and there have been times when we were tempted to just up and leave this church too, but never did we have the Lord's blessing. So, we have stayed, and God has blessed us richly because of it.
    When Jerry and I got married, it was for life. When things got rough and we were tempted to walk away, it was commitment that kept us going. It is the same way with our church membership. We are commited to the Lord and to His church. If there are problems, we seek the Lord and His will, and try to do what God would want us to do.
    Do I fault the folks who left our church years ago? Do I hold any bad feelings towards them? Not in the least. I am just so thankful to God that these folks still love and serve the Lord. I know of way too many people who have left not only the church, but also our Saviour, and are now living only for themselves.
    I am glad that I went to this wedding. It was good to see old friends again. And I hope that Miss Conception can go away and never come back again.

My Job

    Yes, I do have the best job in the world. Why? Because it is my ministry. I work as a Para-Educator at an elementary school nearby. I have worked there for four years and love it. Monday, June 16th, marks the end of another year and it has been my best so far. I have been blessed to work with two wonderful teachers who have trusted me and allowed me to work with all of their students. The first two teachers I with whom I worked, were not so sure how to handle having another adult in their classroom and only wanted me to work with the one student to whom I had been assigned.
    I was hired to work with one child who needed a lot of physical assistance, but this year I was assigned to him and his brother. It made my days very busy and I had to be extremely organized. Once I got the routine down, I was able to expand my job and work with many other students. It was my dream come true.
    Ever since I can remember I have wanted to be a teacher and this job is as close as I now want to come. A couple of years ago I considered going on and getting my degree and teaching certificate, but once I realized all of the "junk" teachers have to put up with, I realized how blessed I am in my job. I get to have all the "fun" and don't have to worry about all the "politics".
    God's Word says to delight ourselves in the Lord and He shall give us the desires of our heart. He has truly done that for me. Yes, it took many years for my desire to be fulfilled, but I am so thankful that God allowed me to become a Para when He was ready for me to be one. He knew that I would have a daughter that would need me to be close for much longer than normal. He knew that I would have some mental issues that would need to be dealt with before He could ever use me as His "minister". The Lord is worthy of all trust.
    My job title may be Para-Educator, but I truly believe that my job is a ministry from the Lord to meet the needs of the children that He allows me to minister to. He loves them through me and I am so grateful.