The Small Branch

"When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, You knew my path." Psalm 142:3a      I'm not gonna lie, I am totally overwhelmed right now.  I am teaching a class I have never taught and it isn't working to line up with the textbook I have (not to mention the five other classes, which are three more preps, that I am teaching).  I am taking one very reading assignment/write papers heavy graduate class and another one that requires time in my classroom as well as analysis afterward.  We are getting ready to move and trying to sell our house.  I still have three kids at home (and one getting ready to deploy) who play sports, have music lessons and activities, and have schoolwork of their own.  BSF starts next week, which I love, but it does add to my schedule.  My husband travels.  I'm overwhelmed.  But, ya know what?  God knows my path.  He knows where I am, where I have been, and where I am headed.  He's already been there ahead of me.  He's prepped the path

     Sometimes, letting go is so hard.  As my children get older, they have to choose their own paths.  I don't always agree with their choices.  Some of their choices actually scare me.  But I can't make those choices for them and, as much as I hate it, they are just as human as I am.  I think of all the mistakes, some of them life altering, I made in my teens and twenties.  Yet, I am still here, loving Jesus with everything in me.  Even when I have slipped over and over, I don't fall.  "Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; Yes, our God is compassionate." (Psalm 116:5)  So I pray for my children and love them no matter what.  I pray that they will love Jesus more than anything and they will be able to get back on the right path when they stray.  I have to release them to the One who loves them even more than I do, and, as they get older, I have to release them more and more often.      Something to add:  This morning as I was talking to Jesus, I was deeply convi