Principle of the Path

Booksneeze.com sent me "The Principle of the Path" by Andy Stanley for free to review. I would have to say it is probably the most inspiring and life changing book I have ever read. Stanley talks about how we have the choice which path we want to walk down. We sometimes choose the right path and other times choose the not so right path. He is blatantly honest about how we decide to stay on the wrong paths just because we are comfortable with them. We are happy for the time being or we just make excuses for staying where we are.

This book made me take a closer look at the paths I am currently taking. It taught me that you can't really listen to your heart as people say to do. The book also includes a life-application study guide in the back. I would highly recommend this book to anyone!

Glee

Just wanted to post a couple Glee songs because I loved the last episode so much. I can relate to a song almost every week!

Lessons Learned

I recently decided that I am going to take on grad school at NC State in the Fall.  I want to get a Master's in Special Education.  The only thing that is holding me back a little is finances.  It's really tough having to deal with getting loans, trying to find a job in Raleigh and looking for an apartment. It will definitely be a big expense but I don't see a better time than now to get my Master's.  I have been wanting to go back to school for a while so I really think the time is right.  I've come to learn that you have to really take the initiative to do whatever makes yourself happy, because you are the only one who knows what that will be. I don't think anyone else would have talked to me about going to graduate school or doing anything other than just staying right where I am at. I don't know what I was waiting on before but this is something that I really want to do for myself and I'm proud of myself for doing it all on my own.
Other things have changed in my life recently too, such as no longer having a boyfriend.  The worst part of the whole thing is realizing how much time was wasted.  Every time that I think something is going well it ends up falling apart.  So I guess I need to stop getting attached too easily and stop getting my hopes up about any future possibilities with someone until I have dated them for years.  This time I'm not really upset though.  I just really wish that guys would show there true self earlier on in the relationship.  Anyway, I'm happy to have found out that it wasn't going to work before getting any farther.  Now I have grad school I can focus on and look forward to. 

Never Give Up

This month has been really tough for me. I don't really show it but there have been several times when I have wanted to give up. With a new job and starting to become more independent things just keep popping up and making life difficult. I love teaching so it's not just the new job, it's many other things.  It doesn't matter how nice or how hard I try I still get disappointed. Maybe my expectations are too high because of how excited I was about a brand new start.  There are times I wish I could just take a break away from everything for a while, but I know when I were to come back everything would still be here.  Hopefully things will be easier when I start a new job in August and start teaching at the beginning of a school year. I just like knowing what the future holds and lately everything has been so uncertain.  What I thought was one good constant in my life ending up not being what I thought it was.  There should really be a limit to how many times a person can be disappointed.  But even though I'm disappointed with the way some things are going now, I'm not giving up on what is important to me.  There is no way for me to see what the future holds, all I can do is pray about it.

Spring Break?

I need a Spring break so bad! Too bad we only get 2 days for Spring break, Good Friday and Easter Monday.  I am just so exhausted and these past two weeks have been pretty stressful.  All I want to do when  I come home is take a nap but I don't have time for a nap.  I've been working at school till almost 6 and then coming home to finish grading until 9 or so.  The good thing is that weeks go by pretty quickly for me.  That is one reason why I love being a teacher, you are constantly busy so there is never any time for boredom.  My students took a practice EOG and I am now working on making them packets to review with each day until we take the EOG.  I'm excited to see how they will do on the real EOG.  It's amazing how much of yourself you can invest in your students.  It is almost like they are your own kids because you want so badly for each one of them to succeed.
I've been doing good working out this week.  It has been so nice to go out and run in the beautiful weather. After running I try to sit down and pray outside.  The peacefulness of being outside is just an awesome feeling.  I am soon going to be getting a Y membership.  I went to a class yesterday with Dean's sister.  It was pretty fun and I could tell it would make me stronger.  Well I am about to fall asleep typing this so I am going to take a quick 30 minute nap! 

John 3:16

Today is March 16th (3-16) so it's the perfect day to share John 3:16 with someone. 

 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Jesus Christ died to pay for all of our sins.
He was raised by God on the third day.
He was seen by more than 500 people after the resurrection.
40 days later, he ascended to heaven.

All who place their faith in Jesus will become children of God. 

What great news!

Praxis

I took the Praxis yesterday so the stress of having to study for it is now over, at least hopefully if I passed it.  It was definitely the hardest test I have ever taken but I think I did alright. I won't know if I passed or not for 4 weeks but I am definitely not stressing over it.  I had to go to UNCG to take the test and just being on a college campus made me miss being in school.  I hope to go back to college and get my Master's degree in the next few years.  Until then, I'm probably going to look for a continuing education class I can take, especially during the Summer.
On another note, I've been going to Community Church North on Sunday's and I love it.  The music is so uplifting and so are the sermons.  Here is one of my favorite songs that they sing: