Quenching the Thirst

On Monday i taught my Bible study about our thirst for God. I had been preparing for it for a few weeks and knew it was going to be great!

But little did i know how much of an impact it was going to have, not only on the kids, but on me as well.

The Bible study was centered around the story of Jesus walking on water with Peter in matthew 14:22-33. I talked about the power of water, how it can be dangerous and safe, and then started talking about quenching the thirst in our souls. My slogan for the study was Sink or Swim. I said that many people try to quench their soul's thirst for God with sin (the first 3 letters of sink) but that we need to use the k in sink to keep our eyes on Jesus (my mommy helped me come up with that part). I read the story to the kids and talked about how Peter doubted Christ, he looked down and sank as a result. We talked about how the only way we aren't going to sink in life is if we keep our eyes on Jesus.

We also talked about how, in the story, Jesus reaches out to Peter and saves him.  I am building trust with these kids, and i know it is going to help a lot when i teach them how to swim. Some of them, i think, are really scared of the water, so it will be  a big step for them to trust me entirely while we are in the water together.

Finally i talked about how the Holy Spirit in our souls, is like water for our body. It hydrates us and refreshes us constantly, but we have to choose to swallow, we have to make the choice to let it enter us fully. I challenged the kids for the next two weeks (until we go swimming) to say a short prayer every time they drink water. That way they are hydrating not only their bodies, but their souls as well.

Afterwards i got a great response from the kids. Many of them told me that they learned a lot from the lesson. It was cool also to see my words echo back to me in facebook status's from some of the kids.


This water lesson also helped me a lot too. Here in Mexico my life is more dangerous than it was in the states. Instead of crossing quiet 130th twice a day to go to and from school, here i have to cross a 5 lane highway 5 or 6 times a day. In the states i can drive everywhere, so i never have to worry about the dangers of walking. Here i walk almost everywhere and have plenty of reasons to be afraid. Even when i have an escort i am still really cautious about the people around us.  Here even some of the food i eat can be dangerous, unlike in the states where i have no fear whatsoever when it comes to food. Because my life here is more dangerous, it should be really hard on me, but it has actually been pretty easy. Why??? Because i have been SATURATING my days with prayer!!!!! God is showing me that the more of my day i fill with prayer, the less i have to worry about, and my days go SO much better!!!

I use the 15 minute walk to NOE to pray about my classes and the kids in them, randomly throughout the day when i think about someone at home i pray for them, i pray every time one of the guys walks home alone at night, i pray before and about every Bible study, and at night i pray for everyone here and at home.  Prayer is helping me here in so many ways!!!!! I am filled with a peace all the time that i have never experienced before!!! Normally in situations like this i would be really nervous all the time, but i walk down the street with confidence because God is hydrating my soul with his peace!!! I even sleep better here, i no longer thrash in my sleep, every morning when i wake up my blankets look exactly the same as they did when i went to bed. It is such a blessing!!!

God is changing me in so many ways here!!! I am being hydrated by him more and more every day, and even though this process is happening in the midst of scorching sun, i am loving every minute of it!!!!!!