Coming Up . . .

Hey,

Just to let you know that I have officially passed both my Numeracy and Literacy professional skills tests, which are tests you need to pass to become a teacher. Now that I have passed them, I only need to find somewhere to live and I will be ready to start my course in September. This also means that I can catch up on my blog, over the summer as well as going on holiday and enjoying myself.

So here are what is to come on my blog:

Education:

• Passing the Professional Skills Tests (QTS)
• The Troubled Child
• Teaching, Supporting and Managing the Neurodiverse Classroom
• Disney's Educational programme
• the 3 R's ; Reading, Writing and Radio
• Out of Our Minds
• The Meaning of Art for Children

Media:

• Beauty and the Beast (2017)
• Descendants 2

Life:

• Camping
• Family Fun Day

Any comments or questions please use the contact box

Amy x

Doubting Thomas

Hey,

Sorry late post again but have been busy revising. So this past week at church Andy came in to talk about his time in India. This meant that after some songs he got us to fill in a sheet of questions about India before him talking about his time there. However, the last question was about teaching as we are looking at Jesus as a teacher. The question was . . .

In your opinion, What are the five most important traits a teacher can have?

I put Understanding, patients, passion, to teach and authority.

He then went on to talk about the topic of the service which was doubting Thomas. In the Sound of Music their head sister said, "I always tried to keep faith in my doubts". In this case the doubt was Maria who was overcome by the beauty of the world around her she was always late and never where she needed to be.

Many people have come out and freely said that they have doubts, here are some examples: Martin Luther King, CS Lewis, Mother Teresa and even Pope Francis who said

"who among us – everybody, everybody – who among us has not experienced insecurity, loss and even doubt on their journey of faith? Everyone! We've all experienced this, even me. This is part of our journey of faith, it is part of our lives. This should not surprise us because we are human beings marked by imperfections. We are all week, we all have limits: do not worry we all have them."

Now let's look at teachers in general before looking at Jesus as our teacher and saviour. Teachers have to create relationships with pupils so that they can understand them, gain their trust, to be able to calm them down. Teachers need to be able to changed their approach in teaching with different children as we are all very different and unique people. A teacher has to create an environment in which the pupils have the confidence to make mistakes so that they can learn and feel free to show what they have already learnt therefore the teacher will have a greater understanding of the pupils ability. The teacher needs to be calm and patient as they will have to repeat what they've already taught as pupils can make mistakes and they may misbehave. Now looking at Jesus we have to remember that he had been with his disciples who were his pupils for 3 years teaching them about God.

Andy also spoke about senses when looking at what Jesus taught us. I'm sure that everyone knows that in ‘Genesis 3’ Adam and Eve were told not to eat the apple from the forbidden tree but still Eve disobeyed God and took an apple from that tree, she just couldn't help but touch and taste the fruit from that tree. Now if we look at our lives, when you go into a restaurant and the waiter tells you that the plate is hot, you still touched the plate and find out that it is indeed hot. You needed to touch it to confirm that what you've been told was true.

Now we look at John 20:1 - 31 as this shows through our senses that the disciples begin to recognise their teacher who had risen.

John 20:3 – 8

"So, Peter and the other disciples started for the tomb. Both are running, but the other disciple outrun Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along beside him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus' head. The cloth is still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally, the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed."

 Peter and John completely believed although they didn't understand what had happened, but they did believe.

John 20:11 – 18

“Now Mary is outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?' 'They have taken my Lord away,' she said, 'and I don't know where they have put him. 'At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realise that it was Jesus. He asked her, 'Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?' Thinking he was the gardener, she said, 'Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you had put him, and I will get him. 'Jesus said to her, 'Mary.' She turned towards him and cried out in Aramaic, 'Rabbi! (Which means teacher). Jesus said, 'do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go inside to my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascended to my Father and your father to my God and your God.' Mary went to disciples with the news: 'I have seen the Lord!' And she told them that he had said these things to her.”

Mary needed to hear his voice in order to believe.

John 20:19 – 23

"On the evening of the first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'peace be with you!' After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again, Jesus said, 'peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.' And with that he breathed on them and said, 'receives the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.'"

The other disciples needed to see the Lord, their teacher, in order to believe.

John 20:24 – 29

"Now Thomas, one of the twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, 'we have seen the Lord!' But he said to them, 'Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.' A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'peace be with you!' Then he said to Thomas, 'put your hand here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.' Thomas said to him, 'My Lord my God!' Then Jesus told him. 'Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed of those who have not seen and yet have believed.'"

Thomas needed to see and touch him to believe, which Jesus knew as his teacher. Jesus then continued to teach by saying to Thomas stop doubting. Through these verses you can see how much joy Thomas has once he understands that Jesus is in front of him. In the Bible, it states that by 'believing in me you will have love everlasting' therefore by believing in him will have joy. Throughout the Bible Thomas questions Jesus in a way so he can understand, Jesus said to Thomas 'I am the way to the father.'

The servers ended by saying 'peace be with you' and prayer. The prayer was thanking Jesus for being a great leader and teaching us as well as asking him to transform our doubt in to faith. We then ended by repeating Thomas's words 'My Lord, my God!'

Songs

There is not much to say about these songs except that to me they are traditional as I have heard them since I was a child and I love them.

Lord Reign in Me

In Christ Alone

O Praise his Name

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it,

Please use the contact box for any questions or comments

Amy x

Prayer

Hey,

Sorry late post again, but anyway . . .

On the 9^th of July which was a Sunday, therefore I went to church with my family excluding my sister as she didn’t want to come.

This service started with Gill giving a talk about ‘Hebrews 12’. . .

Hebrews 12:1-2

“Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”


You need to run the race set out for you until the end no matter how many obstacles are in the way and by fixing yourself to a goal you will get there. Christianity is a long race but remember that we need to encourage each other.

What is the REAL prize?

It is seeing those around us become effected by God’s grace and spirit.

After a break for songs, which I will discuss later on in this post, Phil started his talk, the main talk, by reading from Hebrews 12 . . .

Hebrews 12 3-11

“Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, ‘My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.’ Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined - and everyone undergoes discipline - then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

We need to be patient and focus on Jesus and try not to get distracted by the things that surround us in Life.

Phil then continued by sharing a prayer, that he later spoke about verse by verse. This was basically talking about what we should pray for in our time with God. So here is the prayer verse by verse;

Priest (P): O Lord, shew thy mercy upon us

Answer (A): and grant us thy salvation

P: O Lord, Save the Queen
A: and mercifully hear us when we call upon thee

At Christmas time, the Queen spelt out her faith in her speech when she spoke about how this time is a time to remember that Jesus died for us. At the time of the Gerwell fire, the Queen went to sleep with those affected by it.

P: Endure thy Ministers with righteousness
A: and make thy chosen people joyful

There are many questions in government about the persecutions of Christians around the world, which is good that many are thinking about it and maybe a way in which it could be stopped. We should be thankful for free speech and the freedom to vote as there are hundreds that don’t have that.

P: O Lord, save thy people

A: and bless thine inheritance

People don’t see all that Christians have done through: charities, working with hospitals, working in schools and so much more.

P: Give peace in our time, O Lord
A: because there is none other the fighteth for us, but only thou, O Lord

We should be thankful that never has there been 70 years of peace as we have seen in this time.

P: O God, make clean our hearts within us
A: and take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

2 Timothy 4:3-4

“For the time will come doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather round them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

We don’t want to carry things when running a race, and it is the same with our faith. Get rid of stuff that way down your faith so that you can endure what God asks of you.

Prayer

At the end of this service, we prayed for: the places that are not in peace; those who are ill, and in suffering, and that they have a healing hand as well as a sense of peace; and thank those working for us, and give them guidance. We ended the service by saying the Lord’s prayer that was then followed by the song ‘Amazing Grace’, a great way to end the service.

Songs

It is well with my Soul

I haven’t heard this song in a while and I feel that it was a great way to begin the service.

O Praise his Name

I also haven’t heard this is in a while, which is a shame as it is an amazing, inspirational song. I feel that this song is all about casting your sin to him so he can forgive, as well as putting your trust in him so that he can show you the way along your path.

My Guardian

For me this is a traditional song as I have heard it since I was little, and therefore is emotional to me not only through the message of God, but also how I have grown up listening to it. I feel that the message of this song is about Jesus leading us, but also looking after us and defending us as he guides us on our journey.

Here is Love (Grace take my sin)

I haven’t heard this song since I was little and therefore didn’t remember it until half way through. I found it nice, to be reminded of the song as well as my childhood. I feel the message of this song is all about how great God’s love is for us and how God takes our sin by his son, Jesus, dying on the cross so that we could live free of the consequence of sin.

No Longer Slaves

This is one of my favourite songs which I originally heard at my church in Plymouth, PCC (Plymouth Christian Centre). I found this song even more inspirational as at the time I was and still am getting ready to face my last attempt on passing my professional skills tests. However, there is good news as I passed Maths this Tuesday so now just English to focus on.

Prayers for this English test on Saturday would be appreciated

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it,

Any comments or questions don’t be afraid to use the contact box

Amy x