Listen to me, I am trying to teach you something!

Oh my goodness, God has spoken to me so much these last couple of days... I just need to write everything down to try to process all of it. He keeps saying, "Listen to me, I am trying to teach you something!"
This morning, before church, I got a really encouraging email from someone I haven't talked to in years. The author said she will pray for my family and all the things going on. I can't even tell you how much that means to me, that she would care about these complete strangers. And on top of that, it reminded me that I need to keep my word when I say I will pray for someone. I generally do, but sometimes I forget (if I am being honest) and then feel really guilty the next time I see the person. God was just telling me to go to Him in prayer whenever I can and keep my promises to pray for those who I tell I will pray for.
In church we talked about prayer, too. (Do you see why I think God is speaking to me?) The point was that we should go to Him in prayer for EVERYTHING, ALWAYS. The passage was Luke 18:1-8 and it told the parable of a widow who kept going to see a judge and he finally got so fed up with seeing her that he granted her what she wanted. The point was that if this judge, "who didn't care for God or man," would grant this woman justice, how much more quickly will God, who loves us and cares for us so much? A lot of people get frustrated and give up on God and prayer because they don't think it "works" the way they want it to or expect it to. Prayer does not change God... it changes us and helps us to think more like God and better understand His purpose. Prayer keeps hope alive. Prayer gives us somewhere to go when there is nowhere else to turn (not that it should be a last resort, but it is the only resort). And we should pray because God cares! He wants to grow closer to us and He wants us to seek Him with everything we have. This message really spoke to me because I have not been very good about praying about all the things that are going on in my life. I pray about it every once in a while and then I get discouraged because nothing is changing. I have realized it is about God's timing, NOT MINE! Just because my prayers won't change God's mind does not mean that I should stop praying, and I realize that now.
Earlier this week I was thinking about some of those verses I grew up memorizing, and I realized they are really important, especially right now. I'll give you a couple of examples:
Romans 8:28- And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Seeing what my cousin and her family are going through with this cancer monster is really putting things into perspective for me, but seeing how they are handling this has really made me see that good can come from this. My cousin may accept Christ through all this when she realizes it is His mercy that allowed the doctors to find the answer so quickly and that there are all these people who care about her. Also, my sister's situation... what good can come from that? Well when I think about the nephew I already have I get so happy and overjoyed with the idea of getting to spend time with him and see him grow up. I didn't think there was anything good that could have come out of the last situation but it did, and he is almost two. I have to keep that in mind when I wonder how things can possibly be "good" now that she is going to have a second child, on her own. There is a reason people say, "God only knows."
Matthes 6:34- So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Jason still doesn't have a job, and time is running short because we are for sure moving in May. He doesn't even have a prospective job because everywhere is in the middle of a hiring freeze back home. It is so frustrating, especially for him, because he wants us to be able to buy a house and be completely self-sufficient, but at the moment that is not possible. I know we will have a place to live (maybe with his parents, but at least it is a roof over our head) and we will be surrounded by family, which is where we need to be, so I am not terribly worried about it. I am worried, however, that I am going to be a terrible teacher because I do not know enough Spanish to speak it all day long to a group of 25 kids... I am trying really hard to trust that God is going to give me the knowledge to do that since He called me to this profession, but I keep thinking there is more I should be doing. Again, I have to keep praying about it!
So there you go. That is how God has been speaking to me recently. Actually, He has basically slapped me in the face with everything because apparently I am dense. I have to keep my ears and heart open to Him because I want to live like He wants me to live. I need to have Him in the forefront of my mind at all times, and continually talk to Him. Please pray that I would be able to do that!