Middle School Advancement

Gold Apple Award is for those who have earned 4.0 GPA the entire time at middle school.

My oldest finished middle school.  For the past two weeks, I can’t help but to stop and look back at his past three years in middle school and a felt a sense of thankfulness to God for all the blessings.  It was like yesterday that I dropped him off to his first day of middle school.  I was so afraid.  I felt like I was releasing him to the wild or dropping him off to a pack of wolves.  He was so little, so innocent, so pure, and so kind.  I was afraid that he would be destroyed, bullied, and perhaps worst yet, ignored.  There was nothing I can do but to pray for him.  I pray for him daily and I meet weekly through Moms in Prayer group to pray for my children.  You see, C is extremely quite and introverted.  

I pray that he would have friends to eat lunch with, that he would see and love people through the lens of the Creator God, that he would learn what is right and wrong, that he would excel academically, that he would be confident in who God created him to be, that he would discover his God given talent, and that other adults would take an interest in his life and be his mentor.  

Jesus is really a loving God who seeks to bless those to trust Him.  Many of my prayers were answered.  C had one faithful friend from elementary school that stuck with him through middle school who appreciated and accepted him for who he is.  But C also made new friends.  C soon realized that kids have different background and may come from difficult family situations.  In our mission trip to AZ, he saw that not all kids live the way we live and some kids don’t have anyone to look after them.  His heart began to soften and he chose to go back this summer to AZ to help.  Through his participation in community service for CJSF, he really enjoyed serving and helping people.  This is huge because he has a hard time talking to people and rather be home than go out.  Through God’s grace, he developed a very strong sense of right and wrong.  He won’t jay walk, use hurtful language, tell white lies, or do things we told him not to.  Academically, he has excelled all on his own achieving 4.0 all three years.  I never once had to help him with any school work.  Well, maybe just asking him if he had homework from time to time.  We also discovered his talent in music.  He is no Mozart, but he is pretty good for his age.  He likes to improvise and play songs his way on the piano.  At age 13, he was able to play in front of church helping on the worship team.  Being in a band, synching with other instruments, transposing to a different key, and improvising at the same time is no easy task.  

How can I not be overwhelmed with thankfulness when God had so graciously blessed him with so many blessings in the middle school?  God is so good.  The Lord has even gone beyond my expectations and helped him grow to be more responsible.  Every morning he prepares breakfast for his siblings and every Wednesday because he got off school early, he picked-up Karissa for me.  He did it without reminder and didn’t even forget once, even though her schedule did change a few times.  The Lord has not answered all of my prayers, but I have faith that in time He will.  He has answered enough to show me that He is at work in C’s life.  

There are many people who excel in areas such as sport, music, academic, or even socially at a very early age.  When we talk about those with such talents, people normally praise the person with exceptional skills and rave about how good they are.  For some of us, including myself, our skills and talents develop slowly, so very slowly.  Most of the time, the development of our skills and talents require overcoming some weaknesses and a dedication to hard work.  In Jesus Christ, we have the power to overcome our weaknesses and turn them into strengths.  When we rely on Jesus and our skills and talents emerge from our weaknesses, all the praise and glory are given to Him.  He can turn a coal into a diamond.  From that perspective, I rather be the one who’s slow at developing her talent so that people can see how amazing my Jesus really is.  I used to wish that my children are child prodigies, but now I appreciate the many small achievements they made as Jesus is molding them into diamonds.  

My dear C, I love you with all my heart.  I am so proud of the young man you are becoming.  Although it is very hard for you to break out of your shell and it’s very uncomfortable, I see that you are making an effort.  God, and your parents, are there with you through every transitions and He will reward you for your faith and sacrifice.  May you love Jesus more and more each day and may He use you to show His love to the world.