My Funny Kiddos

Enjoy this conversation between our speech therapist and a first grade student. This is basically every conversation had with him...

SLP:                What do you want to be when you grow up?

Student:          Uh, I want to be a spy.

SLP:                Tell me about that.

Student:          I don’t want money.  I just want to be a spy.

SLP:                You don’t want to make money?

Student:          I want to be rich when I grow up.  I’m gonna let my mom have my other house

SLP:                What do you mean by your other house?

Student:          I’m gonna buy me a house where she goes and I’m gonna have another house.

SLP:                Tell me about your family.

Student:          My dad used to be a cop.  He is still an undercover cop.  He works at a store.  He has another job where they have a deep freezer.  My mom works at McDonald’s.  She brings home cookies.  My sister is big.  She bosses me around.  She likes to sleep in my bed.  She makes me do her dirty work.

SLP:                What do you mean by that?

Student:          Like pick up her clothes.  I’m not going to do that anymore. 

SLP:                What do you like to do for fun?

Student:          We like to take trips like visit our cousins.  We go to the park.  Me and my dad ride bikes.  We go to the store.  We ride around in the car together.          

SLP:                Do you have a pet?

Student:          No I want a pet, like a dog or a goldfish or a Chihuahua or a parrot.  I’m gonna

Get a goldfish cause they say a dog’s gonna eat me up.  They don’t think I’m gonna take care of my dog.  They don’t trust me.  They think I’m gonna tell my dog to eat up my enemy’s clothes.  What kind of person does that?

SLP:                If you had 3 wishes, what would they be?

Student:          To be rich, have a happy family, not a bossy mother, and a dad that doesn’t whip

Me, and my sister not to make me do her dirty work.  To have my dad not have a mustache and my sister and my mom to have their toes pretty, painted pink or light pink.  That’s it!

You know it's time to go to bed when...drum roll please... you put your dirty dishes in the fridge!

Sympathy

It's finally November! This means that the countdown to Thanksgiving break is getting smaller and temporary relief is within reach.

This week has been rough. I have a lot more responsibility at work this year including training a co-teacher, a larger caseload, teaching more kids with significant disabilities, and managing and training 3 para-educators. It is flattering that they think I'm capable of handling this responsibility and yet completely overwhelming. My major frustrations are not having enough time to do everything I should be doing for my job, needing more staff, and ultimately, having staff that is not implementing what I ask them to do.

I hate conflict and as you know, am very soft spoken. This does not bode well when trying to re-teach paras who are older, strong-tempered, black women and have been able to get by with doing their job half-heartedly before I came along. At first glance, you might think that everything is fine because they say all the right things to my face but they have continued to show a lack of respect for my opinions and experience by complaining to others behind my back and not following through on my instruction. These are women who absolutely love our kids and have strengths that make them good at certain tasks required of them but I'm on year 3 now of fighting the same battles and I'm exhausted. I've talked with administration and they have the same concerns. They are supportive of the next steps that need to be taken so it is not all terrible.

The point of that whole story is that it brought me to think of my students who have been fighting the same battles for years as well and how frustrated they must be. There is one specific student I have in mind. He is 5 years old with limited speech abilities, among other things (and yet has perfected his ability to say the F-bomb--go figure). When I think about all of his inappropriate behavior I can sympathize with the reasons behind it. He is a bright kid and yet hardly anyone can understand him. How maddening this must be! He knows exactly what he's trying to say but people can hardly ever figure it out.

In honor of my kiddos and God who has given me all that I need in eternal life with Him, I am going to make a point to daily focus on what I have to be thankful for and it starts now.
I am thankful for:
1. Salvation in Christ.
2. That my identity does not rest in my job or others opinions of me.
3. That I have a job where I get to do what I love and am supported by administration.
4. My church family.
5. Encouraging friends and family.
6. Financial stability.
7. A washer and dryer! Yippee!!
8. Warm, sunny weather.
9. Being able to be physically active and take on new challenges.
and so much more!

Philippians 4:4-7 (ESV)
"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Isaac

Is it bad that I'm so excited about hurricane days? I already know the answer to that question but I'm still excited. Weekends have been almost non-existent for me with trying to keep up with planning, paperwork, and everyday fires that come up. To top it all off, last week I got a cold, stomach virus, and ringworm from my students. Bring on some hurricane days! Please don't think that I'm being insensitive. My heart hurts for people who are going through this and have been through Katrina. I'm sure there are many fears and memories surfacing. However, I'm excited about getting to reach out to neighbors this week. Please keep the city in your prayers. Pray for fears to be calmed, safety to be maintained, and neighbors to be brought closer together.

Wow

Last night I watched some of the highlights of the Olympics for the day. My favorite event was watching the running. Those people booked it! I think I need to keep video clips of them running to watch while I'm on the treadmill or before I go out for a run. They actually look like what I imagine I look like when I run. Haha. Not that I want to look like them but I admire their dedication. When the running is replayed in slow motion it looks like they are going at warp speed with their faces being pushed against their skull--whereas my pace is comparable to that of a tortoise. What great motivation to keep at it!

Now I'm off to run after kids on their first day back to school.

Life

A friend recently asked me to share my testimony with them so I thought I would share with you all too. This is how it goes:

My story is a true testament to God's grace. I'm so thankful when I look back and see how he has been at work in my life.

I asked God to live in my heart when I was 6 years old. I was blessed to grow up with Christian parents and an amazing church family. My parents were faithful in attending church. My mom was also faithful in having her quiet times in the morning and modeling repentance constantly. She even had my siblings and I do a mother’s day out program where we picked a mom to go help during the summer so that we could see other parents sinning and repenting.

When I was 13, I was in a car accident with my mom and 12 year old sister, Rachael. Rachael was killed on impact. Losing my sister was traumatic. This was the first point in my life where I really remember struggling with my faith. During high school, I looked to other things like relationships and food to find comfort and identity. At the end of high school, God began opening my eyes to recognize my idols and stripped me of a bad relationship I was in. I clung tightly to that relationship and it was hard to let it go. However, God was gracious by providing me with many other great relationships with Christian friends and another great church family when I went to college. In college I was struggling a lot with how to forgive myself for past sins. I didn’t really know what it meant to live by grace and not by works.

During the summer after my sophomore year of college, I interned at a church in Bay St Louis, MS and did hurricane relief work. It was a place of brokenness. The town, church facilities, and people living there were all hurting. Their philosophy was that it is okay to not be okay. That was a new concept for me. Being from the South, everyone is okay if you ask them--I was taken aback when people in MS actually responded with anything that was honest. They were being real and that scared me because I knew what my real self was like and I wasn't okay with showing it. We were also encouraged/forced to bring our grievances against others out into the open (they called it “festivus” in case you’re a Seinfeld fan). Even if you were good at pretending that you were okay, we were working and living in such close quarters that you were bound to be confronted about something. It was revitalizing to have people know your faults, even confront you about them, and experience grace and forgiveness from them instead of trying to hide your faults and pretend that you are fine. We were constantly being confronted with our sins then the gospel. It was incredible—I don’t really know how else to describe it. That summer was the first time that I felt myself let go of the sins from my past and move on. I felt so free.

During college, I lost a couple of other friends as well. One friend committed suicide and another friend was taken in a car accident. Losing so many people close to me has been something that I continue to struggle with. Since so much in my life was out of my control, I’ve tried that much harder to control things. I worry about a lot of things instead of trusting God to take care of it and use it for His glory. I am constantly working to hand things over to Him and it terrifies me. God is gracious though and continues to provide what is best for me even when I don’t know what it is. I see this in how he has saved me from past relationships, how he brought me to live in New Orleans when I didn’t want to, in providing my current job when I didn’t even want to work in a charter school, and how he is providing everything I need in order to start foster parenting.

God is good all the time!

Winding Down

My summer has officially come to an end. It's amazing how quickly it goes. I enjoyed all of my travels visiting family and friends. I feel blessed to be able to catch up with people during the summer because I am so bad at doing it during the school year.

When I got back to NOLA I was finally able to track down my home development worker. She came out and did my first home visit--just glanced around to make sure I had enough room for kids. Now she should be sending out my reference letters as I try to schedule my finger printing and wait for my last two home visits. The process probably won't be finished until the end of August at the earliest but I'm so excited that things are finally moving along again.

Visiting my friends with young children this summer provided some perspective on parenting. Illness, fidgety eaters, kids needing naps, poop...need I say more? These are all things that I know are realities of dealing with kids. I deal with these things with my students all the time but it freaks me out a bit knowing that I'll be dealing with it at home by myself too. Right now my fear is balanced by excitement. I pray that the excitement of ministering to these kiddos continues once the realities of parenting hits.

"Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success!" (Psalm 118:25 ESV)

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever" (Psalm 136:1 ESV)

There is a one year old in Athens that holds my heart in his hands. It was only this time last year that we were waiting in the hospital for him to make his grand appearance. Now he’s walking and talking! Since I first arrived for my visit we had been practicing my name and now he says it on his own. J I woke up from my Sunday nap (yes, I still take naps whenever I get a chance) to him playing in their living room and he said my name and waddled over to me. This was definitely the highlight of the weekend! When he says my name and toddles toward me with his arms held high, I am pretty sure I would do anything for him. If my sinful self feels this way when someone who is not my own child calls out my name, I can only imagine how much greater is the response of our Heavenly Father when we call out His name and run to Him with our arms held high.

Reality Check

Thanks to Quinn for this morning's sermon. It has the wheels turning...There were many great points made but I came away dwelling on one in particular.

¹² Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,  ¹³ for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
¹⁴ Do ALL things without grumbling or disputing, ¹⁵ that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, ¹⁶ holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. ¹⁷ Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. ¹⁸ Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me. (Phil. 2:12-18 ESV with emphasis added)

As I'm home visiting, many people ask how the job is going and it is easy to respond with the negatives. This year has been hard with having no classroom and inadequate staff supports--not to mention the home situations that my kids have been dealing with. It is easy to get caught up when in the midst of it all. This is when the grumbling begins. I find myself saying that if the school doesn't give me teaching space and more sped teaching staff, I will not stay to teach there. Deep in my heart I know this isn't true. I'm deeply invested in the lives of my students and others in the community.

Paul is a wonderful leader as he sets the example for those who are finding it difficult to persevere in our current situations. Even as he was in prison and facing death, he was willing to be a martyr so that he could be a light to the world. He was committed to the point of death so that others would be encouraged and God's kindom would be glorified. Of course, our ultimate example to follow is Christ's as he humbled himself as a servant and obeyed God to the point of death on a cross.

Right now I believe I am obeying God's will for me by being where I am and doing what I do. However, the job is hard. My joy in these hard times comes through remembering God's sovereignty and His grace shown to me. This joy is what sets me apart. With God's grace in mind I am given perspective on life's trials and reminded that I am striving for God's glory to be seen by all. I pray that despite my sin, God's glory shines through me and that I remember the grace that has been shown to me. I pray that this grace humbles me into putting others first and doing it with a cheerful heart.

Summer's here!

School is officially out and I am in vacation mode. My mormor (mother's mother), mom, and yougest sister came to stay a weekend with me in NOLA. Annika actually ended up staying nearly two weeks and riding the train back to Birmingham with me.

Having guests stay over was good practice for starting foster care. I had to be quiet when my mormor went to bed at 7pm and had to practice feeding someone other than just myself. "Oh, so you don't want hummus and green beans for dinner?" I did however manage to get Annika to eat creamy gnocchi with edamame and squash. Success!

Pictures of our students because I can't help but show them off. Love these guys!

Check out the bow coverage for kinder graduation

 So proud of them paying attention to the speaker!

Enjoying good food

 Riding the ferry with Annika

 Proof that she tried new foods

My new haircut! I started my summer doing things that I normally don't have time to do like getting my oil changed and a haircut. The stylist made my hair straight--something that I didn't think was possible--granted, it took over an hour... I'm scared how short it will be when it curls up because we all know that I will not be spending nearly an hour each day straightening my hair. No more pony tails for me.

 Annika and I visited a park and searched for LA wildlife. I was disappointed that we didn't see any gators but we saw some snakes and TONS of dragonflies. This is the walking trail view--gorgeous!

 My summer reading pile (not including audiobooks). I'm ready to lay by the pool and dig into these books :)

New Beginnings

For the past year and a half I have been intimately involved with helping out a student's family even to the point of having the student stay with me for several days. The short version is that their mom abandoned them a year and a half ago; they soon became homeless so their dad turned the kids over to the state; we helped dad fill out housing vouchers so he got his kids back when the housing came through; after a couple of months they had a house fire (reason is inconclusive); we tried to help again by providing temporary support so dad could turn the kids over to the state; however, he ended up just abandoning the kids with us so we had to turn them over to the state; the state found their aunt in Pennsylvania and this incredible woman is trying to adopt them; the aunt is their mom's sister so when the aunt told their mom about the adoption she decided to come back and try to fight for custody after having zero contact with them for 1 1/2 years.

The kids all flew to Pennsylvania to be with their aunt this past Friday and we will hear the final custody ruling from the judge on June 6. Please pray that God will give the judge wisdom and that she will rule to terminate parental rights. Also pray for the kids as they transition to a new home. They have been through so much in their short lifetime and I hope that this is the beginning of a typical childhood for them where they feel safe, carefree, loved, and nurtured. I miss them terribly.

This is the best smile for a picture that she has ever done. She was pumped to have those goggles!

Our little dinosaur--he often pretends that he is one.

Their amazing foster parents

Girlfriend is not shy of anyone or anything

Public School FAIL

This really exists at my school:

Oh man....

Midnight Musings

Credit for this post goes to the New Orleans Police Department. They just woke me up at 11:30 by pounding on my door--waking me up and scaring me to death--looking for a white guy that is supposed to be from my neighborhood and his family hasn't been able to get in touch with him for a couple of days. How did I get blessed to be chosen for the questioning? No idea.

As the police were leaving, both of them mentioned that I need to have my landlord put burglar bars on my windows and I need to leave my outdoor lights on at night. So I immediately turned all of my lights on and now I'm sitting wide awake on my couch listening to a sermon and writing to you all. I'm not sure whether or not to ask my landlord to put up burglar bars. 

Here's the debate in my head: 

I've met all of my surrounding neighbors and I have faith that they will look out for me, but my neighborhood isn't the safest place. I will also have kids soon so it is not only myself that I have to look out for anymore. But If I put bars on my windows, will this close any doors to communicating with my neighbors by acting like I don't trust them? I think I'll talk to my neighbors about it and see what they say. I think they'd recommend putting bars up but I don't want them to think that I don't trust them. 

C'est la vie

Don't tell my mom

Every morning I walk out my back door and face my neighbor's house. She has ornately painted her house a bright purple with colorful designs in memory of her son that was murdered right in front of their house 10 years ago. There is also a sign on her house that says "murder scene". It is a daily reminder of the pain and brokenness we live in in this world.

Today I had an even closer and scarier reminder. I was napping on my couch when I woke up to a number of sirens going off outside. I normally hear sirens pass by because I live close to a main road but this was more than usual. I peeked out of my front door and didn't see anything directly outside so I carried on with what I was doing thinking that it was just the music festival that was going on this weekend. A few hours later I was watching the news and they were covering a story of a man who was shot and killed just a block from my house. I don't know yet if he's a direct neighbor or was visiting friends. He was just 21 years old and holding a baby when someone shot him in the face. I can't even begin to imagine what kind of evil person would shoot someone much less a person holding an innocent infant. It makes me sick.

"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Mathew 10:28 ESV

"The fear of a man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe." Proverbs 29:25 ESV

"You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word." Psalm 119:114 ESV

"In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." Psalm 4:8 ESV

Another world

Sometimes I feel like I live in a different world...

We've had a series of incidents with middle school kids in the city. One 13 year old was shot while getting off the school bus. And a 15 year old couple was shot and killed just days apart. it is heart breaking thinking about what their friends and families are going through. It is also saddening knowing that this pain and sorrow is a reality for many of my students.

The recent events affecting school age kids have also forced us to have an increased awareness and heightened sense of security. We have practiced lockdown procedures multiple times in the past week. It is while I'm hiding in the closet or behind playground equipment with my students that I yearn for jesus to return. I am thankful and praise God that it has been just practice for us so far and I pray that God continues to protect us.

"The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe."

Proverbs 29:25 (ESV)

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Glorious Rest

God has graciously heard my cries and provided me with many different forms of rest and encouragement this week. I'm writing this post while sitting on a balcony snuggled up with my coffee, overlooking the beautiful blue ocean at Perdido beach. It is wonderfully peaceful with the wind blowing through the palms, the birds chirping, and the beaches void of any bodies other than our cute lifeguard. :) (Mom--before you comment, he is way too young for me)

Lately things have been going at full speed with no breaks in between. This is life and I don't know if it will ever change but I have begun to see the need to escape periodically so that I can recharge and continue to minister to those around me.

I was encouraged while listening to our church sermon a couple of weeks ago. One of my pastors preached on Mark 6:30-44 when Jesus feeds the 5,000. The key points that I walked away with were this:
1. Jesus acknowledged the disciples need for rest. I do not need to feel guilty about needing to escape every once in a while.
2. My image of rest and retreat may be different from God's. God commanded the disciples to feed the hungry while they were looking to rest. The disciples saw the masses as a burden and wanted to send them away but Jesus sees them and immediately shows them compassion and mercy.
3. When we feast on Jesus, we have new life and are refreshed. I need to escape and run to Christ constantly for rest.
4. Jesus works mighty miracles and will go to great lengths to feed his people! This feast should be a reminder of the heavenly feast we will have one day.

One step closer

I started entertaining thoughts about becoming a foster parent almost a year ago now so it is exciting to be so much closer to actually getting kids. I've taken the required classes from the state, got my physical out of the way, and am making an appointment to be fingerprinted next week. The next steps that have been hanging over me were to find my own place so I can start setting up the kids' rooms and the state will make a few visits over a month long period. 

This weekend God provided me with the perfect place. It is a 3 bedroom 2 bath home with separate bedrooms (hallelujah for no shotgun style rooms!), central heat and air, washer/dryer hookups, hardwood floors, and fenced in outdoor space. I'm excited about everything about this house but especially excited that it is only a mile from school so I can easily bike to work every day. The neighborhood is also going to be great! Everyone was out on their porches or walking around when I went to the open house Saturday morning so it will be easy getting to know my neighbors. It is also a mixed income neighborhood so there will be many opportunities to minister to my neighbors. 

I found the listing on craigslist Friday night. It made me so excited that I emailed and called the guy to let him know how interested I was and that I would be the first one at the open house the next day. I pretty much walked in, glanced around, and told him I wanted it. He had me to fill out an application and got back to me last night to let me know that it is mine. I sign the lease and get the keys tomorrow.

God is so good!

My new Favorite song.

Good Morning to my few faithful followers. You all should get a prize for your commitment to something that is so inconsistent. I always say that I will be better at blogging updates since I'm bad about not calling. Maybe this summer...

Today I wanted to share an answer to prayers. Yesterday morning before work I woke up early and spent time reading and praying that God would give me strength in knowing that He has not left me in this battle alone. This year has been pretty miserable at work. I'm overloaded and constantly exhausted--both physically and emotionally. Part of this is due to getting a student on my caseload who has serious emotional disorders. My heart breaks for this little girl because she is only 6 and is constantly at battle with her emotions. You can tell that it is exhausting for her too because she will sleep for a couple of hours after each episode. Her meltdowns have been getting more intense throughout the year and we have been struggling to find any local mental health services for her. She was receiving counseling from one agency but they dropped her saying that they couldn't meet her needs. Really?! So you just drop her?? I don't get the complete mental health void that exists in a city full of individuals with PTSD from Katrina. That's a whole other post though.

The plan we have in place for my student is a series of different things but when she reaches a certain intensity in her meltdown we call a mobile crisis team (the cops) after 10 minutes at that intensity. She came in full force yesterday morning and we had to call in the team shortly after she arrived. They actually had to cuff her to take her out safely and all I can think of at this point is that I'm so glad she didn't get to the gun holstered to the cop's hip. The hospital that she was taken to finally had an open bed to admit her for observation and by God's grace, mom agreed. My student has been taken out like this before but the hospital has never had room and mom has never been in agreement before so this in itself is a sheer miracle.

She was put into isolation last night because her behaviors were so intense and she was threatening to kill herself and us teachers. Pray that the doctors will have wisdom in treating her and show her grace. Also pray that God will give her and her mom peace. I imagine it is scary not having any familiar faces around. This is an incredible first step to put mom into action to get services for her daughter and to get my student on some medication that would allow her to function through life. I am encouraged!

Yesterday morning another shooting affected students at our school. Two of our middle school students watched their father die as a result of him trying to stop a carjacking. I cannot even imagine what this must be like for their family. This is the 5th shooting that has had an effect on our school and the 3rd parent that our students have lost since January1. Pray for this family and for our school. It has been a long few weeks and we are all weary.

Glimmers of Grace

After a long week I now feel like I can start to breathe again. There are still many things running through my mind haphazardly, but this is my new norm unfortunately. What made this week rough was a whole collection of events. Here are some of the difficult things that happened on Wednesday:
1. A nearby school went on lockdown for several hours because of 4 shooters being on the loose. The police eventually caught all 4 and thankfully no students were injured or killed.
2. We had a middle school student who was shot and killed in her own home. It is heartbreaking to have such a young person be a victim of violence. Our middle school staff has been great about looking out for the other students and making sure they have extra emotional supports available.
3. I had planned to stop by Walgreens on my way home from work but couldn't because there had been a shooting and it was roped off by police tape. There have been so many shootings this week that have hit close to home and it is disheartening. However, it does make me glad that I am involved in training and educating young people so that they do not turn to violence and crime as many others in their neighborhoods have done.

What made this week at all redeemable is that one of my students went into emergency foster care with her siblings. This was completely by God's grace. The state wasn't planning on taking the kids but because of bad communication within family services, no one could reach their father by the time the kids were supposed to go home Wednesday. We have been fighting for a long time to have the children taken away from their dad and I'm praying that steps will now be made to take permanent custody away from him.

The family that took my student and her sister are members of a church that works closely with our school. The husband heads up the church's foster and adoption ministry and is going to be a great source of information while I try to figure out what to do about starting foster care.

Wednesday I also found out that I am getting my anticipated raise which will allow me to start saving up for my own place so I can eventually take foster kids. I think my next steps are to start taking foster parent classes and to look for someone to take my place in my current apartment anytime between April and June.

Happy Epiphany

For most New Orleanians, Epiphany just marks the beginning of king cake season (basically a cheese danish made into a cake--not anything amazing). Another weird thing about king cakes is that there is a tiny plastic baby Jesus buried in the cake and whoever finds it in their piece is supposed to bring the next king cake. So to celebrate the manifestation of Jesus among us, people are trying to avoid finding Jesus in the cake? ...It is a confusing culture down here.


Celebrating Epiphany is a new experience for me as I've moved to New Orleans. I've come to understand that Epiphany is a season of celebrating the manifestation of Christ among us by recognizing the gradual revelation of his mission on Earth through the visit of the magi, Christ's visit to the temple as a 12 year old boy, His baptism in the Jordan, and the miracle of turning water to wine at the marriage feast--ending  in typical New Orleans fashion of course. 


Going along with the season of Epiphany, our church sermon today was about God being with us in our daily battles. It focused on 2 Kings 6:8-23, where God delivered Israel's enemies into their hands and commanded the Israelites to feed and serve them. The fact that God miraculously saved them from their enemies reminded me that I am not alone in this battle of ministering to my community. Not only that, but God is constantly at work. I have a tendency to picture God sitting and waiting in heaven until the day that he decides to call us home, but he has not left us alone. He has given us the Holy Spirit to be with us. 

"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,  to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified."

Isaiah 61:1-3 (KJV)

"And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."

Romans 5:5 (NIV)

"And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you."

Romans 8:11 (NIV)

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will"

Romans 8:26-27 (NIV)

"We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us."

1 John 4:13-16 (NIV)