Yesterday I was giving a Word Building practice test to a third grader. I had him in my second grade class last year, so I know him very well, how he works, how he reacts, and it isn't always good.

He really struggles with English, and last year Word Building was his most difficult subject.

So for the last couple of days I had him for homework to write each of the words 3 times. That had helped him last year to prepare for the spelling test.

So yesterday I was giving him the words, and he did pretty good. I knew that it would take a couple of practice tests before he would be ready to turn in his Pace. Out of 40 words he got 17 correct. But last year there were times that he would miss them all or maybe get one or two correct.

Well he looked at his paper and the anger kicked in.....he clenched his fists and clenched his face and just began to shake with anger. I tried to tell him it was ok and he said "no look at all the wrongs!" I tried to encourage him by telling him how many he had spelled correctly. That was no consolation for him. It would have been easy to walk away and let him deal with his emotions himself, but something in me told me I needed to stay with him and help him through this disappointment.

I continued trying to encourage him, trying to console him, but the more I said the angrier he got as he looked at that paper with so many misspelled words.

Thank God for giving me the words to say to him.....

I was kneeled down on the floor beside his chair and I said to him do you remember last year when you went to the camp and you prayed and asked Jesus to come in your heart? I remember that, I remember you telling me about it when you came home, and Jesus remembers that day, He will never forget that. I talked to him about how much Jesus loves him and I told him Jesus gives you love and happiness, not anger. You don't have to be angry, you have Jesus in your heart and He just has love and happy for you.

As quickly as his anger came on, it left. He softened, he relaxed and then he looked and me and just began to sob and fell into my arms. We both cried for a few minutes before he went back to work. But I told him to put Word Building away for a little while and finish his math instead. He loves math - it requires no English!

It's those moments with one of the kids that I say "Thank you God for allowing me to be here"....what a blessing to me to be a part of what He is doing in this little boy's life.