I've got a good four weeks under my belt. I love, love, love my students. Each one is so unique and wonderful. The best part has been that even if I come in sleepy or drained, each new class that arrives at the bell never fails to pick up my spirits. There is always someone saying something to make me laugh or to boost my spirits. Examples? Well... there's Chantel, who believes she is a black girl at heart and hates when she has "white girl hair" (she is a white girl, by the way). There's John who is so random. In the middle of taking some notes on literary devices (generalization, flashback, evaluation, etc), he raises his hand and says, "I hate when the pizza bagels are mushy..." Yep. That's all the time, too. There are Trevor and Nick, who are best friends and total opposites. There is Taylor, who is convinced I am secretly a chain- smoker in between periods because I asked him one day if it looked foggy in the room (I don't know... it did.) There's Logan who is always handing me papers and then snatching them away before I can take them. And then there are, of course, the study hall moments...
"Can I go to the library?"
"I don't know...are you a senior. Only seniors right now."
"What? Don't I look like a senior?"
"Well, I don't know. Do I look like a teacher?"
And all those senior boys trying to get to the library as quickly as possible before anyone else can go.
And it just goes on and on...
100% better than last year, for sure.
God is great.
Moving on to another important area of my life...Church has been a series of ups and downs lately. We've found out our life group leaders (and leaders of the church) will be stepping down due to some unfortunate incidents in our church. This has been a year in coming, and even though it has really been difficult, I have felt such peace. The reason I titled this blog "It Would Have Been Enough" is because I was reading a blog by a dear, old friend, Andrea (Waltz) Sersen. In there, her husband said this:
"I'm reminded of a portion of the Passover feast, where the people remember all that the Lord had done, and after each memory declared, '...it would have been enough.' It sounds something like, 'Had You only delivered us from the chains of Egypt, it would have been enough. Had You caused us to cross the Red Sea on dry ground, it would have been enough. Had you stopped after drowning Pharoah's army behind us, it would have been enough. Had you only fed us manna in the desert and gave us drink from the rock, it would have been enough. Had you finished your work by bringing us across the Jordan, it would have been enough.' All that to say to myself, that had He only saved me, it would have been enough, but He grants us to be conformed into the very image of Christ."
(Thanks, Randy.)
Had You only allowed me to know You, it would have been enough.
Had You only given me this loving family, it would have been enough.
Had You only blessed me with a man who loves You and me dearly, it would have been enough.
Had You only given me a job, it would have been enough.
Had You only allowed me to fall in love with that job, it would have been enough.
Had You only led us to this church, where we gained so much for only a year, it would have been enough.
All I know (and I'm finding I know less every day that I learn more), is that He is enough. I am so grateful for this year and its ups and downs in work and church. He is good. Always. He will always come through.
The best place to be is this place where God has to do something. Either He does a miracle in my church or He shows us our next step. Just like He either had to do a miracle in my heart with teaching so that I enjoyed it, or He had to give me a way out by providing another job. I love being in a place where He can't not move in our lives.
