Right Here - Right Now

Want to hear a cool story? In January 2003, we took our youth group to a winter retreat at Spring Hill camp in Michigan. A friend of mine was speaking that weekend and one night I remember being really upset. It wasn’t really anything he said, it was just an unsettling feeling I had deep down that I really couldn’t verbalize. I shared with someone by me that I didn’t know what it was, but I wasn’t doing what I was supposed to be doing. I had no idea what it looked like, but I knew I was very far away from it. She prayed with me and told me to be patient while God reveals it to me. Then in March 2003 the youth leaders went to a conference in Chicago. It was such an awesome time and I did a lot of soul searching that weekend. I got closer to some of the girls in the youth group. One night I had been up talking with someone I met until about 3 that morning then when I went back to my room I couldn’t sleep. I remember laying there and taking out my journal and writing so fast I couldn’t even think about what I was writing, it was coming out SO fast. It was my heart’s cry to God about wanting to do what He wants me to do, regardless of what it is. It was excitement in my soul, perhaps knowing that God’s plan was about to be slowly revealed to me. I didn’t know why, but I felt like I needed to go to part-time at work. I thought it was just to free myself up to do more stuff with the youth ministry. I remember telling my husband about this feeling and telling him I wished it was something I could do, but I wasn’t going to. The next morning he told me he wanted me to do it. Again, I didn’t know really what was happening. It was March when I asked my boss to put me down to part time. Instead, she gave me a promotion with a raise, and offered for me to work 4 10 hour days, which gave me Wednesdays off. All this with the promise that in January I would be able to be part time. Still, I didn’t know what was to come. I spent a lot of time working with the youth and the youth pastor, like a little sponge absorbing all I could. I learned a lot about teenagers and about teaching during that time. In early November I again had thoughts about teaching (something I had always wanted to do.) I remember driving home from work one day and all of a sudden the thought came to me that if I had kept going to school after I graduated, I would be finishing with my certification and would be about to teach. I felt empty and wondered if I missed an opportunity of a lifetime and put the dream back on the shelf. Within that week, I heard advertisements for the program I am now in at UM. I called the school and made an appointment to go talk to someone about it. The deadline to apply was September, it was now late November. By the time I finished the application process, it was December. For some reason, the program was not full and they accepted me. I needed to take some classes before the program started in May in order to get my certification classes out of the way. In January when I went part time like promised, I took classes full time to get ready for the program. Things have been falling into place ever since. I was supposed to be placed in a 4th grade classroom. Lots of people wanted upper elementary placements and when the teacher asked if anyone wanted to switch to lower el, for some reason, I honestly don’t know why, I said I would. I had never wanted to do lower el! It turned out that the teacher I was supposed to be placed with is horrible, a friend of mine got her and hates going to her classroom! My teacher is awesome and I’m learning g a lot. Don’t tell me that God hasn’t laid out every step of this for me. Back in January 2003, I knew God was about to do something, but I had absolutely no idea it would be this. I know that when I get my teaching job, it will put me in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. I can’t wait to see why God worked it all out like this. I know there will a kid in my classroom that is absolutely supposed to be there with me at that time and I can’t wait to find out who it is and what the story is. If I’m in a 7th grade math class, the kid would have been 9 when this process started for me. If I’m in a 1st grade class, the kid would have been 3 when this process began. I’m so excited and so 100% confident that I’m in the right place at the right time in my life right now. Yes, teaching is exactly where I’m supposed to be right now and for a long time to come.