"Learning to trust is one of life's most difficult tasks."
Isaac Watts
Well, I have taken a couple months off from my writing, but I am back and ready to start writing on a weekly basis. My husband, Brenton, has volunteered to help me write each week. This will help me with my goal of writing each week, even though my schedule has increased. The following is a little synopsis of what has happened to me in the last few months.
Almost three weeks ago, my mother-n-law, Karen Belknap, won an $8,000.00 fellowship to the University of Southern California. Brenton received his masters from USC, and my sister-n-law, Teadran White, and I went to USC for some of our undergraduate classes. This is a university that brings special memories for all three of us. In our family, I am the only one that needs their master degree. It is a master's degree in teaching secondary English.
It was an amazing turn of events for me, because I really wanted to teach and needed the opportunity to get a master's degree. Karen called USC and transferred the fellowship to me. After filling out all the documents for applying to USC, I received an acceptance email. It was an amazing feeling, and I knew at that point that this was the path God put me on. Every time there was a roadblock, I would have to trust God and let Him take care of the problem. All the roadblocks were removed and I am now starting my classes on March 12th.
The next experience that changed me was studying and taking my TExES test for teacher certification. A few years ago, I took the same test, but had very different results. This was a very challenging time in my life. It was a year after my mom had passed away, and I was nine months pregnant with my youngest son, Andy. At this time, I was in no mental shape to take a test. Of course, I failed the test and became extremely frustrated.
A week ago I took the TExES and passed. This means I can now get a probationary certification and start teaching. Although this will mean extra work for me, I am excited, because I know this is what I have always wanted to do.
When we trust God to do His will in our lives, we will see amazing victories in every area of our life. This means our personal life, family life, work life, and social life will be complete and more fulfilling. Every day will be exciting, and we won't be able to wait to start each new day.
For me, this was far from the truth several years ago. Before I started working on personal develop, I hated going to bed and could not get up in the morning. When I had to complete something at the house, for my children, or for school, I would dread waking up or having to do any work. My life was unfulfilling, and I felt very depressed.
This doesn't mean I didn't enjoy my family or other aspects of my life, but I was not totally fulfilled. The fulfillment has come from working on what I love, which is teaching. When I say I enjoy teaching, I mean I enjoy teaching elementary students, middle school students, high school students, and adults.
Some of you may be asking why I am writing about all the stuff that I am going through, right now. Well, it is an important lesson that I have learned. Victory has come into my life, because I have trusted God to fill my life with whatever I need to succeed. When I was waiting for my acceptance letter from USC or my TExES exam scores, I needed to trust God to do two things.
First, I needed God to help me stay calm as I waited. Second, I needed God to get me into the right teaching program and pass the right tests. This was not always easy, because there were times that I got impatient. Every time impatience came upon me, I would stop and say God help me be calm and trust that you have everything under control. The great news is that I received the results that I was waiting for and learned several lessons in the mean time.
Challenge
Now it is your turn to learn some lifelong lessons. Your challenge for this week is to write down one challenge you are facing in your life right now. Underneath the challenge, write down all the obstacles that you are facing. After you write down the challenges, pray that God will take control of your life and do His will. Tell God that you will trust Him and know that He has great things planned for your life. Finally, trust God to get you through each difficulty and roadblock, and He will do amazing things in your life.
As you do this process with each challenge and obstacles, you will find it easier and easier. Some people find it easy to trust, so it won't be as hard for them. On the other hand, the rest of us may have trust issues that we need to work through. Eventually, if we work on trust through challenges, we will find it easier and easier to give our problems to God and trust Him for all our needs.
"The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold."
Psalm 18:2