New Beginnings

The phrase, "Back to School," indicates a plethora of new beginnings. Students move on to a new grade level. Many individuals embark on their first semester of college. Teachers and professors anticipate a new school year with new challenges, new successes, and a new opportunity to make a difference in the lives of their students. Still, there are others who do not find all of this “newness” to be quite so fascinating. Some students are fearful of moving to a new school, making new friends, and meeting new teachers. Some college students would much prefer the comforts of home to a seemingly uncomfortable dorm room. Parents and grandparents may simultaneously suffer from the negative effects of an “empty nest.” And while they may love teaching, many educators will likely long for the lazy days of summer when they could spend more time with family, read a good book, go on vacation, or do absolutely nothing at all! Even so, a new beginning can be a positive one, despite the many hiccups we may encounter along the way.

Personally, I have found that the new school year has brought about a lot of positive changes for me as a teacher. I am most excited about teaching eighth grade English Language Arts and having a new classroom, which my dad has so lovingly helped me prepare. I thank God for this amazing environment in which to teach my students. I know the resources I have been given will enable me to help them achieve their goals. Because of God's unmerited favor, I know this school year will be blessed beyond measure!

While I am enjoying a wonderful start to the school year, several friends and colleagues have started the school year with illnesses, financial crises, and even the loss of loved ones. My heart hurts for them and I pray God will give them strength to face each new day ahead. Having lost my mom at the beginning of August eleven years ago, I know what it’s like to have your heart broken and then be expected to continue teaching as if nothing happened. But through it all, I know God is always faithful. While I still miss my mom greatly, I know we will see her again in Heaven, where there will be no sorrow or tears, sickness or pain. Until that happy reunion, we can rejoice concerning the promise found in Isaiah 25:8 (NLT): “He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign LORD will wipe away all tears.” Everyone who puts their trust in Jesus Christ will one day be free from all of the grief on this earth.

Perhaps you are going through a personal struggle this month. Jesus Christ knows exactly what you are going through. Call on His precious name. Ask Him for a new beginning. Not one that will be frightening, as it may be for students finding their way around a new campus, but a new beginning that will renew your strength, restore your joy, and bring you eternal hope. Jesus is the friend who will never leave you nor forsake you. He loves you so much that He gave His life for you (I John 3:16). Don't worry about tomorrow, but through prayer and thanksgiving, present your requests to God, and the peace that passes all understanding will guard your heart and mind through Jesus Christ our Lord (Phil. 4:6-7).

Jesus Christ loves you more than you could ever imagine. He wants to give you a new life. Second Corinthians 5:17 (NIV) says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” Ask Jesus Christ to guide you through all of the discouraging moments and the joyous ones as well. When you put your trust in Him, all things become new!

In Christ’s Love,

Jennifer

New Beginnings

August.  It is a month of new beginnings.  Students move on to a new grade level.  Many individuals embark on their first semester of college.  Teachers and professors anticipate a new school year with new challenges, new successes, and a new opportunity to make a difference in the lives of their students.  Still, there are others who do not find all of this “newness” to be quite so glorious.  Some students are fearful of moving to a new school, making new friends, and meeting new teachers.  And I am sure some college students much prefer the comforts of home to an initially barren dorm room.  Parents and grandparents suffer from the ill effects of an “empty nest.”  And while they may love teaching, many of those teachers likely long for the lazy days of summer when they could read a good book, go on vacation, or do absolutely nothing at all!  Even so, a new beginning can be a positive one, despite the many hiccups we may encounter along the way.

Personally, I have found that the new school year has brought about a lot of positive changes for me as a teacher.  I am most excited about having a new classroom, which is the biggest change I have encountered this school year.  I am so blessed and I thank God for this amazing environment in which to teach my students.  I know the resources I have been given will enable me to help them achieve their goals.  I have an awesome group of students this year and I am enjoying the addition of a new course that I will be teaching, Digital Design.  God has truly shown me favor and I know that this school year will be blessed beyond measure!  Of course, it still seems like the alarm clock goes off way too early in the morning and there are never enough hours in the day!  But I know the weekends and holidays throughout the year will provide us with the chance to rejuvenate ourselves and before we know it, summer vacation will return once again.

While I am enjoying a good year, I have several friends who began the school year with illnesses, financial crises, and even the loss of loved ones.  My heart hurts for them and I pray that God will give them strength to face each new day ahead.  Having lost my mom at the beginning of August five years ago, I know what it’s like to have your heart broken and then be expected to continue teaching as if nothing had changed.  The meaning of life gets construed and things that once mattered seem to dwindle and things that never mattered seem to escalate out of proportion.  But through it all, I know that God is faithful.  While I still miss my mom greatly and I know that life will never be the same again, I have the calm assurance that I will see her again.  And I strive to enjoy each and every moment to the fullest.  Life is fragile and I know how important it is to cherish the ones we love every single day.  Even in the darkest nights of life’s journey, the Son of God shines bright.  He lights our path and gives us strength when we are weary.  He gives us joy when we feel no joy can be found.

Perhaps you are going through a personal struggle this month.  No matter what is bothering you at this very moment, Jesus Christ knows exactly what you are going through.  Call on His precious name.  Ask Him for a new beginning.  Not one that will be frightening, as it may be for students finding their way around a new campus, but a new beginning that will renew your strength, restore your joy, and bring you hope everlasting.  Jesus is the friend who will stand by your side forever.  He loves you so much that He gave His life for you.  Don’t sit there drowning in your sorrows.  Stand tall and reach out to Jesus.  Grab on to that new life that He is holding out for you!  2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV) says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”  Ask Jesus Christ to guide you through all of the hard times and the good ones too.  If you put your trust in Him, you will not only experience a new beginning, but you will receive a new life as well!

In Christ’s Love,

Jennifer

When You Don't Understand

All of my life, I had definite plans to go to college.  I had always dreamed of the day that I would wear the funny shaped square hat, along with the oversized, one-size-doesn’t-truly-fit-all gown.  I wondered if I would get to wear any of the brightly colored cords or stoles.  Would I graduate as valedictorian and have the opportunity to speak at the graduation ceremony?  After graduation, would I be hired for the teaching job of my dreams?  And would I enjoy making the transition from student to teacher?
In 2004, I graduated with high honors with an Associate in Arts degree in Liberal Arts.  Additionally, I was invited to be one of the featured speakers at the commencement ceremony.  Two years later, I wore my third funny shaped hat, the first being for my high school graduation.  This time, I was graduating with high honors from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Arts in English.  In June 2008, I am proud to say that I graduated with a Master of Science degree in English Education with highest honors.  I earned a 4.0 GPA.  And yes, I had the opportunity to wear my fourth funny shaped hat, enormous gown, and another collection of honor cords and a stole.  Oh, and I did manage to find the teaching job of my dreams, and I have found that giving grades is much more pleasant than trying to earn them.

I am so grateful to the Lord for not only giving me my dream of graduating, but showering me with the abundant blessing of having this experience not once, but four times.  Not only that, but He gave me the desires of my heart when He gave me the opportunity to speak, and even add color to my ensemble by enabling me to achieve highest honors.  There are some things in life that happen so perfectly.  And other times, there are moments that transpire that leave me wondering why they had to happen at all.

Yet, with these six years of higher learning and five years of teaching under my belt, there are times when I feel that I do not know anything.  While I may be able to explain hyperbole and onomatopoeia until I am blue in the face, there are an infinite number of things that I cannot even begin to comprehend.  Although I could write a qualitative essay in the amount of time it takes some people to drink a cup of coffee, the mysteries of life often stop me in my tracks.  In short, I simply do not understand why some things happen.

When I take a closer look at the trials people around me are facing, as well as the trials that I have endured in my own life, I often wonder why God does not always intervene.  As the evangelist David Ring has asked so many times before, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”  Why do Christians have their children taken away too soon, whether through a miscarriage before they are born or an accident when they are older?  Then other people live a life straying away from God, only to have healthy children falling out of their windows.  Why does the drunk driver sometimes walk away unscathed while innocent people’s lives are lost?  Why do people who spend their lives happily helping others have to fight internal battles, whether emotional, mental, or physical?  I don’t understand.  Do you?

Even with my educational background, I am unable to uncover all of the mysteries of life.  No college degree can provide the knowledge that is possessed only by a sovereign God.  There is no institution, no matter how prestigious, that can explain why these things happen as they do.  While I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to become a college graduate, I know that there is more to life than what university professors and college textbooks can teach you.  There is only one Teacher who can impart the knowledge necessary to survive this broken planet.  This world is full of trials and tribulations, and a myriad of things that we do not understand.  And in reality, there are some things that we will likely never understand.

As I look back on my life, I don’t understand why I have seen loved ones pass away all too soon.  I cannot comprehend why I have endured physical problems.  I don’t know why there are times when I feel lost, uncertain which way to turn.  What I do know, with complete certainty, is that Jesus Christ has walked with me through every victory and every defeat.  He walked me to class when I was in college.  He walked across the platform at each of my graduation ceremonies, cheering me on.  Likewise, He walked with me through long hospital hallways, funeral homes, and cemeteries.  He is sitting beside me, even now, guiding my fingers as I write about the times I don’t understand life itself.

No matter what you are going through, Jesus Christ wants to walk beside you each and every day, just as He does for me.  If you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you will never be the same.  You will experience the peace that passes all understanding.  Sure, you still may not understand all of the mysteries of life, but you will have the One who does understand with you always.  He said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5 NIV).  It does not matter if you have a college education or not.  What matters is whether you have Jesus Christ beside you, guiding you and directing your paths.  He will teach you how to overcome the trials of life.  He will show you how to enjoy living.  Even when you don’t understand, Jesus loves you.  He understands exactly where you are in your journey, and He will never leave you alone.

In Christ’s Love,
Jennifer

Taken for Granted

Have you ever taken something for granted?  Maybe you took your job for granted, until you lost your job.  Perhaps you took your health for granted, until you found yourself unable to walk, eat, or breathe normally.  Or you may have lacked appreciation for your family or friends, until one of them passed away.  In life, we are given many things.  Some of these things are desired and some are undesired, some are happy and some are sad, some are uplifting and some are distressing.  Regardless of whether or not you appreciate the blessings God gives you, there is one thing that is absolutely certain: God will always give you what you need, when you need it, whether you think you need it or not.  You could be taking something for granted right now, whether it is the food you eat, your home, a loved one…do you give thanks for the things God has blessed you with each and every day?  Or are many of them simply taken for granted?

In August 2009, on the first morning of preplanning for teachers, I had an experience that caused me to reexamine the blessings God has given me.  One morning, when I got out of bed, my face was no longer normal.  As I looked in the mirror, I immediately realized that I could not blink my eyes, talk clearly, or even smile.  Fear dominated my thoughts.  Countless questions filled my mind.  I wondered, Was this permanent?  Did I have a stroke?  What could have possibly caused this?  I wondered why God would allow this to happen.  I could not understand the purpose in God’s plan.  After all that had happened in the previous year, I could not comprehend why God would add yet another trial for me to have to face.  Why should I have to go through this, of all things?  This experience put me in one of the lowest places I had ever been.

That very week, I went to my family physician, hoping to receive some good news.  My physician told me several possibilities that it could be, a few quite severe, and referred me to first see an optometrist.  I couldn’t believe, after 27 years of 20/20 vision, that a visit to an optometrist was necessary.  After a full examination, I was told that I likely had a severe case of bilateral Bell’s Palsy.  Although I have since heard about many cases of this condition, I had never heard of it before.  I was given several prescriptions to help with swelling and infection, and told to go home and basically wait it out.  How long would it last?  Neither the optometrist nor the eye specialist could tell me for sure, but they simply said it could be anywhere from days to weeks to months.  Or, it could be permanent.  This word seemed so final, so irreversible.  So, permanent.

Having lost my Mom just a year before, I was completely and utterly distraught.  I did not understand why I should be subjected to such pain, discomfort, and fear, in addition to the distress and sorrow I was already experiencing.  I was told one of the possible causes could be stress-related factors.  When I look back on that time in my life, I realize this was certainly the case.  Not only had our summer vacation come to an end, but it was the one-year anniversary of the loss of my Mom.  The more I tried to not think about this “anniversary,” the more I thought about it.  Every time I tried to miss my mom a little less, I missed my mom a lot more.  School was starting, which meant the end to our summer travels, there was a “to-do” list that seemed longer than the Nile itself, and the absence of my Mom made even the least significant detail or minor setback seem like an international incident.  Needless to say, I worried that I would drown in this sea of stress-related factors, never to smile again.
 
Anyone who knows me well knows that I smile all of the time.  It’s almost as if God has placed a perpetual smile on my face.  Although I had always been one to smile all of the time, I never gave it much thought.  For me, smiling is just as natural as breathing the life-giving air that God provides.  As such, the idea that I might never smile again was terribly frightening.  In addition, I was concerned about my eyesight.  While I had always had 20/20 vision, this medical condition made it difficult to see clearly enough to read an e-mail, to watch television, or to even drive a car.  On top of this, I could not raise my eyebrows, blink my eyes, speak clearly, or chew properly.  I was embarrassed to eat in front of my friends at school.  Eventually, they encouraged me enough to where I ate in front of them, reassured that they would not judge me if a morsel of food escaped my lips.  They loved me for who I was, with expressions or without expressions.  My entire face felt as if it had literally been frozen.  In one single night, I went from being able to smile, see, speak, eat, and express myself to being an expressionless individual who was falling into a sea of despair.

Someone once said, you don’t know what you have until it’s gone.  I never truly knew what this meant until this particular time in my life.  While I had lost three grandparents, two infant brothers, and most recently, my mom, I never once remember a time when I took my family for granted.  They have always been the second most important thing in my life, God being number one.  And I had been in the hospital in critical condition, but I never recall taking my health for granted.  But, the simple act of blinking my eyes and turning my lips upward into a smile…I never fully appreciated the ability to perform these actions.  Such simple things, until I was unable to do them.  Through this experience, God helped me learn that I should never take anything for granted, even blinking my eyes.

During this time, my friends and family were so supportive of me.  Because I could not see very well or control my eyelids very well, my dad assisted with eye drops at home.  At work, a dear friend graciously offered to help out whenever needed.  In fact, God used this ordeal to build a sense of trust between this particular friend and I, a bond of friendship that He would later use to help me through my grief.  Speaking of friends, this experience helped me realize that I was taking my friends for granted as well.  While I missed my mom greatly, God used this case of Bell’s Palsy to help me see just how precious my friends truly were.  They embraced me when I needed a hug, they gave me advice when I sought their wisdom, and they sat in silence when I needed a listening ear.  Looking back, I wonder how I would have gotten through this trial without my dad and these dear friends God had placed in my life.

Approximately four weeks later, God completely healed me of Bell’s Palsy.  It was a gradual journey to healing, but I must say that the journey was a journey of hope and healing ordained by God.  Every time I blink my eyes, each time I move any part of my face, and all of the times I smile, I remember the moment God fully restored my health.  Every expression that I can apply to my face is a constant reminder of God’s grace and His healing touch.  Each moment I express myself is a gift from God that I will never take for granted.  Every friend who stood beside me, through painfully dry eyes and unsmiling lips, will always be appreciated by me.  And yet, while they are the ones who inspired me to maintain a positive attitude, many of them told me what an inspiration I was to them, keeping a positive attitude throughout the whole ordeal.  I may not understand God’s purpose for my suffering, but this is such a perfect example of Romans 8:28 (NIV): “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  No matter what I had to endure, God used it for good.

What about you?  Have you faced a trial in your life?  Is there something you are taking for granted right now?  It could be something simple, like taking your pet for granted, or more complex, like taking your children for granted.  Perhaps you can walk on two feet, breathe deep breaths of air, or swallow your food.  Maybe you can talk, hear, see, blink, or yes, even smile.  Did you ever think about a life where you could not do one or more of these things?  Such small things, until they are gone.  Then, they grow in proportion and importance.  When you wake up in the morning, thank God for all of the things you have.  Thank Him for everything you can do, instead of complaining about the things you cannot do.  Give thanks for the family and friends you do have, rather than yearning for the ones you do not have.  Praise Him for the life He has given you, as opposed to asking Him for the life you covet.  Appreciate what you have.  God doesn’t want you to take life for granted, but to enjoy the life He has lovingly granted.

In Christ’s Love,
Jennifer