Behind the Scenes Finale

My 2nd Account

I had wanted to be a teacher all of my life, and the Lord allowed it to be so. He worked behind the scenes to assure that our high school guidance counselor looked upon me with favor and allowed me to work in the guidance office. She was instrumental in my obtaining a scholarship and a student loan to go to college. (God working behind the scenes)

College

I will never forget the feeling that I had when I arrived at the college dorm and looked out of the second-floor dorm room window. My life had just taken a turn for the better. I didn't have, but one dress and one pair of shoes but that was alright; I was there. God had sent me to college...

My First Classroom

When you have carried a dream around inside you for so long, the actual obtaining of the dream will bring a euphoria of happiness that is indescribable. I remember walking up to my desk and running my hand over it and marveling at the fact that it was mine. I remember relishing the sound of my opening and closing the drawers in it. 

This first job was a special education classroom, but that didn't matter. I knew that it was just my getting my foot in the door. I had that optimistic belief that God would get me a regular classroom, after all, He could do anything. Couldn't He? And to be a regular classroom teacher was what I had wanted to be my entire life. So, I labored through that first year, that second year and on and on with my optimism about getting a regular classroom waning more and more with the passing of each year until I awoke one day to the realization that I had been teaching for 15 years!

 That was exactly half of my teaching career! What was taking so long for that regular classroom?  I had prayed and prayed and prayed and still after 15 years nothing happened. I remember thinking back to the fact that I had always wanted a third-grade classroom. That was never to happen. (Allow me to say this at this juncture: When we don't get what we want we have to trust God and know that He has His reasons.  We have to know in our hearts that God has a better plan.)

Then one Friday morning toward the beginning of the next school year, during in-service training, I received a phone call that I needed to drop what I was doing and go to see the principal of our local junior high school. I had paint in my hair and on my clothes because we had been putting a fresh coat of paint on a table in our special education room. I remember that I was concerned about the paint on my hair and my clothes. I was emphatically told that if that principal wanted to talk to me, then I had better go right then just like I was.

It was just a bit across town to where our junior high was, and I had butterflies all the way. My mind ran from a to z about what this man could want. When I walked into that school's office and was ushered into his office, I was tongue-tied. The principle seemed to glare at me for a second or so. I got the feeling that he was sizing me up. I started to squirm, and I could not hold his stare, so I let my eyes dart around his office and out of the window and finally back to him. He still had that implacable stare. There was a social studies book on the desk in front of him, and he slid it to me and said, "Be here Monday morning to teach sixth grade Social Studies. Then he nodded his head toward the door. I left his office on winged, but frightened feet. I did not go to my room that I was going to have, I just took that book and flew! I prayed all the way back to my special ed classroom, which wasn't mine anymore. I was in a fog the entire weekend. The next week I received two phone calls from two very influential people. I was told what to do in my new job and how to comport myself. I did that and, of course, stayed on my knees and the rest is history. ( I will say that during one of those phone calls, I learned why the Lord had never given me that third-grade classroom. You can think what you will about the reason, but some things you just do not divulge.)

The Lord did not just drop me at the junior high school and leave me. He made sure in big ways and in little ways that I knew that He was with me in my teaching efforts. He made sure that I knew that I did not walk alone and never had. I finished my teaching career in the regular classroom and was named to Who's Who Among America's Teachers each of those years. 

I had  some rocky hills to climb

 During those years in the regular classroom

But I did not walk the rocky crags alone

I had help from my Lord

Who sits on Heaven's throne

He was with me all the time.

 

There are some things that He did for me

That I am not at liberty to say

But I was blessed, enamored and awed

As I did His will, at the end of the day.

 

 

With this series of posts, I have been made to look within and back and have indeed seen that the benevolent God that I serve is working behind the scenes all of the time. I have found that throughout my life, God has been mindful of me and has been moving mountains for my good.

I can tell you now, that the more adverse your situation, the bigger blessing you will receive if you just remain faithful to God. Somebody just thought, "Say what?! Say again." And I will repeat the gist of what I said. The tougher the trials(s) that you go through, the bigger blessing you will have if you remain faithful, through it all. Remember Job. (Job Chapters, 1, 2 & 42, KJV) Remain faithful when you don't understand, and when it seems the whole world is conspiring against you so that you cannot smile,  smile anyway. There is no problem that you have that the Lord is not aware of, but you keep praying and keep stepping on.

And one day you will find that you have stepped from the craggy rocks that you had been climbing to smooth and cooling stairs of marble and from there to a moving stairway as you make your miraculous climb to the top. You will find that just like you could not seem to catch a break for anything, the breaks will fall into your lap at every turn. You will be overwhelmed with gratitude, and you will turn to the God of heaven and thank Him for working for you all of the time and for opening your insight further so that you could recognize that fact.

And then you will be like an announcer with a mega horn or a news commentator with a new piece of broadcasting equipment in that you will shout the goodness of God from the tallest mountain in your world. You will tell everybody, and you will not be ashamed to do it. In fact, you will talk so much about it that folk might not want to listen. But, that's okay, keep an upbeat outlook on life and be ready to tell all who ask about the goodness and faithfulness of the God that you serve.

Be blessed, and it has been my pleasure to share this series of posts with you. I hope that you went to worship today and gave praise to God and showed love to your fellowman by praying with him and for him. 

Remember, if you are His child, you are never alone, never. Umph, umph, umph, working behind the scenes...

Doing What I Can, While I Can Because I Care,

Alma Jones

Christian Author & Poetess

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