A Story About A Calling

Hello friends! I am back. I know I haven't posted a blog in a while, but life gets busy sometimes. I plan on starting up another series in the next week or so, but today I want to share with you guys a little of my life for the past 10 months and what God has been doing through me. I'll start from the beginning.

When I moved here to Japan and started this blog, I grew in my faith tremendously. With this new spiritual maturity, I wanted to do something meaningful with the time God gave me on this beautiful island and I wanted to do something for His kingdom. We were still looking for a church at the time too, but none of them felt like home.

I thought maybe college could open some doors and could be a good use of my time here, so I prayed and asked God if college was the way to go. I heard Him say, "Pursue it." Notice His words carefully - pursue. So, I went to what the Military calls 'the school house' and went inside to get college information. My husband came with me because we were considering taking on the challenge of going back to school together. I finished getting all my info before him, so I stepped out into the bright sunshine.

The school house was in the same parking lot as this church ( the church I attend now). Remember, we were still looking for a church at the time, so I sat on the sunbaked concrete stairs and prayed. I asked God if this is where He wanted me and my husband to go. I heard Him say yes.

I got home and prayed some more, asking God when it is that I should start college. You can imagine my surprise when He said, "Wait." Every time I prayed and asked that's all I heard, "Wait... Wait.. Wait... " "But God," I prayed (I should know better than to start my prayers with but), "You said pursue it." Again, He said, "Wait, My child, wait."

So, I waited and attended the new church where I immediately felt at home. I began doing things for His kingdom there, mainly helping out in the kids room and teaching the children. I met a very nice lady and we became close friends. We would hang out, go the the beach, and talk about God.

She had a seven year-old (now 8 year-old!) son who was the sweetest boy I'd ever met outside my family. Every time I saw him he would give me a big hug and a smile. He has one of those smiles that lights up his whole face and makes you smile too.

One day, my friend asked me if I would be interested in helping her home school him. Like most kids, he wasn't a big fan of school, so maybe I would be able to help him since he already cared for me like a big sister and I cared for him like a little brother. I prayed about it and God said, "This is what I want you to do." You wouldn't think that teaching would necessarily be kingdom work, but this little one was getting a Christian education. I was going to teach for His kingdom, something I thought I could never do outside of Sunday school.

The days went on and I taught and forgot about college. Instead of being a student, I became a teacher, but that doesn't mean I didn't learn. Everyday we prayed for those around us and asked God to help us both to learn and to help me to teach (and the boy would remind me if I forgot to pray that). I did learn right along with him. It was second grade all over again, but with a Godly prospective that was skipped over when I was in school.

I became attached to this little kid with the green eyes and freckled face. We had fun themed days, silly hats, socks, and hair days, and stuffed animal surgeries (he would bring in the patients with tears or rips and I would doctor them up with needle and thread). Life was busier, but more fulfilling knowing that I was making an impact on this little one and God's kingdom.

Last week was our last day of school and that little boy moved away a couple of days later. I am still heartbroken. I miss him a lot and had a very hard time changing the classroom in my home back into an office. This room I write in now has a void, but God is good and He has been telling me things.

On our last day of school I heard God say, "Well done.", which made my heart swell. I wasn't a perfect teacher, there were times I felt like I was failing, but I did it to the best of my ability and that's all God asked of me.

When I was tearing down all the classroom posters, the art, and all the memories, God told me that doors opening and doors closing is perpetual; it's something that is going to happen all of our lives. But when He closes a big door, which He just closed behind me, He isn't going to leave me lacking. He isn't going to give me a smaller door in return.

So, that's where I am right now; a little sad, with a little more free time on my hands, and waiting on the big door God's got for me next. In the meantime, in the waiting, I will do what He has put in front of me, just like how He put my church right in from of me, and I will smile.

Oh, and about God telling me to pursue college, I believe He just needed me to be in that parking lot. He needed me to pray on those sunbaked concrete stairs. He wanted me to be at the church I am now, He wanted me to meet my friend and her son there, and He wanted me to see His plan unfold before my eyes as He answered my prayer about working for His kingdom.

And who knows, maybe home schooling opened a door to another calling - being a teacher.