Work

I like my job. It took me a while to get to that point but there are so many wonderful things about it I would be hard pressed to find enough reasons to dislike it. Of course, I have all of the perks of a teacher in terms of time off. I also don't have to worry about grades or TAKS scores. One of my favorite things about my job is that there is a beginning, a middle, and an end. This may not seem like much of anything on the surface, but for me it is huge. I am a planner by nature and the ability to get out my calendar at the beginning of the school year and put in all of the holidays, semester breaks, and most importantly the last day of school makes my day to day job so much more enjoyable.

I start work again in less than a week. I will be in a new district, at two new schools, a new grade level (Jr. High) and of course new co-workers. I have had slight anxiety flare ups but nothing like I could have expected a few years ago. Only by the grace of God am I at a place where I am putting my trust in Him and not in my abilities to get people to like me or being good enough at my job that I don't draw attention to myself. I am praying that my fear of man (Christian counseling speak) will not overwhelm me and that it will be replaced by my fear of the Lord. I learned so much in my past two positions about not finding my satisfaction in my work. What a relief! My happiness does not depend on my job. I am designed to find my satisfaction and my purpose in Christ alone, not in my husband, my (future) children, my job, or my posessions. The joy I do find in these things is designed to bring me back to the Lord as I thank him for blessing me with these wonderful gifts. I praise God that my job does not come easily to me, that I struggle and have to rely on him for strength. My flesh prefers to be self-sufficient, independent, in a word... perfect.

Jeremiah 17

⁵ This is what the LORD says:
"Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who depends on flesh for his strength
and whose heart turns away from the LORD.

⁶ He will be like a bush in the wastelands;
he will not see prosperity when it comes.
He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.

⁷ "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.

⁸ He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."