By Melody Vanosdol
God is always faithful. I’m still working on it.
My bachelor’s degree is in elementary education and special education. I was prodigal at that time in my life, and it never occurred to me to ask God what he wanted me to do with my life. I just knew I didn’t want to be a secretary anymore. I had bounced through many jobs and found none of them fulfilling. And honestly, I was not very good at it.
One evening, while crying to a friend about hating my job, she suggested I find another one. I whined, “But, they’re all the same. I want to be a teacher. I’ve always wanted to be a teacher.” Lightbulb moment: “Then go become a teacher.
I did. I quit my job and enrolled in college within the month. People thought I was crazy.
This is one of those times when you’re completely unaware that God is guiding you. You can only see it in hindsight. Had I gone to him for guidance, I’d have probably gotten the right major the first time.
I thought I would be intimidated by large groups of teenagers, so I majored in elementary education. I cried every single day teaching first grade during my student teaching. The school system I was in was not supportive or helpful. I had students who desperately needed help. One little boy beat his head against the brick wall and screamed “I wish I was dead.” First grade!
I couldn’t get the parents to listen. I couldn’t get administrators to listen. They thought I couldn’t handle it and moved me to a special education class in the middle school. The poor little first grader never got help that school year. But I found my niche. I was wrong about being intimidated by teenagers. Very wrong.
I finished out that school year and was available to teach. However, I was shell-shocked and afraid I had the wrong major. I met the principal and human resources manager of the county juvenile detention at a hiring event. I was polite but thought “no way” can I handle that. Again, I was wrong. Very wrong. The principal called me five times trying to talk me into covering a position for him for nine weeks while someone was on maternity leave. I finally gave in with the attitude that I could handle anything for nine weeks.
Sixteen years ago, I moved across the state line, but I’ve been teaching juvenile detention for twenty-one years now. I can’t imagine doing anything else. (If you read my last blog, I was on my way to my first day of juvenile detention when I had the car wreck that God used to save my life. CLICK HERE to read.)
God knew where I belonged even if I didn’t. He knows where you belong, even if you have no clue.
You may feel lost, but here’s a promise: You are never lost. God knows exactly where you are. We can’t begin to comprehend how well he knows us and what we need. “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:8).
David also tells us that “God is present in every situation in all of creation at any given time” (Psalm 33:13-14). God is already in your future. He knows how it’s going to turn out.
God does not require our permission to use us. But it is ever so much easier on us if we lean into him for strength and guidance.
God is always faithful. I’m still working on it.
“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).
“Consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1 Corinthians 1:26–29).
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