By Melody Vanosdol
God is always faithful. I’m still working on it.
I have taught in juvenile detention for 22 years now. I know; I’m crazy. God led me to this career when I was still prodigal. But there was one day, one defining moment, when I REALLY got that he had my career in every imaginable way.
My first teaching gig was in the inner city. We had one guard for three classrooms, and he was often missing. A particularly rowdy group of boys kept locking the door of the classroom across the hall from me. Now, that’s a problem. If something really negative starts in there, you don’t want to have to slow down and mess with keys to get help in there.
One day while unocking her door for the umteenth time, a student grabbed the door and yanked it backwards, pulling my keys that were still firmly in the door handle through my tightly gripped hand. Ignoring the pain in my hand, I asked him to sit down and be quiet a number of times before the angry drill sergeant voice came out with, “SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!!” He did. The entire room did. And I quietly removed my keys from the door handle while mouths gaped open upon realizing the opportunity they had missed. Those keys did not just unlock that classroom. They unlocked every door in the building, including all of the exits.
A new head counselor had recently started working with us. She had no experience working with inner city gang youth. She heard me. The whole block heard me. She was beyond angry because “I had told one of the children to shut up. I had yelled it at him in front of his peers. I might have hurt his ego.” She was livid. She announced that she would not rest until I was fired.
I taught my next two classes and dismissed the boys to line up. They kept inquiring about cleaning up my room, organizing books and desks. They had done this for me everyday. That day, I needed to get some alone time. They begrudgingly, lined up and went back to the living unit.
I closed my door and began slamming the books and desks into place. “How dare she?!” SLAM! “Who does she think she is?!” SLAM! Until we finally got where God wanted me to be – “God put me here! SLAM! And if God put me here . . .” ding. I swear, I could hear God laugh.
“If God put me here, you can’t move me. And if God is done with me here, why would I want to stay?”
That moment changed my life. In my whole career, I’ve never had to worry about pleasing anyone but God. I have way more autonomy than anyone I’ve ever known. It’s all for the glory of God and serving his lost sheep. God has been gracious to me a million times. Every time that I’ve let my feelings or other people’s feelings get in the way, he has reminded me that I am here at his calling.
God is always faithful. I’m still working on it.
“Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and I will help you” (Isaiah 41:10).
“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you” (Psalm 56:3).
“Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him” (Jeremiah 17:7-8).
“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act” (Psalm 37:5).
“He is my refuge and my fortress” (Psalm 91:1-6).
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