Tuesday is quickly becoming my favorite day to blog because I get to share some of my best blogging friends with you! Leigh Anne from Simply Swarbrick has been one of my favorite bloggers for quite some time. She has the sweetest heart and she is just so real. We’ve shared many wonderful emails and she has given me such great advice.
I’m so thrilled to share one of Leigh Anne’s lessons today! Take it away, lady!
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Hi! I'm Leigh Anne from Simply Swarbrick.
I was so honored when sweet Nicole asked me to share my lesson. I immediately knew what to share with you. But before I get ahead of myself, a little background.
All of my life I've had a God given dream in my heart to be a teacher. I have dreamed of being a teacher, having a classroom and impacting the lives of students since I was in the first grade. This is a profession near and dear to my heart as my mother and both grandmothers were all educators. My heritage you might say.
So after a lifetime of dreams and plans, 4 years of a wonderful college education and a year of student teaching I knew I was ready to be in the classroom. But yet my plans were not God's plans. His plans were much better but in the moment I didn't understand or see His plan.
I spent the summer after graduation learning how to be a wife and applying for every teaching position I could find. I knew I needed to soak up the summer because I just knew come August I'd be teaching. But that wasn't the case. I watched the new school year start with frustration wondering why God hadn't given me what I so desired.
The next few months were filled with trying to fill my days with something worthwhile either substitute teaching or being a housewife. It was difficult not having the job I had so dreamed of. I was learning a lot on being patient and humility. I knew God had a plan but I still didn't know what it was.
Then two months ago it all changed and I finally got to see the next piece of this journey.
Two summers and a school year later of not knowing when I'd ever get the chance to live my dream, I had two job interviews. In one week. And that week I accepted a 2nd grade teaching position. 12 days later I had a room full of students!
Talk about a whirlwind! Seeing the Lord's hand through the whole process has been extraordinary. He has brought me the perfect teaching situation fulfilling of my dreams and desires with such supportive people around me.
I now know that His plans are always worth trusting and are always so much better than what we've planned for ourselves. Two months in I'm so thankful for the year I had to wait. My husband and I were able to build a firm foundation of communication and work through all the things that come in a first year of marriage without having the stress of being a first year teacher and first year wife.
And knowing that this is exactly where the Lord wants me to be makes the difficult days of the job so much easier because I know He has prepared me for this. Even if you feel like the season you are in right now doesn't make sense continue to trust Him because believe me, He has the best for you!
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I really need the encouragement sometimes that God knows what He is doing. It can be so easy for me to question His will, but Leigh Anne’s story just reminds me that He plans TRULY is perfect and that He is hard at work preparing me for the future He has! I hope this speaks to some of you today like it has spoken to me! Thanks for sharing this with us, Leigh Anne!