Skip to main content

Feeling Overwhelmed?

Most of my friends are teachers and with the start of the school year closing in, I can see people getting overwhelmed, stressed, and feeling a little dread about leaving their babies at home and leaving the free lifestyles of vacations, sleeping in, and DIY projects. (Trust me, I know all teachers work a little over the summer!). It's back to learning names, redecorating your classroom, lesson plans, paperwork, making thousands of copies, setting up your grade book, meeting parents, and countless hours with kids that will impact your day and your life more than you ever expect.
I chose to write this because I'm stepping back into the world of teaching this semester at the junior college. I spent the summer in the computer lab helping students with their homework - being the hero they needed to finish a task. :) It was fun, easy, and required little to no prep. In a little over a week, I'll be teaching my first college class (developmental college class) and I have to admit that I left the adjunct meeting feeling very overwhelmed by all the things that need to be done by the first day and throughout the semester. This feeling is a little foreign because I had been at my last school for 4 years and had pretty much figured everything out...I'm basically starting all over and it's a bit scary.

I've noticed throughout my life that God puts something in my path to help others along the way. I know a lot of you are old vets and know exactly what you're going to do this year but I also know a lot of you are facing big changes in the classroom and you might need a friendly reminder to trust God.

My practical advice as a teacher: It IS overwhelming and there IS a lot to do. HOWEVER, you will get it all done and it WILL be okay. Just remember where you work! You work in a place full of people who are called to help others. You work in a place full of forgiving and patient people. Whatever you don't get done will eventually get done and the world won't end just because you didn't get the task accomplished on the desired timeline. If you need help, ASK FOR IT! The people you work with LOVE to help people.

My spiritual advice as a Christian teacher: It IS overwhelming and there IS a lot to do. HOWEVER, God. The end! He's the answer! Find your peace and confidence in him. Know that everything will turn out okay because he is covering you with his love and favor. Be productive and do all you can to obey your authority but also trust in God's authority over the school and the people who work there. He placed the people there with you for a reason - find it!

Here's a little verse to help:
Psalm 56:11 - "I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can man do to me?"

I'm praying for anyone feeling overwhelmed as you face obstacles ahead. I'm praying that your year is awesome, blessed, and full of joy!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Be an Idiot for God

You know that kind of dirt that is just old and crusty and doesn't yield much growth? It takes patience, rain, plowing, love and care to change the chemistry of that soil. After it has been healed, the soil is moist, dark brown and smells like earth. But it didn't get to that point without a little work. Think of yourself as the old dirt. God wants to plow up the old crusty part of your life that isn't fruitful anymore and replace it with new, moist, healthy soil to plant good seed. God wants to take you higher than you've ever been before but you have to want it. The process may be painful but the fruit will be delicious. I want to encourage you to come into the newness of the spirit but you'll need the strength of God to get your through, not your own strength. Last week, my husband and I had to take his truck in because it was like riding Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. For whatever reason, the tires we received a couple months ago shredded and needed to be replaced...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reforming Undesirable Behavior

You know that thing you do that you don't wanna do but you keep doing it because you can't stop doing it? These behaviors might include: lying, cheating, raging, gossiping, pornography, drinking, drugs, eating, throwing up, etc. Reforming these behaviors on your own can prove to be a little tricky. I'd say reforming undesirable behavior might even be impossible on your own. But there is still hope for us. With the love of God, the power of the Holy Spirit and a renewed mind, you can reform your behavior. Youth conference with lots of God encounters! An encounter with God is the easiest way to reform undesirable behavior because the encounter will fill you with the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord renews our minds in a way that informs our bodies of what's beneficial to our spiritual health in the eyes of God. So, your mouth doesn't want to lie anymore; your tongue won't allow you to eat certain things; your eyes will be opened to the evil of pornogra...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Mobile Church

I love the picture to the right, taken by a friend in the church. It's the perfect picture of God's light shining down on his church. The symbolism of it is perfect: the church is soaking up God's light and charging its people inside to do God's work. I don't know about you but I always feel refreshed and recharged after connecting with a body of believers. Our light gets "re-brightened" and we are energized to keep going. God wants us to take His light out to the people - His church (the light bearers) is not to be confined by four walls and our own preconceived notions. I think a lot of Christians are afraid to be " the light of the world " for fear of being judged or cast out socially. God wants us to hand over our fear of looking stupid and get desperate for him to change our lives. To rid ourselves of this fear, we have to open our hearts to what God desires and ask him to fill us with his light and wisdom in its place. When you open your...
Post a Comment
Read more