New Beginnings

See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.

                             Isaiah 43:19

A few weeks ago, we were vacationing with my husband’s family at Chesapeake Bay when I saw something that caused me to pause and reflect. We spend a lot of time on the beach and swimming in the bay, and it’s not unusual to witness a bird swooping down and snatching a fish from the waters. This day was no exception. An osprey dove and emerged with a prize, writhing within the grasp of its talons. With just a few pumps of its mighty wings, the osprey was about 40 feet above the surface of the water. That’s when the amazing moment occurred. The wriggling prey became the victor and dropped into the saving waters.

I feel like that fish right now. I have a new lease on life! I give God the glory for my deliverance and blessings. I experienced some incredibly difficult situations in my previous job in public education. God freed me from the grasp of that situation almost two years ago. I have been resting in the healing waters, and, in a corner of my soul, fearing the day that God would call me back to the world of education. A few months ago, I began to feel that call intensifying. After much intense prayer, I decided to take a few steps in that direction and see how God moved.

I am honored, but not surprised, to say that God moved in mighty ways. At every turn, my fears were addressed and questions answered before I even spoke them. I continued to follow in obedience and accepted a position as a middle and high school reading teacher. I have completed my fourth day of teaching in my new classrooms and the depth of this new blessing is beginning to become evident.

As I look around me, I realize that I continue to swim in the healing waters and have now been joined by other fish who believe, as I do, in the power of the God-honoring behaviors of respect, kindness, and love. For the first time in a long time, I am looking forward to going to work.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11