COVID-19 flipped my life upside down just like it did for many of you. I watched Steven Furtick’s message from Sunday, June 21, 2020 and he preached about the PLOT TWIST. Well yes, 2020 has definitely been a PLOT TWIST. But for me, this was not the beginning. I guess I could go back and to July of 2019 and really that’s where I could say the first of many PLOT TWISTS started for this “academic” year.
In July of 2019, I walked into my 2nd grade classroom, with my mom, on the first day that I was allowed back into the building. I was ready to get back into the classroom and give year two all that I had in me! Well, my assistant principal came by and asked if I had seen my roster for the upcoming year. With that question, I knew he knew something that I didn’t. I hadn’t seen it, so I logged in to Infinite Campus and low and behold, I would be teaching the inclusion class comprised of scholars with exceptional needs, gifted and special education. My school was trying a new model and I was the second-grade teacher who would be trying it out for my grade level. Me, a second-year teacher?! I’ve learned not to question God for too long. I knew this would be a challenge, but I am always up for one, so I just hyped myself up with the encouragement from my mom and prepared the best I could. But again, this was the first PLOT TWIST. The second came in September 2019, the third in October 2019, the fourth in November 2019. December was fine. I was going with the flow and learning lessons along the way. I know that seasons don’t last forever.
But then I arrived at the start of a new year and decade, January 2020! I sat down with my new planner (The Day Designer) and I wrote out all of my goals for the year. I was detailed. I felt more than ready to accomplish everything that I wrote down and prayed over. I knew that these were the things God placed on my heart. Well, three weeks later an announcement came that rocked my world. I was hurt and confused. I was annoyed and angry. I kept pushing forward though, because life waits for no one. I was still trying to pick up the pieces when March of 2020 came. The next PLOT TWIST that no one was expecting.
Now three months into this thing, I can look back and reflect over all that has happened this year and actually be at peace. I don’t want to minimize anything that has been going on in the world. I know that many lives have been lost due to the illness, especially in the Black community. I also know that Black people are still being killed in the United States and all over the world because of racism that runs deep. People are still being affected by the terrible consequences of capitalism. The list can go on. While this is all true, I also know that God has shown up in my life in ways that I could have never imagined.
God has shown me how to trust in Him alone. God has provided in ways that I could not have dreamt up even if I wanted to! God has strengthened many relationships in my life that I honestly just overlooked. God has allowed me to make major moves on my goals just because of the extra time that I have had on my hands. I have read more. I have worked out more. I got a therapist. I have studied the Bible more. I have prayed more. I have gotten to know myself even more. This has been the blessing and beauty of this time, and I am so grateful.
James 1: 2-4 (ESV) says “Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you meet trials or various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect complete and lacking in nothing.” Now I’m not proposing that God is sitting around sending down hard times on people, but I do know that God uses everything for His glory and my good! These major plot twists in my life have broken me in ways that I honestly would never have asked for myself, but they have also grown me in areas that I didn’t even know needed work. I know that each and every day I am growing into the woman God created me to be, and that in itself is exciting!
My goal now is to take all that I’ve learned and ways that I have improved, and figure out how to keep these jewels as I move into the future. I won’t say that I want things to go back to the way they were, but the world will inevitably open back up again and I want to make sure I make room for this growth! My prayer for anyone reading this is that you too are able to let your PLOT TWIST, or trials of any kind have its full effect and grow you into who God has called you to be!
What is one way you have grown during the past six months, and what are you making space for in the future? Let me know in the comments!
Love y’all!
Kommentarer