(Proverbs 3:5&6) Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Learning from our mistakes is sometimes quite painful.  Years ago, I had the opportunity to learn to wait on the Lord’s directions, rather than choosing my own way.

This opportunity began when out of anger and frustration, I quit my job at a Christian school where I worked as a high school teacher and administrator. God had placed me in this Christian school right out of college, but I always had this thought that I would be more useful in the public-school setting. Quitting, however, was not the Lord’s direction for me; but in my pride, I chose to go my own way. For the next three years, I taught in public schools at the elementary level.

The result of going my own way was that I learned just how it feels to be inadequate. I was a fish out of water at the elementary level, and public school was a whole new experience of frustration.  I still have nightmares about those three years.  God allowed me to find out what happens when one of his children goes their own way.

When my time of discipline was over and I reached a humble place of repentance before my Father, I was allowed to return to a Christian school, and to again teach high school students.  I returned to the place where I was gifted; I was grateful to be back where I belonged.

This three-year diversion was a great and terrible time. It was difficult to walk through, but it proved to be a valuable lesson that I will never forget.  I am now a child who waits upon the Lord and more carefully follows his directions.