Good Ramblings

I think it's absolutely amazing how God uses situations in our life to glorify Him and to bring us closer to Him. I never stop feeling amazed when I see how God has taken difficult times in my life and woven them together to work out--sometimes for the betterment of me, but always for the betterment of His kingdom.

What's got me blogging about this?? Well, after reflecting back on the last few months/years of my life, I'm finally able to just begin to see how these things are working out in my life.

Let's go back and start senior year of high school:

Spring 2006- my dream was to attend The University of Alabama all 4 years and major in political science/international relations. By April of 2006, when all of my friends had already finalized their college plans, I grudgingly accept the fact that I would be going to community college for 2 years before transfering because my mom, who was a single mother at the time, could not afford to send me to UA on her teacher salary--and I hadn't been awarded any scholarships.
Well, about 2 weeks later I was awarded a full-ride to UA. Long story short, my ethnicity was mis-coded on the ACT and instead of taking away the scholarship, UA paid for my tuition for 4 years. This was when I knew God had plans for me at UA because He definitely wanted me there!!

Fall 2006-Spring 2008- I changed my major to Secondary Edu and English. Then went to switch it to fashion retail. I prayed about it for a week and knew that He wanted me to be an English teacher. I accepted, although I struggled with the yearning to major in fashion retail. If you know me, you know how much I LOOOOOVE fashion and respect it so much. But I knew that if I majored in fashion retail, then my life would be so consummed by labels that I would forget who I was, and I realized that as an English teacher I could still love fashion (believe me, I'm probably the best dressed/most fashionable teacher you've met ha) and still retain humility.

Fall 2008- I realized that because I spent the first 2 years in college only taking 12-13 hours per semester that I was behind and wouldn't graduate May 2010 if I didn't work my butt off!!

Spring 2010- Student teaching. I had a horrible student teaching experience and that's all I'm going to say about that. I spent days crying after school begging to change my major to fashion retail even though I was so close to graduation. My mom told me to finish and graduate with my teaching degree and then I could go back for fashion retail.

Summer 2010- I worked so hard to only have 1 class left to take this summer. However, the school wouldn't let me walk in May so I finished my May-mester class and waited around all summer to graduate in Aug 2010. During this time I also applied for many teaching jobs and went on a good number of interviews.
After each interview, the employer seemed so impressed with me that I just knew they were going to hire me. Boy, did the Lord have a lesson ready to teach me. Each time I was rejected, I felt more and more like I was a horrible teacher. I mean, all of my friends had teaching jobs, why couldn't I get one?

September-December 3, 2010- Since I was unable to land a full time teaching postition, I took on a 3 month maternity leave at my old high school teaching 11th and 12th grade English. OH MY GOSH HOW I HAVE LOVED IT!!!
It turns out that a few things have come from this experience:
1. There will be 2 openings in the English department come the fall. Now whether or not the school system will have a budget to hire more teachers in the fall, I'm not sure. But I do know that I have helped my chances of getting hired.
2. The principal came in to observe me teaching and he stayed the whole time--this is fantastic!!
3. Since Friday, I've been asked to sub a lot so I can still be a presence in the school!!!
4. Hopefully there may be another long term sub postition for me to fill until the new school year in the fall. If this happens, it will just give me more experience in teaching which might be seen as a bonus to future employers!!

Okay, yes I've been rambling and thank you for staying with me! All I can say is that I can look back on the last 4 years and especially last 4 months and see how God has interwoven things in my life to prepare me for something more. Now whether or not I'll get a full-time postition in the fall (either here or somewhere else) is up to the Lord. But what I do know is to trust in Him because He is taking care of me--now and forever.