This is my first year in a long time that I am not teaching in a high school. I miss it because I love teaching; that’s why I got into the profession in the first place. But I just realized today that God has been using me to teach other women in my church.
Daniel and I have had a brutally rough year. We experienced all the bruises and scrapes that come with learning how to undo bad habits. For me that was speaking disrespectfully to Daniel. For Daniel that was settling for spiritual complacency. But at the end of that year, he and I were both transformed and our marriage was revolutionized! Though a hackneyed analogy, we were caterpillars fighting tooth and nail in order to break free from the oppression in our relationship and move into a free, unified, and beautiful marriage.
We learned countless lessons that we felt compelled to share at our Young Marrieds group at church. Since then, wives have been coming to me with urgency to address their disrespect; they see how toxic it is for their marriages and yet feel helpless to change it.
One by one, women have sought help from me because I have been there and deeply understand their turmoil and hopelessness. With each coffee or lunch date or with each prayer and phone conversation, I see that these meetings have been working themselves into a relational classroom. God is using me, and all of my foibles that He worked me through (and is still working me through), to teach other women how to cultivate a respect for their husbands.
As I prayed and pondered for them, asking God to reveal to them and to me what they need for their particular marriage, I realized that this was a lot like lesson-planning; these women have sought me out to help them reach a certain learning goal and I have accepted the responsibility of finding the way that they need to be taught for their particular circumstances and personalities.
What a thrill to see how God is still using my penchant for teaching even though I am not employed by a school! His plan is so perfect. I can’t think of a better classroom than the one God creates out of our own personal trials and growth. It’s there that He can really teach us.
