When I was thirty-three, I was underwhelmed in my state job at the time and grew weary reading about so many areas of the world stricken by poverty and violence. I asked God, what can I do to help? I just felt there was more to my life and I didn’t know my purpose for being here. I felt called to do something more, and act on my passion to “save the world.” I felt the Lord as I was searching online for another job.
I felt led to sign up for the North Carolina Teaching Corps to teach children living in areas with wealth challenges. The program boasted of the fact that a degree in education wasn’t required, but any degree would do. I needed a letter of recommendation and I asked my coworker, Jill, for one. She said she would give me a recommendation, but also sent me a link to the National Teaching Corps, Teach for America. Teach For America’s mission was to end educational inequity for all children regardless of race, gender, or economic status. The program required (at the time) 6 weeks teacher training in the Mississippi Delta.
I would have to leave my state salaried job and be unemployed for six weeks while I trained. Also, I would have to leave my husband and two small children for six weeks without having an income. Then, after training I would have to apply at a public school in North Carolina and be paid less then I was currently making on top of teaching in the underserved area. To say this was a huge commitment was an understatement, but I felt the call on my life. My mind wandered back to my childhood when I played the teacher to my friends and brother–assigning homework and all.
This move took, what I call AMAZING FAITH and reminded me of the Centurion, a Roman official’s faith in the Bible. The Roman official’s servant was sick and he sent elders to Jesus to ask for his servant’s healing. Jesus went with them and was close to the Centurion’s house when the Centurion’s friends asked Jesus not to come. The friends said that the Centurion believed that all Jesus had to do was say the word and his servant would be healed. Jesus was amazed by his faith as it states in Luke 7:9-10:
Now when Jesus heard this, He was amazed at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” 10 And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.
Luke 7:9-10
This is the type of faith that led me to Mississippi. I amazed God at that type of move, that type of risk, that type of change because he asked me. I didn’t know how all of the bills would get paid without my income, or how my husband and children would cope with my leaving for six weeks. I didn’t know what my parents or friends would think. I didn’t know how to teach, I wasn’t even qualified by the actual standards.
But, I also didn’t know, was that I would be nominated for First Year Teacher of the Year, and my students would score #1 in the district in 8th grade reading. I didn’t know that my students would self-publish their own books, and make the front page of the local newspaper. I didn’t know that we would bring white families and children to what was known as the “black” library. I didn’t know that so many children, school staff, and communities would be forever transformed by the change that one faithful teacher could do.
I didn’t know that in Mississippi, I would meet people that because of their own faith in God, discipled me, prayed for me and cared for me enough for me to change. It would be almost 7 years later that the fruit of that faithful trip to Mississippi would be fully known. That faithful trip led me to my purpose and turned my pain from the ills of the world to a passion for intercession. I was not only called to teach, but to intercede for those cities, families, children, and even nations that burdened by spirit. I had to have FAITH, Faith that would even amaze God, that would even have Jesus say “not in all of Israel had he seen such Faith.”
That is the type of faith that he is calling us all to have. Faith that would amaze him. Faith that would move him. Faith is the only thing that moves God. We have to believe that He can do it. We have to believe that all He has to do is say the word and it will be done. All He has to do is say the word and we are healed, our mother is healed, our children are healed, our spouses are healed. All Jesus has to do is say the word and our finances are blessed, our home is blessed, our next step is blessed. We have to believe that our Faith is what makes us whole. It is our faith by which we are healed and saved. It is by our faith that we are redeemed and restored and even by which our friends and family are healed, saved, redeemed, and restored. So, I ask again, what type of faith do you have?
Speak Truth N Love 