To “my kids”—
Thank you. Thank you for the smiles, laughter, endless creativity, hard work, encouragement and joy you brought to my classroom every day. Thank you for teaching me how to be more patient, loving, flexible, creative, forgiving, understanding, and others-centered. Thank you for the “thank you’s” as you left my classroom each day, and the sweet comments that made me feel beautiful on the days when I was feeling anything but. Thanks for showing me, through your actions, what perseverance, kindness, love, and Christ-centeredness looks like. Thank you for loving me, and allowing me the opportunity to be your teacher.
It has been the greatest privilege of my life to call each of you “my kid.” And you will always be that to me. Leaving you, and this CCS community, is the hardest decision I have ever had to make, and a decision I did (and do) not make lightly. Nothing but the God of this universe would keep me from you, and He is the reason– the only reason– I go, and go I must. If I can teach you anything, my hope is that through my “going” you can see that God has the greatest plan for your life if you allow Him to take hold of it. He is chasing hard after you! And you may think “Miss Mora, I’m a Christian. I prayed the prayer of salvation. I’ve done what I must!” And my response is “Great! Praise the Lord. But that’s simply step one… You must be willing to give over DAILY your fleshly desires and relinquish control to Him.” It’s so hard to do, believe me I know, but I encourage you to not simply be “ok” with having “checked the box” of salvation, but live in it daily. I know the world tells us the Christian life isn’t “cool” or “hip” or “normal.” I fell for that for way too long, and I hope you will choose better than I did. Why? ITS BETTER THAN BEING THE WORLD’S DEFINITION OF “COOL” OR “POPULAR” OR “SWAG”! He doesn’t promise us an easy life, or a constantly happy life, but definitely an adventure that shows us the depth of His love and His glory! A life that is greater than we could have ever imagined for ourselves! I have felt over these last days like an absolute loon at times as the weight of this hits me, and as I mourn the loss of being your teacher. Yet as I cry tears of sadness, I have also cried just as much as I realize what He has done for me– He is granting me another desire of my heart. To be your teacher was my first desire, and though I’ve fought against this call to missions because it meant leaving you, I can see that now He is granting me my second desire– the opportunity to travel, experience the beauty of His creation and love on His people in an epic way. I don’t know what comes after these 11 months as a missionary, but I know that God has given me one of the desires of my heart, and even if I never enter the classroom again, I can say that through YOU He has blessed me more than I could have ever imagined. I pray that you will have/continue to have peers, teachers, and mentors in your life who show you the great joy that comes through life with Him, and that you will choose to be a Christ-follower, not a poser as I was for many years as a Christian school student. I pray that you won’t let the fear of relinquishing control stop you from taking the steps of faith God is calling you to. I pray that you will find the passions and gifts that God has granted you and figure out how- through those gifts- you can show Jesus to our world. I am so excited to watch and see what God does in and through you.
I love you!
Miss Mora
