I was so anxious to be a teacher again. It had been more than a year since I taught English as a Second Language. I searched the net for hours looking for supplementary teaching materials. I created a colorful spreadsheet on Microsoft Excel outlining the phonics, grammar and reading that would be taught each day. I had it all planned out. If these girls didn’t know English before, they would be well taught after a two week program. (HOW COCKY!)
Then God said, “Baby girl, that’s your plan, not mine. Just put those plans up and wait.”
(In my most Southern accent) Do what? I worked hard on these plans.
“Just wait.”
So, I waited.
What I thought would be three different blocks of English turned into one.
What I thought would be fifteen eager to learn Cambodian girls turned into four or five.
What I thought would be a group of high beginner English speakers turned into students at four or five different levels.
God said, “I thought you gave up your expectations at training camp.”
I thought I did too.
God is still teaching me to let go of my ideas and plans and see how I can be used to see His plans through.
HIS THOUGHTS are better than mine.
After Khmer New Year I opened up to my team and said my least favorite words,
“I need help. I don’t know what to do.”
Gracious as they are, ideas came quickly and today we saw them through.
I was anxious to get in the gate as my favorite guard greeted me with, “Hello friend.” We exchanged smiles, I parked my bike and she led us to the girls.
It wasn’t uncommon to see two of them engrossed in music videos. It seemed rather difficult to detach the girls’ eyeballs from the television screen. We sat with them for a moment grasping every possible opportunity to talk with them.
After leaving the two laid out on their couches, we found ourselves sitting in front of the loom admiring four girls working on their scarves.
Our two girls came with bags in hand. “What do you want to do?” One of the girls asked. In no time we were looking through their test review and helping them study.
It meant so much, them choosing to learn, not us forcing. It took only a few days with these girls to know that our well-planned schedules were not for them. As Leisa Schlichting said in her blog, “We are there to love.” If loving means putting aside our preconceived plans for what they’d like to do for that moment, then that’s exactly what we’re there for.
And at this moment, they wanted to study for next week’s exam. I wasn’t going to rob them of that for my planned lesson.
As I skimmed through the study guide, I wanted to burst out laughing. It consisted of grammar from the lesson plans I had put together a week and a half ago. Had I just sought the Lord first I would have found that His plans for English lined up with much of the subject matter I had taught a year and a half ago.
After a little more than an hour of studying, the girls seemed to be well-versed. I’m praying they ace their exams.
