I’ve always liked school! It was challenging for me since I had been homeschooled up until high school so in some ways I struggled a little more than others but I loved so many parts. I loved being tested and learning new things. And I loved talking and being social. You could say I thrived in government class when we had debates and discussions!
But after graduating high school I was convinced I would never be returning to school, and least that’s what I would have thought. Well…I find myself very much in school right now. The lord had other planes for me when I decided I wouldn’t be going to collage but instead taking a gap year for a mission trip.
Currently my ministry here in Ethiopia is walking the kindergarteners to school every morning and sometimes spontaneously teaching when they ask us too. The other morning as I was walking the kids I realized that I’m very much still in school.
Let me tell you why….
The lord has been blowing my mind since I have started the race. Everyday it’s something new that the lord throws at me to study so that I am able to work towards being more like Jesus. He never slows down he doesn’t wait till we are ready for something new instead he is always teaching wanting to fill us with more of him.
As I found myself carrying a child’s backpack for them, thinking about the days I was in school and had to carry my backpack to school. It was so clear to me how I am still in school it’s just not your typical schooling. Every day I’m being tested and challenged. I even still have the social part too. I’m challenged by conversations and asking questions about who my god is. And I find the lord testing me daily wether it be by giving me someone that day to love who isn’t easy to love. He didn’t call us to love those who are easy to love. But instead says love everybody always. I’m learning what that looks like. And it’s for sure easier said than done for sure. Just the other day as I was having a picnic with my team under some trees on a mountain there where village children surrounding us watching us. At first they where take and sweet then they started steeling are food and it escalated to them trying to steel all are things. Eventually we had to pack up quick and run. In that moment I was being challenged. I could have chosen to see Jesus in those children and loved them better. But instead I was bothered by them and ran away.
School isn’t always easy sometimes we fail tests and it’s exhausting but we need to pick ourselves up and look at what’s next because the lord doesn’t wait till we are ready for more. We are always in school.
