Hammer on Anvil '

Today I wanted to take an opportunity to share one way that God has been working in my life over the past few months. I’ve posted a few times in the past about prayer and how we need to be mindful of how we pray (see this post and this post), but today I want to share one specific aspect of my personal life where I have recently seen God at work.

First, some background. For the past five years, I was a high school teacher. I loved it and I put my heart and soul into it. And then this past summer, I got married, so I gave up my teaching job so I could move to Springfield, MO to be with my amazing wife Sesha. I’m not a wealthy guy and neither is my wife, so we both were praying for God to provide a teaching job for me. We asked others to pray for us as well. But ultimately, I wasn’t able to find a teaching job.

On one level, this was very disappointing and discouraging. I mean, c’mon, we prayed. It’s one thing to know on an intellectual level that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28), but it’s something else entirely to live it and even embrace it when bad things happen. When these things happen, I think our default is usually to feel as if God has forgotten us or left us behind for some reason. But regardless of whatever feelings we have in any particular moment, God is always there for us.

As a result of not finding a teaching job, I reconsidered my future. I mean, I could certainly return to teaching the next year, but maybe God had something better in mind for me. Before I decided to become a teacher, I wanted to be a commercial airline pilot, so I looked into that as an option. I love, love to fly and my wife and I love, love to travel (pilots and their families get free standby tickets!). There were loads of other things I considered in terms of pros and cons, but then I thought about it, prayed about it, and ultimately decided to pursue it. I start flight school next Monday (super excited!).

Over the several months that this has transpired, Sesha and I have seen several affirmations from God. Firstly, Sesha is a photographer and for the past several years (before she even met me) she has been praying for more money so that she can afford to fly overseas to photograph for non-profits. This was another prayer that God turned for his own purpose. After I start flying for an airline, Sesha will get free standby tickets and can photograph for non-profits all over the world!

Secondly, God really came through for the financing. I won’t get into all the gory details, but suffice it to say that flight school is EXPENSIVE and we could not afford it. Finding out how we would pay for it was a roller coaster with highs of excitement and lows of utter discouragement. There were a few times when I wondered if God was trying to steer me in a different direction by closing doors for financing. Ultimately though, God came through here too.

A third way that we have seen God’s blessing has been through work for Sesha. The flight school is in Dallas, so we wanted Sesha to be able to spend as much time as possible down there with me. This meant that she needed to find some work in Dallas. She had also been wanted to learn more about commercial photography. Long story short, God has opened up some amazing doors where she will be able to learn more about commercial photography, will be able to make more money than what we were hoping for, and she’ll be able to spend quite a bit of time in Dallas. She never would’ve pursued this as an option if I wasn’t starting flight school in Dallas.

Another affirmation from God also came through money. For three years, Sesha and her mom have been working very hard to pay off a bill that is $450 monthly. They wanted very much to get this bill paid in full and so they almost always paid much more than the minimum. It was a large balance, so they weren’t sure how long it would take. Well, just last week, we all went out to celebrate finally paying this bill in full. I mentioned before that I start flight school in Dallas next Monday. We found a very decently priced apartment in Dallas. Can you guess how much it costs? About $450 a month.

Wow, God is awesome.

Just some quick recap. I prayed for a teaching job and I’m now going to be a pilot. Sesha prayed for more money so she could purchase flights to be able to photograph for non-profits and now she is going to get free flights around the world.

Romans 8:28 is always true, we just have to be patient enough to let God accomplish things in His way and in His timing. :)