“The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” (Isaiah 58:11 NIV)

Last Friday I told how God worked in my life to miraculously convict me that I was to take the interim job as French consultant for my school board.

My year at the school board was very busy. My responsibilities were numerous, but other than the fact that I missed my students, I found the job, overall, very rewarding. I was able to help students indirectly by helping their teachers. I also visited principals and many others in our school board, as well as in other boards. I even had to go out of town for seminars and meetings, and the doors were open for me to make many new friends. I think the part I enjoyed the most was helping new teachers, and over all, the year helped me understand how to help students in better ways.

Prior to this year as an interim consultant, I had been thinking about becoming a principal. I had even begun to do the required coursework. One day, while I was working as a French consultant, however, I took my guitar into one of the classrooms of one of the new teachers to demonstrate how music can be used to help students learn French. It felt so good to be back in the classroom, and I realized then that if I were to become a principal, I would sorely miss being able to teach students. I realized that God was using this time as a French consultant to keep me from making a major mistake. He knew I needed to stay in the classroom; but had it not been for my time as a French consultant, I would have potentially left that all behind.

Towards the end of my year at the school board, I was asked to become the French Consultant in a Catholic Board. I politely declined the offer, for by this time I was counting the days to be able to return to teaching. Then one day, some of my superiors came to me with some welcome but unpleasant advice: “It would be better for you to not return to your former school.”

I was devastated. “Why?”

The reason didn’t seem right: “Your fellow teachers won’t treat you the same now that you’ve been working as a consultant for the board.” Knowing the teachers at my former school, however, I could see that this could be possible. I didn’t want them to see me as “different”, and I certainly didn’t want them to feel uncomfortable, so I began to apply at other schools. There weren’t many openings, but I did receive a job offer to be a grade 5 teacher in another nearby town.

It was tough to change school and it took time to get to know my new coworkers; but my students were wonderful, and that made it all worthwhile. I was very, very happy to be back in the classroom, and I was thankful that God had miraculously kept me from making a major mistake and leaving the classroom for good. And, as time progressed, I began to see that God had also used the year as a French consultant in order to make me change schools…. But that’s another story. Stay tuned….

Sometimes God’s miracles help to give us guidance and to keep us from making major mistakes. In Him, there is ALWAYS Hope!

Rob Chaffart

(To access the entire “There is ALWAYS Hope” devotional series, please click here.)