I learned many things during my years as a teacher. Lessons that have helped me on my recovery journey and in my spiritual life. But these three simple lessons are the ones that made the biggest difference.
Lesson #1: Meet them where they are.
At the beginning of each new school year, I received a roster of the students I’d be teaching. General information including their parent’s names and contact information was included. Along with that, every child came with academic records. Accumulated and transferred year-to-year, these records told the story of their educational and social development, both the good and the bad.
It was all there. And until the first day of school, for the most part, the names and records were all I had.
Until I met them. Then, they were no longer faceless names on a page, they were real. And for the next nine months, they became mine. The red flags, past struggles, failures, and successes were still there, but this was a brand new year. A brand new opportunity.
I could not expect them to flourish or to grow unless I was willing to meet them exactly where they were. Exactly how they came to me. Rather than focusing on their past as a precursor for the year ahead, I focused on the children before me and coming to know them now.
We were embarking on a new journey together and I told them so. I looked forward to challenging them, inspiring them, learning new lessons, and growing alongside them as we navigated the coming year.
Isn’t that what God does for each of us?
God has the record of our past. He knows the desires of our hearts. Still, He calls us by name.
This was never more real for me than the moment my recovery journey began. God met me exactly where I was. In the darkness. Rather than shining a light on my failures, He shone the light of salvation.
He knew every step I’d taken to reach that dark and hopeless place. He reached for me anyway, pulled me from the darkness, and led me into the light. He still does.
How magnificent it is that there is no place we can go, no place we can hide, that God will not find us? Not to condemn us, but to save us.
Lesson #2: Help them set attainable goals.
Every child that sat in my classroom had strengths and weaknesses. They had achieved and struggled throughout their academic careers. They would continue too.
Part of meeting them where they are included acknowledging their strengths and their weaknesses. It also required creating a learning environment that provided opportunities for success. Preparing lessons that would inspire and challenge them, but also that they could succeed at.
Sometimes that simply meant encouraging them. Other times it meant helping them find ways to succeed despite the physical, emotional, or learning disabilities they suffered from. Still, other times it meant exposing a perceived flaw or weakness as just that and showing them they could absolutely overcome it.
In all those cases, success, even the smallest measure of it, became a stepping stone for more. They built one on another. One step at a time. In doing so, so did their confidence rise and so so did their desire to pursue loftier goals and to overcome rather than be derailed by obstacles.
Isn’t that how God helps each of us?
God knows our strengths and our weaknesses. He calls on us to rely on Him. To trust in His power so that we can overcome, endure, and prosper.
Stepping into recovery is overwhelming. It’s also scary, mentally and physically draining, and just plain hard. Especially in the first few months. Focusing on the big, overpowering picture is dangerous. The steps and the goals have to be small, so the successes can become big.
Instead of “I’m never going to drink or use again,” it’s, “I’m not going to drink or use today.” Rather than, “I’m too weak to climb this mountain,” it’s “With God’s help, I’m strong enough to take the first step.”
Like my students, with each success, my desire to stay the course grew. Likewise, my confidence and strength multiplied. God was beside me every step of the way. When I couldn’t, He could.
Trusting in Him and relying on His strength instead of my own was the only way I’d succeed. I knew that then as I know it now.
Lesson #3: Model perseverance.
Along with teaching, I was also a coach. I coached intramural track and girls volleyball. The lessons I’d learned as a runner and athlete, especially regarding endurance and perseverance served me well then, and even more so as a coach. Thus, rather than instruct from the sidelines, I ran with my students, jumped onto the court, and more often than not made a fool of myself!
My students needed to see me getting back in the saddle after a fall or trying again if I failed the first time. In the same way, I shared stories from my years as a runner. The many times I’d had to overcome injury and fatigue to finish a run or a race. The mental fortitude it often took to reach the finish line and how each time I did I was inspired to set a new personal goal.
Pushing through discomfort and frustration is part of succeeding. Perhaps the biggest part. Because in those moments we learn our biggest lessons. We learn what we’re made of and where our focus needs to be so we can endure and succeed. Adversity is our greatest teacher and perseverance is our most powerful tool.
Isn’t that what God calls us to do?
God wants us to persevere no matter what happens, so we learn how to overcome obstacles, difficulties, trials, and tribulations to experience victory in Christ.
Recovery is perseverance in action. From the first step to this very moment, perseverance is the only way forward. I knew from the beginning that this would be the fight of my life. I also knew I would never succeed without God’s help.
Since my recovery journey began over six years ago I’ve experienced the unexpected devastation of a category five hurricane, the loss of loved ones, illness, and injury, along with the daily struggles we all face. Life continued, then and now, all around me. It always will. The change had to come from the inside.
Every day I have to choose to trust God and keep my vision on Him or quit and abandon hope. I still do.
Of all the lessons I’ve learned as a teacher, coach, and in recovery this one stands above the others— perseverance without God is impossible.
In the darkness He met me,
and just as I am,
He quieted the chaos,
by taking my hand.
Each step that I took with,
His Light as my guide,
strengthened my spirit,
and turned back the tide,
of my desolation,
and all of my shame,
He met me and loved me,
and called me by name.
It was His strength that saved me,
His Mercy that flowed,
He covered my weakness,
and never let go.
He asked me to trust Him,
to step out in Faith,
to know He’d fight for me,
my burdens He’d take,
to persevere through the darkness,
stand firm in His Light,
not by my strength or timing,
but His Power and Might.
In the darkness He met me,
and just as I am,
He offered Salvation,
and Peace without end.
JN Fenwick (© 2024) | mothjournal14
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