By Ann Farabee
I am literally in awe of what God has done for me in my life. I consider myself to be living proof of the miraculous feats that the Lord can accomplish in the lives of His children.
God’s children? Wow, that is an amazing way to think of ourselves, isn’t it?
One thing I am fairly knowledgeable about is children. My life has been filled with children and continues to be filled with children no matter the age I reach.
Forgive me as I reminisce for a minute.
The number of children I have taught has reached into the thousands, for sure. Forty years in the public schools, sometimes teaching four classes a day, 10 years in my tutoring business, Sunday school teacher for 30 years or more, children’s choir and youth leader. How much more fulfilling could life be?
For the record, some of these years overlapped, but either way, I am not a spring chicken, as you know. Hey, I worked hard to get as old as I am!
You see, God had a purpose for my life, and as part of that purpose, I believe He will keep me here on Earth until He brings that purpose for me to completion.
Yes, even as a teenager when I was first beginning to internalize what it meant for Jesus to know me and for me to know Jesus, it showed me that God had a purpose for me.
Yes, even during my college years when I seemed to stray often, I never strayed so far that the Holy Spirit was no longer with me as He kept showing His love for me, guiding me toward Him and keeping me safe until I returned home — which was located in His arms of love and forgiveness.
God is our God of our lifetime. He is not just our God of troubled times, and He is not just our God of good times.
He is our God that that knew us before we were born.
He is our God that has a plan for our lives, and He is our God of love, compassion and forgiveness.
During the early years and situations in which I walked away from God’s Word, He was always with me — in the car, in the classroom, in the apartment, the dorm room, the work place or at home living with my parents..
There was a song I often sang to myself back in the ’70s as I was finding my way, while working at McDonald’s, Pizza Inn, Roses and going to college. What began as a song where I cried over a relationship with a boyfriend, became a song that I worshipped to as I realized my failure as a young Christian:
Maybe I didn’t love you
Quite as often as I could have
Maybe I didn’t treat you
Quite as good as I should have
If I made you feel second best
I’m so sorry I was blind
You were alway on my mind
You were always on my mind.
Thanks to Willie Nelson, B.J. Thomas, Elvis Presley, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and others for singing this song that always brought me back to Jesus!
Sometimes, my mind begin to wander away from Jesus.
In my heart, He was never second best but one could not tell it by the way I lived.
Thankfully, Jesus and the mind of God never wander away from us.
After I got saved at age 13, I realized that all I had to do to bring to Jesus to mind was to think of Him, and there He was lingering in my spirit. He heard every word I thought or said as He comforted me and hugged me to sleep each night. All I had to do to touch Jesus was breathe His name in my mind or in my heart.
Then came age 23. I was teaching middle school and I wrote a Bible verse each day on a post-it, put it in my pocket or on my desk and looked at it throughout the school day. Sometimes, I didn’t even look at that post-it because putting my hand on it was enough to remind me of promises from my Lord and Savior.
Walking around my classroom all day with a Bible verse in my pocket was probably one of the most important things I did to nurture my relationship with my Jesus.
I was reminded that God’s Word is alive! God’s Word was speaking to me!
Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Word of God is alive and active.
It does not matter if we are at work, at home, in the car or wherever our day takes us — God can speak to our hearts where we are. He still will. He still does.
Shh… Listen. Did you hear that? Did you hear His voice speaking to your heart?
Don’t you love that? I do too! We are living proof that God still speaks to us!
Ann Farabee is a teacher, writer and speaker. Contact her at annfarabee@gmail.com or annfarabee.com.
