GOD IS GOOD!
Written by Martine Fanfan
  
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” -Matthew 19:14
For as long as I could remember, I have always had a passion and love for children. God has blessed me with the opportunity to not only teach to the youth, but reach the youth. Being an Educator is the most honorable job one can have.
As a Christian, I had to face many challenges in my profession. The school year brought many trials, tears, and discouragements. I had to deal with irate parents, mentally ill children, abused children, and of course my colleagues strong personalities and characters. Thanks be to God, I was so fortunate to have a fellow disciple in the same wing, same hall, and only one door away from me. Cynthia Culliver was our Speech teacher, I met her at our singles conference last year, and I was so thankful to have her. We would get together and pray before we started our day. “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” -Matthew 18:19. I needed those prayers to sustain me through the day. I remember on numerous occasions where I would breakdown because of frustration with my students or their parents, and she would allow me into her office to just vent and cry.
God is still good!
Though my year started a little rough, it ended with a bang, thanks to God! At the beginning of the school year, 70% of my 3rd grade students were considered low according to previous test scores. I worked as hard as I could to bring them up to level and prepared them for the CRCT. Some days, I thought everything I taught them went in one ear and out the other. My students even had a hard time grasping the lessons being taught to them. In my heart, I started to doubt that some could pass. The days of CRCT came, and I would pray and pray to God to give them the knowledge to conquer the test. Needless to say, ALL of my students passed the test with the exception of one, and that one student transferred to my class from another county the first day we started testing. Not only has God blessed my students, he has blessed me with an unexpected promotion. For the upcoming school year, I will take the role of being chairperson for the 3rd grade team. I will be leading a group of 9 to 10 veteran teachers. I do admit I was a bit surprised to be chosen as chairperson. I am a little nervous considering that I am the youngest of age and only have four years of teaching experience under my belt. I am leading a group of women that have been teaching for as long as I have been alive! I do not know nor do I understand what God is doing. I have to constantly remind myself of the scripture in Proverbs 3:5, Trust in the lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
Overall, GOD IS GOOD! God is raising us higher in our workplaces, and all other aspects of our lives. So let God show up and show out!
ECCLESIASTES 3:1, 4
"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: … a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to DANCE..."
  
July 19, 2007
I just wanted to encourage everybody with this:
As most of you know, my dance partner Jacenta and I entered a salsa contest for the grand prize of $1500, and I am proud to announce that WE WON!!! It was absolutely, positively, without a doubt nothing but GOD.
How do I know this? Picture this: Though you all know that I am no amateur by any means, the other two guys in the competition are definitely on a higher plane than me in my opinion. Greg, who just happens to be over me at the same studio that I teach at, has been dancing much longer and has taught and performed all over the country. The other person, Gordon, has been my 'salsa role-model' ever since I started dancing seriously. He is internationally known in the salsa community. When I found out last week that these guys and their partners were our competition, I knew our chances to win would be slim. However, Jacenta and I refused to back down.
Before the contest, we each prayed individually (we did not know until we talked about it later) that we would win in spite of the odds in order to bring glory to God. In hindsight, I see that God set it up this way for a purpose. Although I would have been happy with winning the money regardless of whom we beat, I did feel that if the competition level was not at a certain level for us, that I would not feel like we had accomplished anything. (Maybe that is just me being competitive...) I think God had the same thing in mind, but with a slightly different twist, in a Gideon sort of way. Of course he would still have been glorified by us winning if we were the favorites to win, but it brings him that much more glory for us to have defeated two salsa 'celebrities'. What is funny is that Jacenta was chatting with another dancer that we know, telling him that she feels like we were David and the other two couples were Goliath. Ruben said to her something to the affect of 'Well, you know how that story ended...' Sure enough, that is EXACTLY how it ended!
I am so grateful to God that he blessed us to be able to do this. It is both humbling (in a good way) and encouraging at the same time. I also wanted to take the time out to thank the few of you all who showed up, as well as the countless others who prayed for us and wished us luck!
By Myron Abernathy
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