We continue Part 2 of God’s Faithfulness from Trevor and Nancy Connelly; a husband and wife team, longtime friends of ours, Take Back Ministries board members and retired educators with combined total of 62 years in education. Love and Blessings!!
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Nancy: Psalm 27:4-6 “For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion. In the secret place of His Tabernacle He shall set me high upon a rock.”
I remember just getting back into teaching after staying home with our son for 5 years after he was born. I got hired at a Private School halfway through September. It was with a 5th grade class that had been through a horrible experience with their former teacher. They had risen up against her, and she had quit. So, for me it was an uphill battle to gain their love and respect. With lots of prayer and unconditional love, there was a turnaround. By the time February rolled around, the class gave me a surprise birthday party in the school gym! Even though that class started out to be a great challenge, I will always remember them with great love! Unfortunately I was only there a year due to the closure of the school that had some problems with the church it was affiliated with.
At another school I was teaching Kindergarten for 5 years with 20 children in the morning and another 20 in the afternoon. I had also started a prayer meeting after school for the teachers once a week and we were seeing many answered prayers! It was becoming challenging keeping up with all my students and their parents, however, I persevered. Mid year our school got a new principal because our current principal retired. It was obvious that the prayer meeting bothered the new principal but she never said anything. Nearing the end of the school year, the principal informed me that I would have to teach half-day kindergarten at our school and half day at another school for the next school year! The other school was a new school opening up about 3 miles down the road. One of the other Kindergarten teachers who had only been at the school for a year (she happens to be one of the principal’s Friday night drinking friends) was asked to stay full time at the school. Honestly, at first it seemed unfair and unjust. But God had a plan. I got before the Lord and expressed my confidence in Him. I said, “Lord, you must be up to something" and went about my business. Unbeknownst to me the office staff was rising up against the principal on my behalf and a couple of other teachers who were being attacked. One day we had some central administration staff visit our campus. One of the central administrators looked right at me and said, "You can do whatever you want to next year. You can either stay here full time or go to the new school full time." So I said" I'd like to go to the new school and teach 2nd grade!" I was given a choice and it was approved. It worked out wonderfully and my husband was even able to transfer to the new school where we both taught there for 8 years! The principal at the former campus eventually got fired from the district! This was Psalm135: 14 in action. It states, “The Lord will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants.”
Trevor: The dreary task of conferencing with each of the parents at the beginning of the school year turned into a blessing that reached to the sky!
While teaching at a private school I was conferencing with a parent that was an airline pilot. He was asking many questions and I was filling in all of the answers. At the end of our conversation, knowing that he had 20 plus years of aviation experience, I said "wouldn't it be great if you could take us up in a plane?" He got very quiet for what seemed to be 10 minutes, but then responded, "Let's do it!" A few months later, with everything planned and organized, he rented out a Cesna 172 and took our class of fifth graders up in a plane, 3 at a time from the Addison Airport in the D/FW metroplex. We also had the opportunity to visit the control tower and historic planes at the airport. Everyone was extremely blessed by this experience! What started out as a mundane meeting literally helped us reach the skies! It turned out to be the field trip of a lifetime! Mark 9:23 “Nothing shall be impossible to them that believe.”
***************************************
Nancy: Psalm 27:4-6 “For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion. In the secret place of His Tabernacle He shall set me high upon a rock.”
I remember just getting back into teaching after staying home with our son for 5 years after he was born. I got hired at a Private School halfway through September. It was with a 5th grade class that had been through a horrible experience with their former teacher. They had risen up against her, and she had quit. So, for me it was an uphill battle to gain their love and respect. With lots of prayer and unconditional love, there was a turnaround. By the time February rolled around, the class gave me a surprise birthday party in the school gym! Even though that class started out to be a great challenge, I will always remember them with great love! Unfortunately I was only there a year due to the closure of the school that had some problems with the church it was affiliated with.
At another school I was teaching Kindergarten for 5 years with 20 children in the morning and another 20 in the afternoon. I had also started a prayer meeting after school for the teachers once a week and we were seeing many answered prayers! It was becoming challenging keeping up with all my students and their parents, however, I persevered. Mid year our school got a new principal because our current principal retired. It was obvious that the prayer meeting bothered the new principal but she never said anything. Nearing the end of the school year, the principal informed me that I would have to teach half-day kindergarten at our school and half day at another school for the next school year! The other school was a new school opening up about 3 miles down the road. One of the other Kindergarten teachers who had only been at the school for a year (she happens to be one of the principal’s Friday night drinking friends) was asked to stay full time at the school. Honestly, at first it seemed unfair and unjust. But God had a plan. I got before the Lord and expressed my confidence in Him. I said, “Lord, you must be up to something" and went about my business. Unbeknownst to me the office staff was rising up against the principal on my behalf and a couple of other teachers who were being attacked. One day we had some central administration staff visit our campus. One of the central administrators looked right at me and said, "You can do whatever you want to next year. You can either stay here full time or go to the new school full time." So I said" I'd like to go to the new school and teach 2nd grade!" I was given a choice and it was approved. It worked out wonderfully and my husband was even able to transfer to the new school where we both taught there for 8 years! The principal at the former campus eventually got fired from the district! This was Psalm135: 14 in action. It states, “The Lord will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants.”
Trevor: The dreary task of conferencing with each of the parents at the beginning of the school year turned into a blessing that reached to the sky!
While teaching at a private school I was conferencing with a parent that was an airline pilot. He was asking many questions and I was filling in all of the answers. At the end of our conversation, knowing that he had 20 plus years of aviation experience, I said "wouldn't it be great if you could take us up in a plane?" He got very quiet for what seemed to be 10 minutes, but then responded, "Let's do it!" A few months later, with everything planned and organized, he rented out a Cesna 172 and took our class of fifth graders up in a plane, 3 at a time from the Addison Airport in the D/FW metroplex. We also had the opportunity to visit the control tower and historic planes at the airport. Everyone was extremely blessed by this experience! What started out as a mundane meeting literally helped us reach the skies! It turned out to be the field trip of a lifetime! Mark 9:23 “Nothing shall be impossible to them that believe.”
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