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God's Faithfulness-Part 2

7/27/2015

 
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.”

 



God’s Faithfulness- Part 1

7/13/2015

 
Our next guests are a husband and wife team- Trevor and Nancy Connelly. Both are retired educators with a combined total of 62 years in education. They are longtime friends of ours and board members of Take Back Ministries. They reflect on God’s faithfulness as former public school educators in a two part series.  Love and Blessings!!
                                       
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Nancy: Through all my years of teaching, there were factors both inside and outside of education that seemed to pose a challenge. However, my students were always a blessing.  What helped me to be effective was staying very focused on what God had called me to do in the classroom and not the other distracting circumstances going on all around me.

Philipians 3:14  was one of my favorite scriptures that kept me focused.
“I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus!”
Many times I worked among fellow peers who did not care much how they spoke to others or what they spoke to others.  As I determined to obey the word of God and continued speaking life through my words, God would always bring peace to any situation around me. (Psalm: 57:4)

I remember specifically, one day as I was driving to work from Lewisville to Dallas, on a busy highway, and suddenly I got a flat tire!  My first thought was I was going to have 20 kids standing outside my classroom door, waiting to get in because I was late for work. Right where I was, I called out to God, asking Him to help me! A little bit further down the highway, I saw a ramp and decided to exit there.  Right at the bottom of the ramp was a store that looked like a Seven/Eleven and there was a man standing outside of it.  When I got out of the car he said, "How can I help you?"  Remember, I had asked God for help!  I told him I had a flat tire. The man fixed it and I arrived to school on time!  Now, that is God’s faithfulness in action and it brings Psalm 46:1 to life for me. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”


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Trevor: What do you do when you need more opportunities for your students?  You PRAY and God will show you a way when there seems to be no way.  Isaiah 43:16 “God will make a way where there seems to be no way.”

This was one of the experiences on God’s faithfulness that stands out in my teaching career. I would see students gathering often after school for an enrichment program called Mad Science. It was a great program, however, after visiting a few sessions of the program (which were mostly demonstrations) and compared the cost students were paying for it, I got a revelation.  Why couldn’t I provide such an opportunity that is more engaging for our students instead?  As a science teacher, it was clear students loved it by the attendance and success of the program. So I began praying and asking for direction and guidance.  The more I prayed the more it seemed there were dead end signs anywhere I looked. More so, there was limited support, not many were applauding or encouraging me on to pursue the idea. But I sensed God’s direction, so I went ahead and cleared it with administration to start an after- school science class.  I was told that my intended after-school science class could not possibly succeed based on the fact that the Mad Science program was already established. God always has a way. I began the after-school science class and the word got around. The doors burst wide open and I had to limit the number of students to 30 students a session with no assistant!  God richly blessed the program and me in many ways!  The kids were ecstatic and following through with the idea renewed me!

 

 


    Dr. Feyi Obamehinti

    A Blog for Equipping and Empowering people to thrive with the Word of God. Daughter of the King, Wife, Mother, Daughter, Sister, Friend, Mentor, & Educator enjoying the Blessed Life in Christ Jesus. Oasis Focus Inc. is a ministry of restoration & equipping. 

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