So the BEST day of the month for me is when our church has a class called 301. It falls under the umbrella of the team I am on, and I have been beyond blessed to have been allowed to teach it for the last 3 years.

Why do I love this class so much? Because it goes through the process of showing people 2 things.

1 – How beautifully and specifically God made you for a purpose.

2 – How intentionally and specifically God made those people you don’t really like for a purpose too.

There is WAY more to it than that, but those are the 2 things that I can say are huge within the class.

The class has been laid out so testimonies can be shared, and everyone can dig in to what their Spiritual Gifts – Holy Spirit given, Heart – what do you LOVE, Abilities – what can you do, Personality – shy, extrovert, bossy, empathetic, etc… and Experiences. Throughout the class we walk everyone through each step as they dive into a personal inventory of who they are through Christ. In the end showing them they are God’s army on earth. When they are mobilized into the ministry God built them for, they are blessed beyond their imagination! When they are in the right ministry they are fruitful and fulfilled and it helps GROW THE KINGDOM which is the whole reason we do what we do!

Anyway, we have had anywhere between 2 and 5 teachers teaching it. Because I love it so very much, I REALLY like when there are only 2 of us as that means I get to teach more. (Seriously…and selfishly). Generally I will be teaching the majority of the time.

Not that I’m the best at it, I just REALLY love walking people through the process, and watching their eyes light up when they realize that though people called them a cry-baby as a kid, GOD made them have a big heart that feels deeply! That is OKAY and it can be used to help others! (There is so much more, but I’ll save that for another time).

Generally the week before the class, I pray for God to help me with who will be teaching and what they will teach. The easy given, is my new boss will always be teaching, so he’ll take a chunk…and then I prayed…and prayed…and God led me to having another pastor AND another person from our team teach. WHAT??? That means less for M E.

So, I listened and broke the 4 hour class up between the 4 of us. As I prayed over which section…God changed MY plan. I ended up with 3 smaller parts. Again, WHAT?! Doesn’t He know how much I love to teach this class?!?!?!

I was faithful and separated the class the way I felt He was leading me. To be honest, the whole way driving up to class I was praying He’d change His mind, so I could change the teaching schedule to have me talk more…but nope.

What happened, was when I arrived, I said hello to our amazing team of volunteers and fellow staff members, had a gal from our team pray for me… it was WONDERFUL.

Until, God asked me to give away ANOTHER section! Are you kidding me?!?!?! Why was I even there?!?  Sigh, so I did. Even though I didn’t want to, I did.

Remarkably the other teacher from our team came up to me and said, “You know…the whole way to class today I was praying about how I really love to teach this class, but I am so thankful for the other areas God lets me teach, so I told Him I was coming in “palms up” for whatever He had for me.”

Isn’t that beautiful. God heard her prayer! Though I wanted to do so much more, I had to listen to the Holy Spirit and change my plans. I didn’t need to understand why, I just needed to listen and follow directions.

In the end, I was able to see that it was an answer to someone else’s prayer!

Are you able to hear God? If not, I would suggest listening a bit differently.

1 – Go to church…for the WHOLE service. From hello and first song straight through the prayer, last song and goodbye. It’s a WHOLE experience.

2 – Read your Bible. He will talk to you A LOT there. It just takes a bit of practice and prayer.

3 – Serve Him by volunteering somewhere in your church. “Iron sharpens iron”. Prov 27:17

4 – Listen to the Godly people around you. Sometimes He can use others to direct us.

It is worth it. Pray and then listen.The class eneded up going well and I can say I was able to follow God’s direction. Do I always? No, because it is hard and I am human. But I do my best.

What I learned today…Though I don’t always get what I want or understand why things happen, I am so thankful God directs me in such strong ways. Though I really felt the loss of teaching more, I am so thankful a prayer was answered for another teacher. And in it all God still worked! I love my job!!!