Prayer

Prayer
by J.B. Jones

I have to share the amazing power of prayer in my life. For those of you that do not know, my school system was taken over by the state last February. Needless to say, the fallout has continued on and on. It has been very stressful because of all the impending layoffs and morale as at an all time low. I have had one of the worst years as a counselor through all of this mess. I guess it has not been easy dealing with students with impossible situations that I can not even begin to understand or help in any way, but to simply listen. It has simply brought me down and I have absolutely experienced such burn-out I was ready to quit. I want to share several journal entries that I wrote during this time to show how amazing God is....

Journal Entry - "I don't want to go to work anymore. What do you want me to do Lord? I can't keep doing this when I am so miserable. I can't handle anything. I feel like such a failure."

A bit of self-pity for sure, but I proceeded to write down my likes and dislikes of my job. And yet more grumbling..."I don't know what to do. I want you to tell me. I don't want to base my decision on me and my "feelings" but truly know I am in your will. Why has my career choice always been such a source of stress for me? I want to find peace and rest."

I went on to finish my thoughts by making a list of my perceived choices... -
1. quit - stay home/write
2. quit - go back to school/write
3. stay at my job/write 4. stay and go back to school/write

I concluded by writing the following - "My goodness - change - maybe all I need is change- if I make a move and it is a mistake I know you will help me, but I am not going to do anything until I know that I know that I am in your precious will. Thank you for giving me hope. Be anxious for nothing"

The amazing thing is the next morning I received a call to see if I would be interested in a job. And now here I am over two months later as I have consistently prayed for God's will and I have been offered that job! Scary, but so exciting. I have been so anxious on and off over the last month about this job. Mainly that I don't think I can do it! I even convinced myself I just needed to stay where I am because I didn't want my summer ruined because I would be worried about starting a new job. Then I got the call! I was excited and not scared at all. Weird actually...I keep thinking something is wrong with me for not freaking out, but just the other night I had prayed that I would be able to feel peace if this was the right job for me and they offered to me. Thank you so much Lord for your unfailing love for healing my faithlessness.

I am still a little scared, but I know that I will not be able to do a good job without completely relying on the Lord. Maybe that is why he has opened this door for me! It will be an adventure!

I can do all things through Christ who gives strengthens me. Philippians 4:13