Just when life is getting you down …

I was recently invited to be a seminary teacher this coming school year (seminary is a 5 day a week, early morning class for the youth of my church where they study a book of scripture over the course of the year.)  I like to imagine that conversation…

“Who do we know who can do this job?  Let’s see – there’s Johanna Wood – she’s a recent widow, mother of three – including one special needs child – perfect!  Let’s call her!”

Seriously though, it reminds me of the scripture “the Lord looketh upon the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).  I certainly don’t make a lot of sense on paper, but I’m pretty sure Heavenly Father knows what He is doing, at least in terms of helping me.  Already, as I have begun preparing for this admittedly huge responsibility, I have found my sense of direction returning.  I look back over the last couple of months and it seems like I was floundering – not really sure what to do with myself or where to put my energy.  This feels like a life preserver tossed out to pull me to safety.

As a missionary, I discovered I really like teaching others about the gospel of Jesus Christ – I like the process of discovering together, of sharing experiences of living gospel principles, of feeling the Holy Spirit witness of the truths we are learning.  So, I’m looking forward to this assignment, though teaching teenagers is intimidating!  Another challenge is the fact that we are studying the Old Testament this coming year.    I’ve been to a couple of teacher training meetings so far and we’ve learned some great approaches to learning and applying gospel truths.  I’m excited to put them into practice and see how it goes.

As I left this morning and thought about how my emotional health is doing, I was overcome with gratitude for a loving Father who could see what I needed right now and who inspired those leaders to consider me for this opportunity.  I hope that I will be able to help my students catch a vision of all that the scriptures have to offer in their journey towards conversion, but I already know that my conversion has been strengthened by seeing the hand of the Lord in my life.