God’s Grace in My Life
My life in the school world is often a microcosm of what real life is like: I never know what will happen next, but I have learned that it is all about God’s grace.
While I am a planner by nature, I have to put those plans on the altar each day and seek God’s plans for my life and day. The Bible says that we are to seek His Kingdom first and then all the these things will be given as well. (Matthew 6:33)
Take, for example, the most recent turn in my career. God has called me to be the head of school for Grace Academy of North Texas.
It makes me smile because God has such a fun sense of humor and irony. At a season in life when I thought I was done starting schools, he has brought me full circle to my second Grace Academy.
Just like the first one nearly 40 years ago, I did not name this school. The first one came with the name of the church: Grace Bible Church, which my family and I called home for over a decade. This new Grace Academy was named by the founding families before I ever came on board.
Started in the hearts of these six founding families, Grace Academy of North Texas is located in Prosper, Texas.
(By the way, do you notice how I keep moving north? From Highland Park to North Dallas to Plano to Frisco and now to Prosper! Maybe Minnesota is slowly drawing me back home!
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Throughout these moves, God keeps reminding me: Jody, remember: It is all about My grace.
Thank you, God. I need that reminder.
God Is Teaching Me Each Day
Our strengths often end up being our weaknesses when taken to extreme. I work hard and my tendency is to rely on myself to get everything done. My “to-do” lists take over and my life often becomes increasingly complicated until God finally slows me down – usually through the breakdown of some body part – so that I remember it is not what I do but what He does.
He is showing me every day how to live, love, work, and be in His power and strength and not in my own. This is not only my prayer in the morning, but the one I must continue to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17) throughout the day. It is not by my might or power, but by His spirit (Zechariah 4:6).
When I let go and let God work through me, everything goes better, and He truly gets the glory. I am humbled and grateful beyond words when I experience His grace and unmerited favor.
Grace is God’s Plan
Grace is God’s plan from eternity past. I don’t deserve it, but in gratitude, I embrace it and serve it with all my heart.
With each school, I see God’s grace unleashed. People, resources, and students seemingly come from nowhere which means, of course, that God did it. When I say that each school is a ‘to God be the glory story,’ it is absolute truth. He just gave me the gift of His grace to be along for the ride. Soli Deo gloria!
As with the Grace Academy of decades ago, I will do everything I can to remind the staff, faculty, parents, students, and, of course, myself that it is a gift of God’s grace. I love that it is right there in the name.
Teaching Redemptively
Recently I have been re-reading – and again enjoying – Teaching Redemptively: Bringing Grace and Truth into Your Classroom by Donovan L. Graham.
He states, “Just as redemptive teaching requires that we try to structure the education process according to biblical creational norms, it also requires that we teach from a framework of grace, for redemption was completely an act of grace. Redemptive teaching should be a living picture of that grace. The concept ofgrace does not directly determine our purpose for education, nor does it design a curriculum in a way to encourage good behavior. Grace is the atmosphere in which the educational endeavor occurs. It is a means through which the character of God is demonstrated and realized.”
Be watching my Equipping Educators blog for an up-coming post about the role grace plays in everything we do at school: from teaching to our interactions with students to discipline to structuring the school.
The Heart of the Gospel is Grace
For now I will close with just this idea from Graham: If the Gospel is what it claims to be, then its message should permeate into every single thing we do. And since the heart of the Gospel message is grace, then that should be reflected by us every moment of every day.
National Day of Prayer and Focus on the Family
Praise puts power in our prayers. Gratitude, according the renowned G.K. Chesterton, is the truest sign of happiness in individuals. We want to teach our students to look for the blessings in their lives and praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Throughout my career in education, I have always tried to find practical way to teach this lesson to my students by having them share a praise and prayer request. First we list our praises and then our prayer requests. This forms the habit of praising God as our first priority.
Of course, I will continue to fall far short of the glory of God and that’s why I need grace. During this week of the National Day of Prayer, I invite you to join me in praising God for His grace in our lives and by praying: “God, teach us more about Your grace.”
I invite you to join me on a special program on prayer with Focus on the Family’s webcast “Your Family Live” this Wednesday, May 4th at 1 p.m. Central. Just use this link:
http://www.focusonlinecommunities.com/community/webcasts/2011/0504
Thanks! See you then!
