Stretched

Driven by her calling to be a counselor, my headmistress gave up her position and now she is the students’ counselor and the new coordinator of religion-character teachers. Every teacher must make a lesson plan every week, and it will be checked by a coordinator. Mine has been checked by my previous coordinator.

That Friday, I came to my new coordinator to sign a photocopy form. She said that she needed to see my lesson plan first before signing it. So, I printed all my approved lesson plans to her. To my surprise, she checked it again!! She asked me questions about it. For the first time after several years, I found a difficulty to adapt to a new way. What i had in mind at that time was: “My lesson plans had been approved, you don’t need to check again, just sign that form!!! “ I was so upset. In the end, she didn’t change a thing.

Right after that, I joined the school fellowship. Guess what! The worship leader asked us to give thanks to God. I wasn’t in the state to give thanks!! Earlier that morning, the devotion I had was about being honest to God and to me myself. So, I told God that I can’t offer Him a thanksgiving. I know that I had to offer Him a sacrifice of thanksgiving, but I just couldn’t. During worship I chatted with my best buddy, and he said that God is stretching me.

Then, the worship leader led us to sing a song by Sari Simorangkir:

Ku datang padaMu, membawa pujianku
Hanya kekuatan hadiratMu sanggup menjaga hatiku

Mendekat padaMu, ku mau sentuh hatiMu
Biar ku melihat kemuliaan yang Kausediakan bagiku

BagiMu pujian, hormat, kemuliaan
Kaulah kebanggaan di dalam hidupku
JanjiMu bersinar buktikan Kau besar
Tiada yang sepertiMu, Yesus Tuhanku

It was as if God Himself told me that I need to live in His presence always, coz only that which can guard my heart from wrong perceptions. And if my new coordinator was asking me questions and giving me suggestions to make my approved lesson plans better, so what? She’s my authority now, so she has every right to do that even if my previous coordinator had approved them. Besides, the lesson plans I made was not for me, but for God to work in the hearts of the third graders. Who knows by allowing that to happen can make the students understand better, and God touches their young hearts. I must not take pride in my lesson plans, but in God Himself.

I was talking about a gentle heart that week, and at the end of the week, I encountered God and He revealed that I still need to humble my heart and let Him mold my heart to make it gentle and more Christ-like. Yea, the Word of God is the two-edged sword. So, my students and I are being molded to have gentle hearts.

The last surprise was the speaker. He talked about stretching!! The verses was taken from Isaiah 54.2-3

Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

Stretching is good, but I need to be ready. I must stretch my capability and live in His Words. Once the stretching is done, I’ll be able to make the desolate cities to be inhabited, presenting God’s Kingdom in my barren community so it’ll live again.