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I hope this finds you enjoying the beautiful colors and cooler temps of my favorite season—fall.
My husband, Steven, and I were blessed to enjoy this past weekend tent camping at Lake Fryer, which is about a twenty-minute drive from our home in Perryton, Texas.
He took the afternoon off so that he could have everything set up at our campsite by the time I got off work and drove out there.
Honestly, he couldn’t have chosen a better place for us to camp.
It was pretty secluded except for the occasional sightseer, those looking for firewood, and a masked, early morning ring-tailed visitor that rummaged through one of our equipment bags outside.
I wish it could have lasted a bit longer, though.
In our last newsletter, I updated you on what was going on in our personal lives and announced the publication of my newest book, His Banner over Me Is Sustaining Love.
A lot has happened since then.
After sixteen years of being out of full-time teaching, I started new teacher in-service the first week of August.
To be perfectly transparent, I was overwhelmed at how much had changed since 2006 and wondered what in the world I had gotten myself into.
Did I really hear from You, Lord? was the question on my heart as I was journaling one early morning.
I wasn’t prepared for His response.
This is what I wrote in my journal: I can feel Your loving compassion for these kids swelling in my heart, ready to overflow the dam and be poured out on them.
Overwhelmed with emotion, I started crying.
I literally felt His love for the students I hadn’t even met yet and was so grateful for His answer to my question!
A couple of weeks after that, something entirely unexpected happened.
I got COVID-19 and missed six and a half days of school.
I ran a high temp for about twenty-four hours, had some congestion with a slight cough and no appetite, and was completely drained.
And one symptom that completely blindsided me was depression.
I recognized it immediately, having experienced bouts with it a few times in my life.
It was overwhelmingly awful.
But the best thing that came out of it was an increased dependence on the One who lives in me:
Three different times I begged God to make me well again. Each time he said, “No. But I am with you; that is all you need. My power shows up best in weak people.” Now I am glad to boast about how weak I am; I am glad to be a living demonstration of Christ’s power, instead of showing off my own power and abilities. Since I know it is all for Christ’s good, I am quite happy about “the thorn,” and about insults and hardships, persecutions and difficulties; for when I am weak, then I am strong—the less I have, the more I depend on him. 2 Corinthians 12:8–10 (TLB)
It took about a month for me to regain my strength and to start feeling normal again.
And miracle of all miracles? I’ve heard myself thinking and saying, I love my job.
I can’t even begin to speak of all the ways that God has continued to reveal Himself and His love for me and my students since then, so I will just tell you the most recent one.
In our May 2022 newsletter, I shared how God used a Scripture from my devotional and another book that I was reading to confirm that He was calling me back to the classroom:
“Don’t hide your light! Let it shine for all; let your good deeds glow for all to see, so that they will praise your heavenly Father.” Matt. 5:16 (TLB)
This past Friday, one of my students gave me a belated birthday gift—a bag filled with items that warmed my heart.
There was also a card.
It wasn’t a birthday card, though.
The words on the front of the card were: “LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE” with the Scripture reference from Matthew.
More confirmation that I am exactly where my Beloved wants me to be!
Before closing this newsletter, I invite you to check out my Living Loved Blog and my books to read more about your new heart union with Christ.
Living Loved in Christ,
Kim
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