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| Such great circumstance |
"God rarely changes circumstance. He uses circumstance to change person."
This quote from church has me thinking hard this afternoon. It makes me laugh to think about how I named this blog years ago "He Never Changes" partly after the "never change" sign-off when leaving friends and partly because He doesn't. I have come to find out the latter is the real reason... I really thought I was just being punny. I haven't written on this blog in two years except for recently. It is crazy how much circumstance has changed me as a person over the past two years. The people I have been surrounded by in Memphis (co-workers, TFA friends, roommates, etc) have imparted impressions upon me. These people, my job, my rockstar students (who teach me more infinitely more than I teach them): circumstance. I never thought so much would change about me. I mean I am about to begin my 3rd year as a teacher. And as a high school teacher at that. What? He still loves me the same. He is constant when so many things in this life are fleeting. There is nothing better to be reminded of in seasons of doubt.
A lot of times we pray so hard for a change in our circumstances. This is our selfish desire to be more comfortable. For me this is finding the right person to marry, being a chemistry content master (even more so than fictitious meth-cooking Mr. White so I can blow up things), removing pain from loved ones lives, the list goes on. I preach to my students that their unfortunate circumstances don't determine their futures. What I learned this year from two of them who mean more to me than most is that these circumstances have meaning and purpose for their lives. The wisdom they have from enduring these circumstances cannot be learned from a textbook, only from experience. I sometimes get frustrated with not being able to fully relate because we haven't shared a lot of circumstance. But the day our conversations turned a corner from differences in circumstances to learning from each other circumstances was awesome (in literal sense of the over-used word). We must use what God has taught us through our circumstances to make decisions for our future. Who knows what our circumstance will be tomorrow? The good news is He never changes.
My prayer today is to be content with the circumstance that I am in now. Here's to not just believing He loves me so I can be saved, but believing I am loved and not questioning circumstance.
