Singing Praises
It never ceases to amaze me how our God answers prayers and provides for our needs. He does things in ways we would never expect and could never imagine on our own. Often, just when we can’t see any options, He provides in unexpected ways.
Recently, I’ve been very frustrated with my “job options”. When I quit teaching a year ago, the plan was to begin tutoring out of my home in order to bring in a little extra income to support what Ryan was making working full time. This seemed like an easy goal, so I built a web site, made flyers, printed up business cards, and even paid for an ad in the local homeschool association parent newsletter. Over the first summer, I had one student, and didn’t get another until November when two kids came twice each. I finally landed a consistent student in January who stuck with me through the end of the school year, but my one kid for this summer fell through.
When things seemed bleak back in November, I took advantage of another opportunity and began selling Premier Designs jewelry at home shows. I’ve done direct sales before, and this seemed like a great way to make a little extra cash and maybe even meet parents who needed a tutor for their kids. I enjoy the jewelry parties, but my heart is in education. I want to work with kids, and it was really bumming me out that Hope4Math couldn’t seem to get off the ground.
Rewind to the spring of 2008. I was teaching Geometry for the first time ever (something I was a bit apprehensive about doing, but wound up loving!) There was a young lady in one of my classes who REALLY struggled. She struggled so much that her mom hired a tutor. When she continued to struggle, the tutor called me directly to touch base and see if we could work together on a plan to help her succeed.
I’m not sure how the conversation lead to this point, but the tutor, we’ll call her “Kay”, and I hit it off over the phone and I let her know of my future goal of quitting full time teaching and pursuing a tutoring business of my own. We ended up meeting for lunch and she shared her knowledge. We kept up communication during the rest of the year, and the following fall, I received a phone call from her. She and her husband were expecting another baby, and she was hoping I would be able to sub for some of her tutoring sessions after the baby came.
I started working for her in January of 2009 two afternoons a week. Kay eventually took back most of her students, but I remained on one day a week from that point on. During that time, I’ve learned about her business and met most of her students. We’ve become friends as we’ve shared her new baby, both of our husbands being laid off, and my own coming bundle.
What does this have to do with God and His provision?
Kay’s husband lost his job before Christmas this year, and just this month received a job offer in another state. To make a long story short, I’ve been asked to essentially take over the business that she has spent the last several years building.
I’ll be going from one student to a full load almost overnight.
God is awesome!