Hello, my friends,
I’ve been waiting to be able to share some news with you. After sixteen years of doing what I love – helping children, teaching them everything from tying their shoes to learning their ABC’s to celebrating every accomplishment along the way, bandaging boo boos, singing crazy songs…teaching them crafts… (and loving on them too) – I have resigned.
I’ve debated my decision over and over…prayed…cried…and then prayed some more. It’s always scary to move on when you’ve been comfortable for so long, but Mike and I agree that the time has come.
Recently a very serious situation has arisen at work, and my safety is most definitely not the priority of the powers that be. It is unfathomable to me that, with all of the horrific stories in the news these days, a school division would not put the safety of their students and teachers first. While I won’t discuss specific details of the situation or the student involved, all I can say is I was terrified. I requested an alternate assignment at another school and even offered to go on leave without pay for the rest of the school year. I was told by the head of Human Resources that they had “done what needed to be done” and they would take disciplinary action if I did not report to work. The head of the division’s discipline department went so far as to tell me that they can’t guarantee anyone’s safety and compared my situation to driving in traffic. Trust me, if I have to choose between my life and a paycheck…I’ll choose LIFE every time.
I had to make a choice that is the safest and is best for me and my family. I need to do what I can to be here for my family, and this decision has everything to do with that…not where my next paycheck will come from. God WILL bless our family. I know that He has us in the palm of His hand…beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Please pray for the students and faculty that are in that school, and the others across the country in similar situations.
I want to share something from a group that I love, “Brave Girls”. The following is one of the many ways God has spoken to me this week and I have to tell you….I think this one was definitely sent straight to me. God is good….ALL the time.
Blessings to you,
Michelle
Dear Beloved Girl,
When we have old things in our hands that we are afraid of being without, with our fists tightly clenched around those things, and we walk around fearing what will happen if we ever open our hands and let them go…when we worry whether or not anything else will make its way into our lives, whether we will ever have enough…whether our hands will remain empty…
If we keep doing that, we will NEVER be able to grasp onto what is meant for us.
What is done is done. What is over is over. We are meant to move forward, to progress. Everything natural and beautiful and true and living was designed to constantly renew itself, to progress…living living living…and then dying and going on to the next step of its life cycle.
When we clench old things in our hands, we prevent new things from being able to hold hands with us. New experiences, new things to learn, new relationships, new things we don’t even know exist yet.
Today is a great day to finally let go. It will be okay. In fact, it will be incredible.
It might hurt for a while, just like all endings do…but the new beginning that is just beyond the ending is where the miracles are. Hold on to that hope…but let the rest go.
Let it go. It is time.
You are so very very very loved.
xoxo
