Trust! Proverbs 3:5-6

These verses are some of my FAVORITES! Trusting the Lord with all my heart is something I am striving for in this season of my life.

Today’s guest blogger was my former principal at Crooked River Elementary. She just finished writing her fourth book this past May. However, due to COVID-19, the publishing company is not operating with a full staff so she is waiting for an exact publishing date for her new book. She is currently a full-time retired educator with a passion for children, families, parents, teachers, and school leaders. She is in the process of developing online courses for parents/caregivers, foster parents, homeschoolers, grandparents, and Daycare providers. Her consulting business is Sheila E. Cares Educational Consulting and Services, LLC. She is an encourager vendor, and motivational speaker. Her website can be found at www.sheilaecares.com

Here are her words . . .

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;  and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV

After I agreed to be a guest writer, I had many instances when this scripture came to play in my life and at this time is still meaningful for me during this time of the Pandemic.

Today I want to share about a very difficult time in my life. I left all that was dear and near to me when I moved here with my family due to my ex-husband’s wishes. The decision to move to Woodbine, Georgia from Laurel Springs, New Jersey was not a joint one. I was at the point in my career where I was about to begin a new position as an assistant principal at a small elementary school in Lawnside, New Jersey. All of my family was in New Jersey and I knew no one except my ex-husband’s family in Georgia. I was told “I am going to Georgia whether you come or not”.  Being the oldest of six and the product of a broken home, I came because I didn’t want my daughter to experience what I did growing up without a father in the home.

My grandfather was a Bishop in a Pentecostal church and my grandmother, who I never met, did missionary work according to my mother. We were taught prayers and knew who God and Jesus were. Although my mother had a strict religious background, she would send us to local churches to attend Sunday School and give our nickels and dimes. I always conducted my life by following the “Golden Rule”, but never really attended any church consistently through my childhood and adulthood.  After moving and living in Camden County for a few years, I began to establish a new professional reputation. My marriage, however, was stressful and sometimes difficult, but I held on because I didn’t want to be divorced or have a broken family.

I still vividly remember the day I had to face the fact that I was living with the enemy. I was working at Crooked River and it was my first year as their principal. It should have been a happy time, but it wasn’t. I received a phone call one afternoon while in my office that pulled the rug out from under me. I was more than hurt. I was embarrassed and humiliated! Everyone in town knew what was going on except me. I was the last to know. I remember asking God why. Why me? I didn’t go to church and I never mistreated anyone that I could recall. Why was He punishing me? I didn’t deserve His treatment. I put on a good front at work, but my nights and weekends were filled with tears and late-night rides around the neighborhood. I couldn’t let my daughter, who was a high school senior, hear me crying.

What I dreaded was becoming a reality.

One Sunday morning, I was watching television and turned on a program, “The Hour of Power” hosted by Dr. Robert Schuller of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California. He was all about possibilities and positivity. I began watching every Sunday and ordered the Bible he was selling that had all of the positive scriptures underlined and written in red. When I received my Bible in the mail, I began reading it faithfully. I also started attending a local Baptist church. The first service I attended I felt that the sermon and the songs sang were for me.  One song was titled, “You’re Going to Make it”.  Later that evening while reading in my Possibility Bible, I came across Proverbs 3:5-6. I had tried to understand and reason why things had happened the way they did.  I blamed God and blamed myself. I considered myself a good person and couldn’t understand why someone who didn’t intentionally mistreat others had to suffer too.

One day when I arrived home after a long day at work, I came home, walked into my bedroom, and fell to my knees. I cried out and asked God to just take the pain away and I would do whatever He wanted me to do. I remember suddenly feeling a calming warmth come over me. It was then that I knew that He had been with me all along and knew my pain. It was not for me to understand or try to reason why; I just had to trust Him and believe. The pain did not go away immediately that day, but it did go away eventually.

Since those many years ago, I still believe and know that if I trust and put Him before everything I do, He’ll direct my path. He removed a stumbling block and gave me a richer and fuller life.

He’ll do the same for you too.

Sheila E. Sapp