Perspective

Though things have been hard for me, God has allowed me to get a glimpse into other situations that have helped put my circumstances in perspective...
...A teaching friend across the country whose school district has much more impossible standards and consequences for standardized testing than mine does.
...A family friend who is teaching in Africa while running a drug recovery home: pouring into the lives of her "sons", cooking the food, washing clothes by hand, and struggling financially. And I thought teaching alone was a full-time job. She says, "In many ways, I am in my element. There’s no place that I’d rather be. In other ways, I feel like I’m stretched beyond my stretching ability. Especially when a son comes home, looks me in the eye, and tells me he didn’t smoke. After I’ve poured my heart and soul and everything into him. After God has given me so many promises. The smoke that is obviously coming from his lungs makes me sick to my stomach. God is teaching me to 'love without an agenda.' He is also teaching me that sometimes He has to speak to someone 47 times before they hear Him and change, but that 47^th time will come. And all the times leading up to that changing point are not wasted, but are building towards the day of change."
...And most recently, I've learned about another teacher at my school, who has been battling an autoimmune disease for ten years, and now the doctors tell her there is little hope for survival.
Yes, God has allowed me to go through difficult times, but how can I complain in the face of these amazing challenges that others are facing with such faith and courage? My prayers go out to them.

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. " -2 Corinthians 4:16-18