I naively stepped into one particular classroom….
Posted on Friday, July 24th, 2009
I naively stepped into one particular classroom of 13-15 yr. old teen girls one morning to teach God’s perfect purity plan—totally unprepared to breathe in the surrounding hopeless atmosphere. Before I even entered the room, I felt a cloud of darkness swallowing me whole.
I desperately prayed.
The Words from His Holy Word surrounded my own thick cloud cover and somehow lifted my heart above the fog and my vision for this lesson became only His.
For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. AND… I know that His command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.
John 12:49-50
I knew for this class, my prepared lesson would never work. So, I started with a simple question:
“How many of you girls are currently sexually active?”
Everyone stood up—–Trying to hold back my own emotions of inadequateness, I prayed.
“Lord, this is your class and these are your precious teen girls … You must give them a picture of Whose they are, I can’t”.
Leaving all my teachings on the table, I started asking questions and a surprising group discussion followed: “How does sex make you feel?” “How does it make you feel when you give yourself away to someone you love and then he–up and leaves you for another?”
What I got was an array of emotions with one common theme—- used.
So, I worked with that common feeling. We talked and discussed their common hurts, rejections, abandonments and the results of becoming soul-tied with a boy thru sex—only to have this boy leave them for another and the hallowing affect it has on a girl’s heart. What the class all agreed on was how they felt: stranded leading to depression, suicidal thoughts, and a common sense of not caring to protect themselves any further; but, most of all an encompassing sense of hopelessness. Would they ever deserve or feel they could reach for a love that would cherish and not crush? They agreed that they felt a lost hope for a love that would love them for who they are and not what they are.
We talked and we talked, each one supporting the other. And, above all I stood back and watched.
What was happening in that moment was something God was showing me! I could see it; but, I don’t think they were aware of it. A support group for each other equally was rising-up.
A support system was being resurrected!
The class I had entered that morning was one that was tough, hardened and ready to attack any purity effort I would address. I stood in front of both the popular and unpopular; each one trying to prove their worth, popularity and acceptance by sexual efforts. It was an atmosphere in which the human-eye could see no way to bridge the gap and masterpiece a common ground.
However, are we not excited that the one true God, who bridges all gaps, also creates visions for everyone—on level ground?
They all began sharing equally.
The atmosphere of vulnerability released healing. The girls found common heart issues by sharing their silent sufferings that occur when sex is taken out of God-given boundaries. Issues of the heart tend to be kept hidden from one another in this culture and each one suffers individually through their heartaches— feeling very much alone and isolated.
What God did in that classroom was amazing! For, He brought the girls together by bringing to light the aloneness and the fears experienced in each one’s heart. Together they came to agree and support that sex outside of God’s designed commitment leads to worry over disease, regrets, guilt, self-recrimination, loss of self-respect, loss of self-esteem, corruption of character, debasement of sex, rage over betrayal, depression and suicide, ruined present and future relationships, and stunted personal development.
I can safely say that the classroom atmosphere was changed from that of standing firmly on the defensive to one of a supportive acceptance and care. If it was purposed to only expose the deepest human fears and create a supportive peer group, then I think God’s work has just begun to be crafted and He will continue to paint with His eternal colors.
Sally Herman
Wow, Sally, praise Jesus for what He did in the classroom that day, and for your sensitivity to the Holy Spirit and His leading! May the bonds started on that day continue to grow firm. May the Lord bless those girls and help them to trust Jesus for the love that satisfies and never leaves us hungry. May I learn to trust Jesus more that love, too!
May we all learn to trust Jesus more for His satisfying love! (and forgive ourselves for typos! LOL)
Hi Sally:
Bravo! I love your heart of Christ, filled with His love, that allows you to go with the flow and be that vessel that He can FREELY move through in a moment’s notice. I love that scripture that says, “We may make our plans, but the Lord establishes our steps. I know what you mean about lesson plans going out the window, that has happened to my co-worker and I in our classroom so many times. We’ll start into a lesson, and all of a sudden, a student becomes vulnerable and offers a comment that you just can’t pass by without acting on and invariably, it does end up as a brainstorming, support kind of thing, and at the end of class time, you’re left thinking, “What did God just do here”? and you know that everyone was touched.
love,
karen
Praise GOD!!!
The way u yielded to The Holy Spirit was jus wonderful.
am an indian, coll student plz pray tat i mite bring abt an awareness of purity in my coll too, which is the same as that classroom.
one word abt purity dey r all up against me wid deir defenses, bt m sure He has a way..
God Bless you..