God is still in the taking care of business, business!

The summer of 2009 came and went, then it was time to return to school. My second year teaching at ACA, a change of curriculum, teaching two grades (5th and 6th) and a blind student. I remember thinking when the principal told me about the challenges I was going to have that school year, "yea right Lord, is this supposed to be funny?" It was truly a challenge in the beginning, my schedule was crazy, I worked most evenings late just to keep caught up, but there is always a reason the Lord brings someone or a difficult situation into our lives and he showed me many times that 1st semester exactly why he placed me in that stressful situation.

After working with Jesse(my blind student)for a month or so and speaking with his mother and some of the people he had in his life helping him adjust to public school, I found out there was a piece of equipment he really needed. This particular piece of equipment was called a BrailleNote and it's cost, oh only between $6,000 and $7,000. I did research online trying to find him a scholarship or a way for the school to obtain this for him and nothing ever worked out. His mother was also trying to find a way to get it for him. Then it hit me, why can't I ask the students in my class to start praying about it for him.

I had been teaching on the power of prayer up to this point during Bible class and I wanted the children to see prayer in action, not only prayer but more specifically their prayers. So, I explained to them what we were in need of about $6,000.00. To them that was like telling the Lord we needed one million, but we started praying. Those children prayed earnestly, never forgetting to pray about it. If I would ask for prayer request inevitably someone would say, "Ms. Williams, don't forget about Jesse's Braillenote."

Throughout this time the children started seeing their own prayers being answered, someone needed to find a lost phone, and a week later the phone was found in a place that had been checked multiple times. He was so excited to come to school that morning and let me know God had let him find his phone. One student's clarinet was broken and had been out for repair for a very long time. She finally asked the class to pray about it and that very day her clarinet was dropped off at the school in working condition.

I went to church and asked my church to pray about the Braillenote as well. I explained to the congregation that as much as I want Jesse to have it, I wanted my students to see God answer their prayer more, so we started praying about it at church as well.

God is always faithful, with a loving heart that will give us our hearts desire if only we ask. One morning around 9 weeks after we started praying the principal pulled me out of class. He said, "Ms. Williams, I just wanted to show you what your students have prayed in and in his hand was a check for $7000, enough for the Braillenote and all the extras Jesse would need to be able to do his work. I asked him if I could take the check in to show the class and of course he agreed. My students went crazy, they were clapping and cheering. God at that moment had showed each student and a lot of adults, that his abilities to do for us are far greater than we can imagine and even more than that He does listen to our prayers and does answer them.

The money came from someone in another state, a foundation that had heard from someone, who was not related to our school, about Jesse's case. They didn't know we had been praying for this need, but God opened their hearts and used them to answer prayers for a classroom of 5th and 6th graders.

You would think by this time that I had seen God work so much in my own life that this shouldn't have been that big a deal for me, it was just another prayer answered. That couldn't be further from the truth......I needed just like those children needed to see God do something big for my students that year, I needed to know God was going to re-enforce to them what I was teaching them and He did!!!

What a mighty God we serve!!!