For anyone who knows me, they know that I do not believe in coincidences. I believe that there is a reason and a plan behind the events in our lives. I love nothing more than when you get small moments of affirmation from God that you are on the path of His will.

Three years ago when my husband and I decided that we were going to send our son Noah to a private school, we knew that meant I would be attending full time as well to help care for his needs and to be present in case any medical emergencies for him arose. While we considered sending him to public schooling where school nurses are part of the staff, he really wanted to go to the same school as his older brother. Up until that time in his life, Noah had zero control over the things that had happened to him. While it meant that it would be a big commitment on my part to start attending school full time with him, I also realized that this was a big desire of his heart and I just couldn’t say “No”. As his mother, I thought “Who am I to not grant him this request just so I could have some time to myself each day?” After getting approval from the school in accepting Noah to attend, the choice in sending him there was no longer difficult for us.

I will never forget the first day of Kindergarten. After the morning bell rang, I sat down in the chair in the teachers’ workroom that would become “my spot”, and I said a prayer that went like this, “Well Lord, here I am. This is not where I imagined I would ever be, but since you have placed me here, please open doors in which I can use the gifts that I have been given and let me be a blessing here.”

It didn’t take long for God to start answering that prayer. What started out as volunteering my time in helping the second grade teachers that first year, has transformed over the past three years into a regular schedule helping to meet and care for the special needs of several Elementary students. I have been able to use some of the gifts that I already had as well as learning some new skills along the way. This year I have truly felt like a part of the staff and it really makes me feel good.

Yesterday, God graced me with another affirmation that I am right where He wants me and I know this moment will stick with me for a very long time.

Soon after the morning bell rang, I was sitting next to one of the boys that I assist each week. The teacher informed me that she was going to step outside for a moment to speak with another mother. About a minute later, she called for me to come out into the hallway as well.

There stood a crying mother with her 1^st grade son by her side. The teacher shared with me that the day before, the son got diagnosed with a life-altering condition and the mother’s heart was breaking. You see this same condition had just been diagnosed on her 4^th grade daughter a month prior, so this was just hitting them very hard and leaving her overwhelmed. The mother was rightly concerned for her child and more so – how was she going to leave him at school without a trained person to care for him.

The teacher, knowing I had a nursing background, wondered if I could help in anyway. Knowing much about this condition – having grown up with a father with it and becoming knowledgeable in that way but also studying and caring for multiple individuals throughout my nursing career – I said “Of course” and I took the mother and her son to my desk in another room.

We sat down, facing each other, and through her tears the mother shared with me her concerns about leaving her son, being his age, and needing help caring for himself and this condition. She went on to say that just that morning her son woke up and the first thing he told them was, “I have just been praying that there would be someone to help take care of me at school.”

Now, with tears in my eyes, I looked at her and I responded, “Just this morning, I spent time praying that God would use me in a special way.”

It was in that exact moment that I knew once again that God has me here for a reason more so than just caring for my own son.

With tears now flooding both of our eyes, the mother and I held hands and she prayed a prayer of thanksgiving and I was echoing the words from inside my own heart.

1 Thessalonians 5:18, “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

From my experience of being a mother of children with medical and special needs, my heart and mind knew exactly what this mother was thinking and feeling. In response, I was able to have true compassion and empathy for her. I reassured her that I would care for her son as if he was my own at school.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

Sometimes, we are the ones who need to be comforted, and other times, we are the ones who are able to comfort others.

I just want to take a moment to encourage you today if you are wondering what you need to do to follow God’s will. I can confidently share that all you need to do is surrender yourself to Him, be obedient to his Word, and then just go on and live your everyday life. It doesn’t matter what job you have – being in a workplace outside the home or spending your days at home caring for the children God entrusted to you – just go about it in obedience and you will be fulfilling His will for your life.

I think that often times, God will reveal His will in small pieces at a time – with each loving step of faith that we take – and by continuing to love and trust Him all the while. When those moments of affirmation come you will be filled with the greatest amount of joy and peace that only comes from Him. And between each small revelation, all we need to do is to continue to do the best that we can each and every day with the tasks laid out before us.

“May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever, Amen.” Hebrews 13:20-21

Friend, go forth today in carrying out your regular tasks, being confident that you are equipped with everything you need to do good in accordance with His will!

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