More Than We Could Ask or Imagine …
By Mary Rapp
I’ve been on an intensely awesome adventure over the past year and half. God’s “good, pleasing, and perfect will” (Romans 12:2) never ceases to amaze me. We serve a God who knows exactly what He’s doing. He knows where He wants us, and He knows how He’s going to use us. Man, that’s definitely worth getting excited about!
About six years ago, I had a life-changing experience working in the inner-city schools of Chicago. It was at this moment that God ignited a passion inside of me, one I couldn’t ignore. I had a growing desire to teach, love, and serve kids in the classroom. I spent four and a half years working to make this a reality. As I found myself in this season of preparation, Alaska kept popping into my mind. The thought came, and well … it never really went away! I graduated from North Park in December 2007 with a teaching degree, and a month later, God put me on a plane headed for The Great North. I spent seven wonderful months serving with CYAK. I experienced Native Alaskan culture, made life-long friends, shared the love of Jesus, and saw God’s character in a way I never had before. My desire intersected with God’s plan at the 2008 Job Fair in Anchorage. God heard my prayer; He worked in the details and set it up. I got a job teaching first grade in the village of Tuluksak, and I moved in August 2008.
Tuluksak is a village of about 475 people. It’s 60 miles up the Kuskokwim from Bethel. This is my second year teaching first grade, and I’m loving it! It’s been challenging to the max but so good. I am reminded daily of God’s goodness and direction. I have quickly realized that I am not only a teacher here, but I am a “mom,” listener, provider, friend, and caregiver to these precious kids. So many of them deal with issues and situations that no child should ever have to deal with; they need love, hope, and encouragement. It breaks my heart to see the hurt and hopelessness in this village and in so many others. I often find myself overwhelmed by it all. God is very quick to bring me to the place He desires us all to be … at His feet. He has sent me on an adventure that has brought me to my knees in prayer. God delights in a “broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart” (Psalm 51:17). He wants us to know what it is to need Him. I’ve learned and experienced what it means to faithfully surrender, to fully rely on a strength that is not my own.
As hard as it is to hear about and see the bondage here, it’s an absolute privilege to be able to simply love these kids. To hug them each day, to praise them for a job well done, to be patient with them as they work so hard in trying to figure something out, to discipline them (it’s hard but needed), to see them grow and learn, to hear their stories, to see their toothless grins, to laugh to the point of tears … these are God’s little reminders as to why He’s called me here. He ignited this passion inside of me, and I now find myself in a different world teaching a group of first graders who have shown me what it is to have childlike faith, especially in the midst of hardship.
God plants desires and passions in each of us, and His calling intersects with the seeds He’s planted. We always have to be listening. No matter where we’re at or what we do - we have a chance to simply give back and pour out a portion of the love that God’s given us. “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21).
About six years ago, I had a life-changing experience working in the inner-city schools of Chicago. It was at this moment that God ignited a passion inside of me, one I couldn’t ignore. I had a growing desire to teach, love, and serve kids in the classroom. I spent four and a half years working to make this a reality. As I found myself in this season of preparation, Alaska kept popping into my mind. The thought came, and well … it never really went away! I graduated from North Park in December 2007 with a teaching degree, and a month later, God put me on a plane headed for The Great North. I spent seven wonderful months serving with CYAK. I experienced Native Alaskan culture, made life-long friends, shared the love of Jesus, and saw God’s character in a way I never had before. My desire intersected with God’s plan at the 2008 Job Fair in Anchorage. God heard my prayer; He worked in the details and set it up. I got a job teaching first grade in the village of Tuluksak, and I moved in August 2008.
Tuluksak is a village of about 475 people. It’s 60 miles up the Kuskokwim from Bethel. This is my second year teaching first grade, and I’m loving it! It’s been challenging to the max but so good. I am reminded daily of God’s goodness and direction. I have quickly realized that I am not only a teacher here, but I am a “mom,” listener, provider, friend, and caregiver to these precious kids. So many of them deal with issues and situations that no child should ever have to deal with; they need love, hope, and encouragement. It breaks my heart to see the hurt and hopelessness in this village and in so many others. I often find myself overwhelmed by it all. God is very quick to bring me to the place He desires us all to be … at His feet. He has sent me on an adventure that has brought me to my knees in prayer. God delights in a “broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart” (Psalm 51:17). He wants us to know what it is to need Him. I’ve learned and experienced what it means to faithfully surrender, to fully rely on a strength that is not my own.
As hard as it is to hear about and see the bondage here, it’s an absolute privilege to be able to simply love these kids. To hug them each day, to praise them for a job well done, to be patient with them as they work so hard in trying to figure something out, to discipline them (it’s hard but needed), to see them grow and learn, to hear their stories, to see their toothless grins, to laugh to the point of tears … these are God’s little reminders as to why He’s called me here. He ignited this passion inside of me, and I now find myself in a different world teaching a group of first graders who have shown me what it is to have childlike faith, especially in the midst of hardship.
God plants desires and passions in each of us, and His calling intersects with the seeds He’s planted. We always have to be listening. No matter where we’re at or what we do - we have a chance to simply give back and pour out a portion of the love that God’s given us. “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21).