By Lena Mattice
Life can often seem like we have some good days and some bad days. Lehi in the Book of Mormon says “For it must needs be that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my first-born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one” (1 Nephi 2:11)
Being a schoolteacher was not always my dream. I did get my degree in education that if I ever needed to fall back on my degree I could. My dream was to work with my best friend in her business that we created together. Three years into that dream she listened to many other people and convinced herself that I was stealing from her and was trying to take over her business. That nightmare left me wondering what my true values were and what I was supposed to do for the rest of my life. Getting on my knees in devastation I pleaded with the Lord to place me in the best place for me to learn how to be a good teacher. I didn’t know how to do anything anymore with my dreams being shattered. 12 years ago, I applied for a job as a paraprofessional to try and get my foot back in the door of education. Now I can look back and see that Heavenly Father literally picked me up and placed me in the best place for me to learn what I needed to learn and to learn from the best people I needed to learn from. He placed me in 3rd grade working with two of the best teachers I’ve ever seen before. They talked with me and guided me to get back into teaching. They helped me build confidence in teaching and helped me see teaching for what it really was. I’ve learned so much from them in the last 12 years.
1 year into teaching, I found out that I was not a highly qualified teacher. I had to take a test to be highly qualified because I did not teach for 14 years after getting my degree. I took the test 2 times and could not pass it. Then I found out that there was a test to be highly qualified for grades Kindergarten -3rd grade (which is where I wanted to be anyways). I studied for that test and was able to pass it. So, I became a highly qualified teacher.
3 years into teaching, a job came open that I thought I would love to have. It was a job in the High School library. I would only get the job if I could pass the library test. My track record for passing tests was not very good and guess what; I could not pass the test. They could not give me the job because I failed to pass that test. My boss decided to move me into 2nd grade which ended up being the best situation for me. I got to work with a woman that became one of my best friends and I learned so much from her. After 4 years of teaching, my boss came to me and said if I did not fix some problems with my classroom management then teaching was not going to be an option for me anymore. You see we had to have an observation twice a year and my observations did not turn out very well in the classroom management area. I decided that if I was going to keep teaching, I needed to find my love of teaching just like I loved working with my other friend in her business. I decided that I needed to learn how to love what I do and do the best I can in all areas of my life. I slowly started to love teaching. I slowly found my way in the teaching world and decided that it was time to think differently and love what I do even if it was not the place, I thought I wanted to end up.
“Opposition in all things,” we cannot have the good without the bad. To really appreciate the good, we must go through the bad. Leslie says “Things will get hard! But that’s the evidence you need to know that the reward is just that much closer!” (Mindset Mastery p. 413). Some people think that because something is super hard then it is the wrong thing to do. If something is hard “that is a sign it wasn’t supposed to happen for me” (Hidden Treasures, by Leslie Householder p. 95).
For me something that is hard is now something I try even harder to obtain. I now look at my goal and say what is it I need to learn. I just have not learned what I need to learn and once I learn it, I am going to be that much stronger. The harder it gets to obtain it the stronger I become. If I want the breakthrough on this particular goal, I know I need to push through that much harder because the reward will be that much better.
“God wants your victory, and he wants you to know that you couldn’t have done it without him” (Hidden Treasures, by Leslie Householder p. 94). Give him the credit and realize his role in accomplishing your goal. I firmly believe God wants what we want, and Satan does not want what we want, and he will attempt to keep us from our goal.. He brings in opposition to try and thwart us from obtaining any of our goals. Heavenly Father just wants us to turn to him and show our faith to reach any goal we set.
In Hebrews 11: 1 in the Bible; “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. Romans 8:24-25 “For we are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we wait with patience for it” (King James version of the Bible). Faith is a hope that things will work out. Faith is a trust in God that our goals will be accomplished.
In the 12 Laws of the Universe by Kenneth Wong, he says “The Law of Polarity states that everything in life has an opposite. For every problem, there’s a solution. For every obstacle, there’s an opportunity”. There is a balance between the good that happens to us and the bad that happen to us.
Through faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we can break through that opposition and reach our goals with his help. With His help we can know that there is something so good on the other side of that very hard obstacle.
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For more about the seven laws that govern prosperity, click here to read Hidden Treasures: Heaven’s Astonishing Help With Your Money Matters FREE.
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