We Thought A Career In Education Was Safe

By Roseanne Dawes

We went into education because it was safe. My husband taught for seven years in the classroom and was in administration for 15 years in the same building. He had tried to change buildings or get a different assignment to switch things up, because he had been feeling stagnant for a few years. Nothing was happening until we decided to move and get a different job elsewhere. It was a difficult decision, but felt like it was the next right step.

My husband quickly found out that the job he had taken was not quite what he signed up for. He felt they wanted him to reform the school, but without any automation to do what he felt was best for the students, teachers, and the school overall. That was a tough year-and-a-half.

When my husband was notified in February 2020 that the district would not be renewing his contract, he had this inexplicable peace wash over him, letting him know all would work out ok. A month later, all schools were shut down because of the pandemic, and he had a reprieve of not having to show up to school everyday trying to explain to parents and staff about why he would not be returning the next year. He also did not have the extra pressure of trying to make school work during that chaotic time of “every parent is now a home-school teacher ” to their student until they could come back to school safely. The district administration had already decided to do things their own way, and my husband was left with very little responsibility for the remainder of the school year.

It was a very emotional four months. My husband had applied for many, many jobs in other districts, but nothing was falling into place. He began feeling like he had a “red flag” on his resume and that his teaching days were over. He began thinking maybe he wasn’t a good school administrator at all, because of how things were turning out. Afterall, never in our wildest dreams did we ever think this would happen because “education was safe,” or so we thought.

For eleven months our minds would vacillate between being calm and understanding and trusting in the process, to feeling like our worlds were turned upside down and this was actually the end for us. We kept being reminded through miracles of large and small lumps of money coming to us through a variety of unforeseen and unexpected ways, road trips to see children across the country, and the ability to take detours and and a few extra days traveling, because we didn’t have a place to be. Government stimulus checks came through in just enough time to replace our shedding sofa that was falling apart right before our eyes, and best of all, having the time and availability to care for my husband’s dying father during 2020-2021.

Even though our minds would wander and get frustrated because things weren’t falling into place the way we thought they should, we had many tender mercies reminding us to trust in those initial peaceful feelings, and that something this “bad” certainly has something of equal or greater benefit on the other side. (Law of Polarity) We kept the faith by believing and moving forward on the things we were inspired to do, even though much of it didn’t seem to be yielding any fruit at the time.

It wasn’t until the week after my father-in-law passed away that my husband got a job offer that would fit more of his personality and would honor his creative genius better than he could have imagined. In hindsight, we could see that my husband needed to be available to help his mom out with his dad during those months prior to his passing, and we were grateful that we were available to help in those circumstances. We are grateful to realize even more that, even though things look or seem rough, usually because of the way we perceive a certain situation, Heavenly Father is aware and actually orchestrating things to work for our good and even better than we can imagine as we exercise our faith in Him and believe by implementing these universal laws and principles.

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Kayli Householder
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