Heart of a Teacher

Our first Financial Peace University class ended last night, and I was overwhelmed by how appreciative the class was of the materials and my teaching. They presented me with some gifts, and I was awestruck when they provided some funds to help send me to Counsellor Training in Brentwood, Tennessee! I always thought of myself as the facilitator, sometimes the Little General, telling them to cut up their credit cards and stop spending foolishly, and I always wondered if they griped in their cars on their way home. I am amazed that they thought the course was a Godsend and that I was a good teacher.

When I was in grade 6, I decided that I wanted to be a teacher, but somewhere along the way I was convinced that I was "too smart" to be a teacher (sorry for anyone I have offended with that remark), but you know what I mean - when you're killing your math and science classes at school everyone says, "You should be an engineer, or a doctor, or a scientist." - teacher is the last thing that comes to mind. Now that I'm a little wiser, I think of how cool it would have been to be a physics or calculus teacher, which is probably why I have fantasies of home schooling my kids when they are in high school. Sadly, neither will likely be interested in calculus or physics.

In 1999 I took some "train the trainer" courses in Ontario through Ernst & Young, and come back to teach first year articling students, and in Banff no less!! But that was a disaster - my co-teacher was an overbearing loudmouth who loved to hear the sound of his own voice, and I could barely get through two sentences without him popping in for a commentary. As a result, I left that experience feeling like I didn't know what I was talking about, and that I wasn't meant to teach.

Fast forward ten years and I have become a confident professional, wife and mother, and follower of Jesus. I met Dave Ramsey through the radio and thought that teaching FPU could really change people's lives, and I decided to get out of my comfort zone and start a class. I heard later that there was a little concern from a few people as I am typically very introverted and anti-social at church, but apparently they were pleasantly surprised. Maybe I can make a go at this teaching thing after all!

My biggest surprise at the end of this whole thing was last night's closing prayer. Each week I close the class in prayer, which has always been a quick "thank you for everyone, get them home safely, etc." kind of prayer - I hate praying in front of other people. But last night, as I closed, the words exited my mouth and my brain was saying, "Who is that speaking?", and my prayers were bountiful and meaningful. What a time for the Holy Spirit to decide to finally work through me in prayer!

What is in store for me next....I can't even begin to imagine....