Some Heavy Stuff

I've mentioned before that the school where I teach is in a pretty poverty-stricken area. A lot of the students are sadly neglected or even abused. The town is completely full of bars that are usually packed full of adults, while their children are left at home to fend for themselves.

I love working there, and I consider it my personal mission to give the students all the love and support that they're not getting at home. It's usually very rewarding, and I love trying to make a difference.

However, there are days when I come home and just collapse in my bed and bawl for the students and everything they go through. Today was one of those days.

Let's just say that I found out about a very serious situation in the life of one of my fourth graders. Child Protective Services has been called, and hopefully the situation will be resolved quickly. But my heart just aches for what she's been through. On top of her situation, the 13 students I work closely with every day have SO many other issues in their lives: frequent moving, divorced parents, learning and developmental disabilities, parents who don't have the time to teach their children how to properly care for themselves or the money to buy them clothes that fit, absent parents, and the list goes on.

It's so hard to NOT know how to help them. I'm just glad that I can be a prayer warrior for each and every one of them, and show them love and support during the school day. There are days when I so badly wish I were working at the school that I attended or the school where I did my student teaching. Those schools still have troubled students, but certainly not to the degree of the school where I work now. It would be less stressful, less sad, and just easier to work in a different district. But then I remember God has not called us to a life of "easiness." It might be hard at times, but I just pray that God is using me!

This post has been a little therapeutic for me and it has put things into perspective. God is in control of their little lives. I just have to trust Him!