Ever think back to events in your life and know God used them to prepare you for where you are today?

I know, without a doubt, that He did that for me.

In college, the only work study job I could find as a freshman was to work at an outside after-school program that helped elementary school kids with their homework. We tried to make it fun and we also incorporated educational games and stuff. By my senior year, I had been named “assistant director” of the program and was very close friends with the director. (Hi Kris!) I was also given some of the more difficult kids to work with most of the time.

Fast forward to today. I practically run a preschool around here. We officially start homeschooling this fall.  Who knew back then that my insane incentives to encourage learning would one day help my life, happening in my dining room daily? This prior experience is the one thing that makes me a little less scared about the idea… (well, that and proof of answered prayer.)

The summers during my college years I spent as a camp counselor at a Bible camp. Each week I was assigned between 12 and 18 campers. I did my best to create a memorable experience, to teach them a bit about who God is and how He works in our lives, and to keep things hopping so their short attention spans wouldn’t implode.

Fast forward to today. My aforementioned preschool is starting to benefit from my experience as a counselor. Just today, Brady and I had some one-on-one time. We discussed just what sin is and how God views us. It wasn’t major, but it was a big step for him to understand that we all sin. I felt like a camp counselor as I showed him verses from the Bible. Also, my kids are starting to enjoy learning some of the wacky camp songs we used to sing. (”If I were a teddy bear, I’d thank you Lord for my fuzzy-wuzzy hair…” Everybody now!)

Also, back in college, I had one crazy roommate. (Hi Rosie! I miss you!) Not only did she use play-dough for study breaks, but she also drove an ambulance “signal 10.” (That means lights and sirens.) Rose was an EMT and kept the tumultuous hours to prove it. She was often “on station” all night long, or sometimes jumped out of bed in the middle of night to answer the “tones.”

Fast forward to today. My police officer husband often works midnights. He and his canine sometimes get called out in the middle of the night to chase down drug dealers. (I wish I was kidding.) I’ve been in the squad car numerous times when we’ve pulled over to help someone on the side of the rode, or blocked traffic so an on-duty unit could get the bad guy. I’ve watched many dinners get cold on my kitchen table because my husband was doing CPR on someone before the paramedics arrived. And though our 12-passenger van is not an ambulance, my husband sometimes drives it like he’s racing to a call. (Love you, honey.)

Oh, he doesn’t generally pull out the play-dough like Rose did, but my kids do.

I’m not trying to be all philosophical or anything. I’m just saying it’s fun to see how so many of my life experiences have helped prepare me for where I am today. It’s not that God hasn’t been teaching me new things, too. Otherwise, my husband would be an OB/GYN and, early on, I would have had lessons in how best to throw up in a helicopter. I’m just saying.

Do you see it in your own life, too? How?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 6:39 pm and is filed under Kids, faith, family, marriage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.