Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord will be with you

wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9)

Battling Discouragement?
Discouragement, Murmuring, Gossip, Condemnation and Judgment are the
names of the family of demons which have inhabited and haunted the hearts and minds
of educators in public schools for way too long. Praise God that Jesus is a ghost buster
and that He dwells in us!
The father and leader of all these destructive spirits is Discouragement. Several
times in her educational career he has had Melissa Yates by the throat and just about
snuffed out her professional life. Has Discouragement ever had a hold of the wick of your professional candle? Have
you ever felt like you are being spiritually suffocated by the increased burden of responsibility, seemingly irrational
decisions being made, or the general atmosphere of godlessness where you work? Have you ever served a severely
troubled student or group of students who are determined to steal your joy and discourage you? Many educators are in
the midst of these battles right now.
Melissa recently fought the biggest battle of her career against Discouragement. She had taught resource
special education classes for more than twenty years. She was a master teacher. Every year Melissa made remarkable
progress with the most severely behaviorally and academically challenged students that came to her school. Many
reached grade level and were placed into regular classes as a result of her work. Two years ago her school went to a
full inclusion model with no input from faculty or parents. All of the students she served were placed in regular
classrooms and so was she! She was now placed in multiple teachers classes and asked, like an interpreter, to translate
all of the objectives in ways that every special needs student could understand and make the required progress to grade
level.
She felt like someone had stomped the brakes on the vehicle she had been driving at 70 miles an hour and then
slammed the car in reverse and put the pedal to the metal. She was now being expected to stay on the road while
driving backwards at 70 miles an hour. While the political correctness air bag was hitting her in the face,
Discouragement grabbed the wheel and his family jumped in the back seat hoping for a long ride. Murmuring was
encouraging Melissa to complain about the decision made and Gossip wanted her to tell everyone what was going on
and what a mistake it was. Condemnation and Judgment wanted her to hold continual negative thoughts in her mind
about the politicians, educational gurus, and the district and campus leaders responsible for this decision. While this
was going on, Discouragements cousins, Resentment, Repressed Anger, and Grief jumped in the trunk.
Melissa was taken for a real demonic depression ride. She was professionally car jacked. All the personal
changes for improvement she had been looking forward to implementing were run over and she abandoned them. She
went from being a master teacher to a mediocre inclusion teacher at best, due to all the junk in her trunk and seats. She
was carrying too much weight and became stiff-necked from looking backwards.
God knew what was going on. He knew every gray hair hiding under the colored hair on her head. He was
maturing Melissa, helping her grow up. (Romans 5:3) Her identity, strength, joy, and trust is to be fully found in
obedience to God, not in what position she taught, what political or administrative decisions were made, what program
she was using, or even her students successes and failures. During this trial the Lord reminded Meliss who she truly
was - an OVERCOMER, the LIGHT of the classroom, the SALT of the school. She learned the joy of the Lord is to
be her strength, not all these other things she had come to rely on for identity, joy and strength where she worked. God
is such a great teacher but that was a difficult lesson! She wanted to drop out!
The second year after these big changes, Melissa took her professional career to the Holy Spirit auto spa.
She recognized and started confessing and cleaning out all the junk in her trunk and seats. In the name of Jesus she
swept out Discouragement and his ugly family members. Jesus is driving Melissas professional car again this year
and she has invited Courage to sit beside her in the front seat. She is loading her trunk and backseat with the fruit of
the Spirit (peace, patience, love, kindness, etc.). Melissa finally embraced her new position. Jesus wants her to be the
best inclusion specialist she can be because her work is to always reflect His excellence. GO JESUS!
.Prayer: Lord, thank you for driving our car-eers. Courage, thank you for sitting in the front seat with us.

Application: Confess and repent of any junk you are carrying in your professional trunk and seats right now.
Sharing: What was the most discouraging thing you ever experienced in your career and how did God help you
overcome this discouragement?
CLASSROOM LIGHTHOUSE SERIES: TEACHER! TAKE COURAGE! (For inquiries contact ceaihouston@sbcglobal.net.) WEEK 8