Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27, KJV

It was the perfect storm!  It all began right around 2:30 PM……

I work as a school counselor at an elementary school in South Los Angeles. I was just settling down with my last counseling group of the day in one of the empty classrooms when I was interrupted by an aide telling me that a parent I was expecting had shown up. So I asked the aide to monitor the group while I went downstairs to have the meeting. The meeting went longer than expected, so I politely paused the meeting and went to ask another aide to ask the aide monitoring the group to send the students back to class. I resumed the meeting with the parent, then paused it again to call in my intern for support since she had been counseling this parent’s student for a couple of months now. The meeting seemed to be going well with the two, so I politely excused myself and made my way across campus toward another teacher’s classroom, where the Good News Bible Club was going to be held soon after school ended. On my way, I said a silent prayer because my attitude had not been the greatest, and I needed Jesus to help me. At this point, I was feeling hopeful. My attitude had improved, and I was feeling less stressed. But when I walked inside the door, everything hit me all at once. There were about fifteen kids in the room with my Good News Club co-teacher. Five of the boys were roughhousing on the carpet, and one of the kindergartners immediately came up to me, whining that he didn’t want to stay for the Good News Club. As I started trying to set up my computer for the club activities, the classroom teacher walked in and told me she no longer wanted students eating in her room, and then asked me about a chair that she had put in my counseling office weeks ago that she now wanted back. While all this is going on, I got a call from the Psychiatric Mobile Response Team asking for an address so their team can meet with a student I referred earlier in the school day. It took me a while to get the address because the internet stopped working, and I eventually had to use my hotspot on my phone…

Are you frazzled just reading this? I have to admit, I was frazzled! However, something beautiful occurred in the midst of all the chaos that day—Jesus gave me peace. He gave me the peace that only He could give! The storm didn’t settle immediately. Eventually, everything calmed down. But even in the storm, I had peace. 

Do you want that peace too?

Dear Lord, thank You for being my peace! Help me to always recognize and willingly receive You.

Copyright Christine Maner.  

Christine is an elementary school counselor for a charter school in South Los Angeles and has been connected with Christian Educators for about 2-3 years. She enjoys receiving the heartfelt devotions from other educators daily.