14 June 2014 by Natalie Kock-
As a university student, one of the ‘exciting’ part of university life is when we do our internship. It is a time when we are put into the real world where work is work and there is no time to ‘lepak’. For me, I applied for an internship at a private international school and was accepted. However, ever since I started my internship, I could not help but doubt myself and the decision I made in choosing this place. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be and I questioned myself for fighting so hard to get a placement in this school. “Why, oh why, did I put myself through all the humiliation just to get an internship placement in this school?” and “Why in the world did I pray so hard for an internship in this place?!” To be frank and honest, the students that I was dealing with are brats, and most of them have no intention to learn; neither do they want to improve and help themselves.
I asked myself what I was doing, and why I was wasting my time trying to help those who just didn’t want my (or any other person’s) help. I was barely started in my teaching career and I was about to give up already! The only thing that kept me going was this voice at the back of my head, “God didn’t give up on you when you’re at your worst, how can you give up on your students just like that?”
I shared this with one of my friends, letting off a bit of steam and sharing about my frustrations of dealing with the students. My friend told me to pray for myself and to keep on praying for the kids because things will start to change when one starts to pray. So my prayer before I go to bed every night got longer. I started praying for my students.
And true enough, things started to change, bit by bit. As time went by, I started to see changes in my students. Their attitudes began to change and the atmosphere of my class started to change. How very different it was from when I first started teaching them! Personal issues were shared in their journaling activities and I now found myself wanting to help them grow to be who they were meant to be.
I had recently come back from my church camp and the speaker Pastor Andy said, “The greatest tragedy is not death; it is living without purpose, because purpose is the key to the source of meaning and understanding of your every act.” In praying for my students, there was not only a change in their attitudes, but also a newfound sense of purpose in me. I now know why I wanted this job so badly. God didn’t answer my prayer for nothing. God has purpose and plans for me. He wants me to deliver education to whomever I can reach, no matter how hard it is, to not give up, and keep on moving forward. With God by my side, I can make a change!
“Miracles begin when you pray, but it only happens when you obey.” We need to believe that God has our best interests at heart. When we pray, we need to believe that He is watching over us. Matthew 7:7 says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” God cares about the big things as well as the little things in our lives, and the first thing we should do in every situation in our lives is to bring it to our Lord in prayer!
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