heart rocks & hashtags

As an art teacher of elementary and middle school age children, I have an arsenal of stories and one liners that happen in my classroom…things that leave you shaking your head in disbelief. Ask any teacher. It’s one of our standard phrases, “You can’t make this stuff up!” Most of the time these stories are funny and laced with humor. One time, however, God used a dear teacher friend, an obedient devotional writer, and a classroom full of first graders to give me a “manifest presence of God” story that still leaves me in awe of how He works.

Let me set the stage for you. I was right in the middle of a personal battle of epic proportions. My marriage was unraveling at the seams. Everything that I thought was stable in my life was not. The beautiful picture of what my life would look like at this stage in the game was marred with Satan’s spray paint of deceit, rejection and fear. Never before had I ever been in a war with this many casualties, this much destruction or this much anger within. Everywhere I looked I saw only darkness. Going to work, teaching little ones all day, making small talk with fellow co-workers, required me to pull out every acting technique I had ever learned in my high school drama class. (Pretty sure I could have won an Oscar or two with my daily performance in the TV reality show entitled, “I’m Great! How Are You?”) This was one of those days. But God, in His infinite wisdom and attention to detail, saw me sitting in the middle of my mess and said, “I’m going to give her a new ‘You Can’t Make This Stuff Up!’ story.”

Before our school day started this particular morning, my next-door teacher neighbor called me into her room. She had read a devotional out of Journey, a women’s devotional magazine from LifeWay and had thought of me when she read it. This particular devotional dealt with a lesser known story of David and his army and allowing the Lord to fight for you. It involved God’s angel army marching in the treetops to signal to David that God had gone before and had already won the battle. David’s enemy had been defeated and David only had to listen for angels “stomping around in the treetops.” My friend told me that as she was reading, all she could think of was that there were armies of angels “stomping around” over my house, over the school, and over other places, fighting for me…winning the battle for me. It was just what my beaten and battered and utterly weary heart needed to hear that day. This story could end there, and it would be a great story…but it gets better.

I thanked her, hugged her, dried up any emotional evidence that I was barely hanging on and went back to my classroom. Business as usual. No rest for the weary and heavy laden. I plastered on my happy face and greeted class after class of elementary students eager to be creative and do some amazing art. It was one of these classes, a first-grade class, that brought me to my knees in disbelief on just how detailed and on purpose our great God is.

My classes generally run like this: Students enter and find their assigned seats. I take roll. I either introduce and explain a new project or I hand out papers from the previous week for them to continue working on. Once students understand what is expected of them, they begin working and talk among themselves throughout the rest of their class time. This particular first grade class started working just like normal. Only from out of the blue, the entire class spontaneously erupts in singing the words from Chris Tomlin’s song, Whom Shall I Fear? (God of Angel Armies). Are you kidding me?! Of all the songs in the world? That one? Really?! I just stood there and let their sweet, sweet voices wash over every part of my hurting self. In that moment, I heard God say to me, “Hear that sound? It’s the same “stomping in the treetops” sound that David heard. I am going before You. I am fighting for You.” Needless to say, when I broke out of my trance, I ran next door and dragged my teacher friend to my room so that she could witness the same song ringing out in victory in my classroom. I promise. I can’t make this stuff up. Trust me when I say this…He still speaks, and it might be a classroom full of burning bushes that He uses.

I Corinthians 14:15 “As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, move out to battle, because that will mean God has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army.”

Exodus 3:4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.”

I know who goes before me / I know who stands behind
The God of angel armies / Is always by my side
The One who reigns forever / He is a friend of mine
The God of angel armies / Is always by my side
(part of the lyrics to “Whom Shall I Fear?” by Chris Tomlin)

Author’s note: A huge thank you goes to the obedience of Emily Ellis Chadwell who wrote the devotional entitled, “Waiting on God” that has been in my Bible for several years now…since 2016 to be exact. Her words are now part of my testimony of God speaking directly to me. You can visit her blog at BelievingatMidnight.com.