I don't participate in a word of the year, like some bloggers do. I wrote more about it here. God gives me words for certain seasons. He whispers a singular word to my soul, sings it in a song, writes it in books I read, or preaches it loudly in a sermon. Make no mistake, he gets his point across loud and clear. My word at this time is faithful.

I did the math just the other day-

For ten years she’s been teaching that Sunday School class.

How many women have come and gone over the years?

I’ve never sat in that class on Sunday mornings,

Yet, her faithfulness teaches me.

See, I know about the things going on in her life

The other six days of the week, outside of the classroom.

The husband who meets her for the worship service,

He’s battled a chronic illness for years.

All of the real-life, hard, hard stuff her adult children have gone through, 

Leaving her heart broken on the battlegrounds of faith.

The people she’s had to forgive, even when they weren’t sorry.

When her own faith was tired and worn, perhaps the size of a mustard seed-

The only prayer she had some weeks was the only one any of us ever needs-

Jesus, help. Amen.

Once, she told her class with raw honesty,

I don’t know if I can keep showing up here and being your teacher.

There are days I fight to believe myself.

They wouldn’t let her go.

It seems watching her suffer through real life struggles taught them too.

When life hurt and didn’t make one bit of sense, she sat with them.

Together, they prayed to a God who knows each one of us intimately.

They studied a Bible full of people who walked difficult roads too.

It wasn’t a perfect teacher they wanted,

but this one who struggled with forgiveness;

One who admitted being weary from the battles.

One in desperate need of Jesus Christ… just like them.