The girl rushed past us in the hall. We had just finished a character lesson
in her class moments before, so I wondered why she was so upset. Then I recalled an incident during the lesson when she had started to say something and didn’t get to finish. Could that have had anything to do with it?
A few minutes later I found her in the school office, with arms crossed and face clenched in a tough scowl. Pain and defeat filled her eyes. I decided to approach her.
“What was it you were going to say in class earlier?” I inquired. Then I asked her why she doesn’t listen in class. I wanted her to tell me the real reason.
She welled up with frustration and anger. “I always get corrected! I can never do anything right!” she said.
“So you don’t even try, right?”
She hung her head. We talked for a few minutes, and the Lord gave me the words to comfort and encourage her. I also challenged her to apologize to her teacher for her bad attitude.
Later, when we went back to her class to get some students who needed tutoring, she was one of the children selected for us to help. Just before we left the room, I saw her tugging on her teacher’s shirt and asking, “Can I tell you something?”
Her teacher looked unamused, but as the girl whispered something into her ear, the teacher’s eyes began to light up. I couldn’t tell what she whispered, but I do know that the time we spent tutoring the girl went incredibly well.
Later I passed the same teacher in the hall, and she asked me how tutoring went. I told her what a good job her student did, and then I broached the topic of behavior.
“I think I may know why she acts the way she does.” I took a deep breath. “She really wants to please you and her peers, but she doesn’t feel she can do anything right. So I think she acts up just to impress.”
The teacher seemed surprised that this girl had actually opened up so much to me. We talked for over half an hour about ways to reach the students in her classroom and topics we could cover in the character lesson the next week.
I’m excited about making a difference in these students’ lives. They used to dislike having us there, but now they give us hugs as we leave. And the Lord has allowed us to reach out to their teacher, too! God is at work, and I believe that if they’ll apply the things we’ve taught them in character classes, they will finish the school year stronger and smarter.
Please pray with me for this particular class, that they will ask about Jesus. That’s Who I really want them to know about and adore. Joy Roberts
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