The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

The righteous person

may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him [her] from all of them. (Psalm 34:18)
Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on [in] the road [classroom]
(Luke 24:32)

Knee Mail: Broken and Burning

Karen is a ninth grade English teacher at Summit High School in an inner city school in Denver, Colorado. She ends each day
in her classroom by taking five to ten minutes to write in her classroom spiritual journal. She gets on the computer and writes a brief
letter to God in which she thanks Him for at least three things that have happened during the day. She keeps these letters, labeled by
date, in a file titled Knee Mail. She will sometimes go into the file to read past knee mails for encouragement.
At the end of one day she was drained and totally exhausted. Karen could not wait to get home. It had been a day of state
testing and she had been on her feet ALL day. There was so much increased pressure each year riding on these state tests. Karen sat
at her desk, made her journal entry, saved it to her knee mail file, and grabbed her purse and rolling homework bag. She turned off the
light and started out the door.
Before Karen had taken three steps she heard the inner voice of the Lord say, Go back. We are not done yet. Not knowing
why, Karen simply began to cry. She was overwhelmed by the presence of the Lord combined with her sheer exhaustion. Rarely had
she experienced God speaking to her in this way, so directly.
Mascara running and wiping the tears from her eyes, Karen walked back into the dark room and turned on the small dim desk
light she sometimes used when praying before and after school. As she sat in silence she felt the Lord asking her, What did John the
Baptist and my Son, Jesus, first preach? That is what is missing in the harvest field of education. There is a firestorm of hidden sin
burning in your profession. Someone has to start a backfire of my Spirit to contain it. That person is you. I will show you how.
Karens response was to simply uncontrollably continue to weep. She felt a floodgate open of unknown repressed anger
toward those above her in authority who each year made a flood of changes that always kept her professionally off balance. These
were changes that did not simplify and increase her productivity, but often increased complexity, decreased productivity, and took
hours of time away from her personal school planning/grading time, her family, friends, and relationship with God. Each year, for
several years, she felt like she was serving her students less and the adults around her more and more. It seemed like all she had left
in her life was her job. Her life had lost its balance.
For the last three years her class size had increased. She was spending several hours each night grading
the essays of her 190 students. She strove to be a teacher of excellence but felt she was falling way short. There
was little joy left in her life. Her all-consuming work was negatively affecting her relationship with her husband and
her son. She felt like a ruptured pipe that couldnt handle the volume and pressure of the water being piped through
it. She knew her students were not fully prepared for the increased difficulty of the test they had just taken that day
though she had given 110% all year leading up to this test. She knew her best wasnt good enough yet she knew
she was an excellent teacher.
Karen booted up her computer and opened her knee mail file. She felt an unknown heat coursing through
her body as she wept. She first wrote down the message received from the Lord. Then through a blur of tears she wrote, Dear God,
Im broken and burning. Please help me. Please heal me. I dont know what to do. You do. Lead me. Karen. (To be continued.)
Prayer: Lord, heal those of us in this profession who are broken hearted. Show us the way through the firestorm of burnout.
Reflections: When have I felt professionally broken hearted? Was I and how was I healed? Am I burned out in my career or am I
burning to serve the Lord in my career? Explain.
Getting Real: Cry out to God for help in your professional life if needed. Cry out to God if you are burning to serve Him more in your
professional life. Ask Him what to do. Do it and trust Him.
CLASSROOM LIGHTHOUSE SERIES: Fields of Faith in Education (For info or prayer contact ceaihouston@sbcglobal.net.) WEEK 11

FIELDS OF FAITH PRAYER: Lord, build and establish these schools with Your wisdom. Through love and knowledge, fill the students and
staff members with rare and beautiful treasures. Heal those educators that are brokenhearted. Give direction to those who are burning to
serve you more in their career. Use the educators in these schools to feed your lambs and sheep, to transform wolves into sheep, and to
lead youth to their hope and future in You.
Chamberlain College of Nursing (Houston Area Post-Secondary Schools)
Pink Elementary and Taylor Ray Elementary in Lamar CISD
All Public, Private, and Home Schools in the Deer Park ISD Area
All Public, Private, and Home Schools in the States of Iowa and Kansas
All Public, Private, and Home Schools in the Countries of China, Columbia, Comoros, and Congo
Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEAI-Houston Supported Ministry)