A Special Request

Friends and Family,
   I have hesitated in sharing this with you; however, just now after reading another friend's update, who is serving in another part of the world, I feel like I need to post this request.  Many of you know that the past 15 months of my life in Camel Land have been anything but easy.  You also may know that in the time I've been here He has been revealing a lot of things to me that unfortunately I wasn't ready to hear before I came or was just too stubborn and hard of heart.
    Most of my close friends and my family know that since I was a sophmore in college the Father made it very clear to me that He had called me into teaching.  I love teaching!  I love the classroom, I love the sticky little hands, I love the "dumb" questions, I love the sweaty smells after recess/the b/o smells in overseas classrooms, everything about teaching I love.....even the things I complain about when I'm in the middle of it, when it's all said and done it's very clear to me and others around me that I'm a teacher.  Some of you know my story, while I was in college I declared my major in Early Childhood Ed, and I proceeded to follow that degree plan until I reached a requirement called the Praxis test.  Time and again I took that test and I kept missing by one or two points a passing score on one of the requirements of that test; so after a lot of painful pr and study over it I came to the conclusion that for whatever reason, Dad was closing the door on my getting that full degree at the time.  It was one of the lowest points for me.  Having to put down that degree was hard and I was very angry with Dad over it.
     As a result of having to lay that degree down at the time, I had to declare another major.  This major had to be one I could complete in 2 semesters, and it had to be one that I already had all the pre-reqs for, so I became a sociology major.  At the time I hated that major, and it was with a lot of grumbling that I completed my degree in order to graduate in December 2003.  It was after I was finished with college I realized my attitude and behaviour were not desirable to Dad, and I was not being a good witness or example of Him.  In this period of repentenance He lead me into the journeyman program, and He also opened the door for me to teach!  It was at that point that I started teaching ESL.  It was also at this time I realized why he had lead me into sociology.  Having a degree in sociology really helped me to be a better ESL teacher, and a better teacher altogether.
     I was able to teach ESL for 3 years in Southeast Asia, and then I was able to continue teaching ESL for 3 more years in Fort Worth.  However, in my steps coming here to Camel Land....it has been made apparent to me  this time of my life teaching has been taken away, for a lot of reasons between me and the Father, which I won't go into right now.  However, in the past 15 months He has been showing me teaching isn't gone forever, but it is now time for me to begin working towards that teaching degree again. 
     All of this is to say and to ask for your pr that I would hold to his Hand.  These are difficult days.  A person who is called to teach, yet who is not being allowed to teach is like someone who needs water but can't reach it.  I read the stories and newsletters of other friends who are involved in ESL work around the world, and I literally sob because I want so badly to be doing that same kind of work.  I am asking that you would join me in pr as I continue to walk this road of teachlessness, until He opens that door for me again.  I also ask that you would join me in pr as I seek out the Father in knowing where, when, and how to pursue and get my full teaching license. 
     Thank you for your pr, and I pr you will join me in this special request.

Serving Him with You,
Rachel