We had just moved from Iowa to California. The day had come when I had to go to a new school for the first time. I missed my teacher back in Iowa, Miss Macnab. She read us great stories and always showed us the pictures in the book. When I fell down on the playground and hurt my knee, she cleaned up my knee and made it feel much better. Miss Macnab had given me a nice spiral notebook when I had to tell her “bye” so I’d have it to take to my new school on this first day. She said that she would always remember me. Now I had the spiral notebook she had given me, and I remembered it as I walked with my mother
to school.
Everything was so different in this part of California than in Iowa. The backyards were much smaller, and there were tall walls around each yard. I was used to no fences and huge backyards. In Iowa I could hear the mooing of cows every day, and I could see large fields of corn as they grew in the summer. I knew everybody’s name on my street and when I went to the grocery store with my mother, I knew everybody there too. I knew nobody in California. Suddenly I heard my mother say, “Okay, I’ll be here to pick you up after school. I hope you meet new friends and enjoy your new teacher. I’ll be anxious to hear all about it when I come for you.” We had arrived at school and I had to face the day alone. Then I remembered the Bible verse we had read at dinner the night before: “I am with you alway[s]” (Matthew 28:2020Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:20)). I knew that meant the Lord Jesus was always with me, so I knew I wasn’t really alone.
I hesitated at the doorway of my new classroom. The other children squeezed by me like I wasn’t there, as they happily laughed and talked to each other. I felt a shiver down the back of my neck. But then my new teacher came up to me and said, “Welcome, Jane, to our class!” She took my hand and showed me to my new seat. I saw a box of crayons on my desk that were all sharp and shiny, two new pencils with little horse-shaped erasers, and a new spiral notebook with a cow on it — just like the cows I saw every day back in Iowa!
Lunch time came and I saw I was the only one who had a lunch box. The other children all had brown paper bags for their lunch. I was afraid they were going to laugh at me for being different. This was hard! Then I heard a friendly voice, as a girl with long braids sat down next to me with her lunch. She said, “Hi, I’m Allison. I like your lunch box. It holds more food than my bag does. Where are you from?” I told her that I was from Iowa. She said she heard they grew really good corn in Iowa because that is where her mom was from. Wow! She liked my lunch box and had heard of Iowa! I secretly said a little prayer: “Thank You, Lord Jesus! Thank You for making California not so scary and for being with me!”
We went out for recess and Allison told me I could be on her team in kickball. I started having fun playing and laughing with the other children, and I got in a kick that scored well for our team! The other kids cheered for me and said, “Nice job kid!” I surprised myself when I heard myself say, “Thanks! My name is Jane.” I remembered that the teacher had told them that, but they probably hadn’t
been listening.
Soon the teacher called everyone to line up to choose new teams for volleyball. I knew I was pretty good at volleyball, but when you fell down in Iowa, you were on a grassy field. Here in California it was on asphalt and that would really hurt. Just then I heard my name called as I was picked for a team. As we played, I found it was much easier to run to hit the ball on asphalt than grass, and the tall fences kept the ball from going far when hit out of bounds.
The bell rang and it was time to go back to class. After we were settled, my new teacher started to read us a story. Then she showed us the pictures that went with the story, just like Miss Macnab!
Before I knew it, it was time to go home. As we left the classroom in a line, I could see my mother standing out on the sidewalk, right where she’d said she’d be. I had such an exciting day to talk about! The Lord had helped me every moment of that day that I was dreading so much!
The Bible says, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me” (Psalm 23:1,41<<A Psalm of David.>> The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. (Psalm 23:1)
4Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)). Children, are you facing some hard or different situations in your life right now? Remember that you can ask the Lord Jesus, who is the Good Shepherd of all who know Him, to help you. He is able to comfort and help you, because He loves you and is always with you!
Messages of God’s Love 5/2/2021