I am now Professor Woodward. How did I get here? In a few words: Faith, hard work, decisions.
Faith:
I would’ve never made it to where I am in life had I not put my faith in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is my everything. He is the reason. He is the rock upon which I stand and I know apart from Him I can do nothing (John 15:5). He is the One who called me out of darkness into His marvelous light (I Peter 2:9).
The only reason I’m here is because He chose me for this.
He saved me from a dark, hopeless, and insecure place. He called me, He chose me, He restored me. He turned me around and cleaned me up. If I don’t praise Him and give Him the credit for all He’s done for me then I’m lying- acting as if I’ve done this all myself and that is just not the case.
Jesus Christ gets all the glory and praise for what He has done with me.
Hard work:
It took a lot work on my end. Continually submitting to Him and His ways, and remaining focused on the tasks that He placed in front of me. For me, it was school. Semester after semester, I kept going back. No matter what came my way, I kept going to school.
It took dedication, perseverance, and long-term vision. I was saved in 2010, enrolled in Tulsa Community College in 2011, changed my major to communications as He gave me purpose, and I had no idea in 2018 I would be standing in the front of the classroom teaching at the same college where I was once a single parent, full-time employee, and part-time student.
Decisions:
Success in college and life has so much to do with the decisions that we make. Relationships changed, how I spent my time changed, how I thought changed, basically my whole life changed because of the decisions that I made as I followed Christ.
Some of the decisions were tough- very tough. Relationship changes were the toughest, but now I see that holding on to some relationships will hold us back from God’s best for us.
I recently read this: Darling, first it hurts you, then it changes you.
I must add: for the better.
It is so important for us to realize that once we’re saved, we’re new creatures. Being a new creature implies that there is a doing away of the old. We have a new life in Christ. Often, God changed the names of those He saved to clearly demonstrate the newness. Abram to Abraham. Saul to Paul. The latter is always the better.
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
– II Corinthians 5:17
Everyone may not get it, understand it, or respect it; but it’s not our responsibility to make everyone get it.
If I attempted to do that, I would’ve never made it here. You see, it’s a spiritual journey, a spiritual battle. Things are not always what they appear to be. We live in an evil world and as Christians we are always battling against an enemy who wants to kill us, steal from us, and destroy us (John 10:10).
Satan will use whoever or whatever to get the job done. Most people don’t even realize that they are being used by the enemy. The point is that we have to make wise, Spirit-led decisions to get to where God is leading us.
It’s all spiritual.
Trust me, the journey was not always easy, but it was worth it. Looking back on all the tough times, I can honestly say from my heart that it was worth it and so necessary. All of it was used to make me the woman that I am today.
How did I get here?
I kept my faith, kept working hard, kept making right decision after right decision and here I am- only by His grace.
“But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”
– I Corinthians 15:10
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