In June 1974 I received my diploma in interior decorating. If I thought the decorating course I had just completed was challenging; finding stable employment proved an even greater difficulty. By February of 1975 I had held two positions with two companies only to be laid off due to these two firms going out of business.
Thus when I was offered a position as a “custom decorator” for J.C. Penney Company, I latched onto it tightly agreeing to cover two stores in the San Fernando Valley (California). Within a few weeks I had so many appointments, I was working close to ten hour days, five days a week, and often Saturdays. Plus I usually went into one of these stores for a few hours after church on Sunday, just to pick up any leads and to spend a little time talking with any potential clients.
Then disaster struck in June of that year. On my return from a client’s home to the store I was involved in an auto accident which resulted in a serious back injury. The injuries were so serious that after six months of weekly treatments my doctor advised I would be seventy-five percent permanently disabled.
The truth about my ability, was that I was very limited. I could not drive the car very far, looking up or down caused extreme lightheadedness, I couldn’t sit or stand for very long. Combing my hair was an ordeal. Going to the beauty shop to have my hair done, was out of the question, as I couldn’t tolerate sitting that long. Picking up my two year old niece was impossible, kneeling to pray likewise. I couldn’t reach an item on any shelf in the kitchen over my head, or below my knees. The cervical brace I wore day and night was dreadfully uncomfortable.
Thus at twenty-seven this was not news I had hope to hear. I prayed constantly for God to simply heal me; to fix my back so I could be good as new. I knew He could do this but it didn’t happen. It wasn’t that the Almighty couldn’t do this, or that I lacked faith sufficient to be healed in this fashion. But God had a different plan. He allowed me to be incapable of doing all the normal activities I was accustomed of doing to draw me closer to Him. And this would be just the beginning of a life long lesson of trusting and obeying Him in all things. He was preparing me for a wonderful journey, which I couldn’t possibly foresee.
To add to my physical discomforts my church friends must have been related to the friends of that patient Bible character Job, because they reacted in the same manner: assuming I had done something horribly wrong to have such a bad thing happen to me. Surely God was punishing me for some “hidden sin”.
Upon the first anniversary of my accident I decided if the Lord wanted me to remain disabled, I had better, by His grace, make some alterations. I began praying for His leading in what He wanted me to do next, seeing how returning to my former job as an interior decorator was a closed door.
Within six months an opportunity was laid before me to teach interior decorating at a local adult education school. Teach? Did God really expect me to teach? Me, who quivered through a five minute testimony. Surely God couldn’t expect me to teach!
I was soon to learn, that His grace is sufficient in all things, and He never asks you to do more than what you are capable of doing - He always provides.
And provide He did! Despite the number of barriers which stood before me in meeting the qualifications required by the adult education school for me to teach, these were amazingly removed. The biggest one was qualifying for a teaching credential.
My decorating degree was a certificate of completion from a correspondence school.
State of California teaching credentials, for most teaching assignments required, a bachelor of arts or science degree. How was I going to qualify? Still I felt the Lord urging me forward in this matter. To my surprise, I qualified by my employment experience having worked both for a retail store and a design studio. Plus as my grade point average for the decorating course was quite high these were combined to provide me with a temporary teaching credential.
The temporary credential was issued on the condition that I complete six courses in education within a two year period. Another barrier, as these classes were held quite a distance from my home - further than what my doctor felt I could drive. The Lord provided a means for me to take these classes. There was concern I would not be able to tolerate sitting in class for an entire day over six consecutive week ends. Once in the class, I found the instructors of every course I had to take, to be attentive and considerate of my need to change positions after every hour or so, and frequent breaks were given.
