Christian Living

How God guided some major steps in my life

by Holly Jensen
05/30/17
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I never set out to be an ESL teacher. In fact, I never set out to be a teacher. When I was younger, teachers worked with kids, big groups of kids. No way I had the patience for that. 

But one thing I did have was a sort of fascination with other cultures and languages. It didn’t manifest beyond curiosity until I was in middle school. I loved meeting folks who had come from different places and spoke differently from me. I thought my lot would be as missionary to Ireland. Did I mention a strong heart for that beautiful land?

Even through my years at university, I pictured myself as some sort of service missionary somewhere, probably Ireland. Foolishly, I never chose a minor, just and emphasis on Missions to go with my degree in Intercultural Studies. Nothing wrong with that, but hiring managers like to see something more specific.

3 years of independent living school for the blind plus job-hunting plus a healthy dose of discouragement later, God revealed the next step. During my years at university, I had done a summer stint as a sort of helper/tutor for an organization in my local area which helped refugees. One of my primary duties, helping out with English classes. It was that experience, added to the words of some kind friends, that helped me go forward with a Masters degree in Linguistics, specializing in Teaching English as a Second Language.

During the years that it took to get the degree, I pictured myself teaching somewhere, abroad or in the States, but in a traditional setting. I did some volunteering and some practicum work as part of my studies, as well as to get experience. Then came my reentrance into the job market.

Did you know that blind people in the United States generally have a 30 percent chance of being employed? And that’s the high end. Of course, there are a lot of variables to the statistic, not the least of which is the aging population, but when I allowed myself to dwell on the numbers.. But our great God is bigger than the statistics, and not bound by the limits of our thinking. 

I picked up some more volunteer work, with a possible path to hiring, while looking for a job. Many of the jobs weren’t a good fit, and those that were didn’t seem interested in what I had to offer. It was during this time that God revealed the next step. One night, I was up rather late searching for something. I can’t remember what; maybe another job opportunity. Somehow, I found a website where people were broadcasting online English classes.

Seriously, a teacher was in one place teaching, and the students were from different parts of the world learning, all online! And the class was being live-streamed through YouTube and the school’s website. You have to understand that this was a major revelation. During my Masters studies, I don’t once remember any serious consideration of online ESL teaching. But there it was.

Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep that night. I was too excited. Here was something I could totally do. That was providing the software was usable with a screen reader. If I could pass that hurdle, I would be alright. People wouldn’t have to wonder if I could do the job, or anything like that.

The whole story about everything changing in one moment is a bit cliched, but in a way, it was true. I applied to the school I had found, but unbeknownst to me, it was in the process of folding. I began searching online for similar opportunities, and found them.

I still remember the day that I received the email that an online language school thought I was “a good fit.” and now, 3 years later, I look back and think about the ups and downs, I can’t help but be very thankful.  Teaching English all over the world is as awesome as it sounds, but it is not always easy. There are still times when I feel as inept as I did that first day when meeting with my first student. But then there are the days when a student almost drives me to tears letting me know how I inspire her to keep studying English. 

Being able to do what I love and simply having a job are nothing to sneeze at. But that really isn’t the moral of this little tale. I don’t know quite what is, but I do have a couple of final thoughts. Some people seem to have the kind of life where they make a plan and follow it. But others don’t really know the next step until they are about to take it. But that’s okay when a great God is guiding those steps. My pastor once said that if we let Him, God will build our lives around what delights us. And when we think about how he also influences those delights, well… All I can say is, what a mighty God we serve.