Upside Down

This born and raised middle Tennessee girl graduated from college on May 13, 2000, ready to settle into a simple Southern life as a small town high school teacher. The next day I laid eyes on this really tall fella that had distinct and expressive eye brows and the happiest of brown eyes. A few months later I found myself agreeing to marry him and move 2000 miles away from home to a tiny five square mile island. Every plan was changed. My surroundings were totally different. Working with people from all over the world with different teaching styles and philosophies was more than challenging. All things seemed new, from shopping for groceries to driving a car and everything in between. And a new marriage...yeah, there was that too. 

My world was completely turned upside down. 

That wasn’t the last time things got shaken up. A few years later I was on fall break from teaching at a middle school in Missouri. I decided to run to the grocery and pick up my favorite frozen treat, mango sorbet. As I was about to check out I decided to pick up a little something else...a pregnancy test. I hadn’t been feeling the best and I just wanted to ease my mind. An hour later my sorbet was melting all over my couch as I tried to get my mind around being a mom. 

My world was turning upside down again for sure. 

Fast forward...an island and three kids later. I am a content and happy stay at home mom, working hard to make life happen for my family. Focusing on loving Saba was a big chunk of my time. I did non profit work and was active in service to my community in which we lived. But we faced the reality that our kids needed should have options as we began to look at their high school experiences. Long story short...five years later I find myself in a full time regular classroom again...this time teaching of all things Algebra, and coaching cross country and tennis. 

My world got completely turned upside down once again. 

In the moment these upside down changes seemed scary, sometimes irritating and uncomfortable, and even impossible. But in the flip side of the upside downs I so clearly can see the Father. All these things didn’t happen by chance. It wasn’t because of any decision I made or someone made for me. He was the reason for it all. He has shown me His love, given me the greatest gifts of human connection, taught me about grace, grown my faith, granted me the most outrageous joy, and taught me to be content with His plans even though I don’t understand them...because they simply are the best beyond any measure. 

We shouldn’t be surprised you know. He has been turning peoples worlds upside down from the beginning. He made a shepherd boy a king. He made a prostitute an ancestor to the Savior. He made outcasts his apostles. He gave the blind their sight. He let the unclean and sinful touch him. He took everything the religious deemed as important and shook it all up. 

He died. He was resurrected. 

And in that, he turned the entire world upside down.