Surrendering Your Plans: Trusting God in the Classroom

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Transformational Teacher and welcome to the Transformational Teacher Podcast.

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I am your host, IT Toya.

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Thank you so much for being here and as always, thank you so much for all that you do for your students.

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Thank you for what you do inside your classroom.

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Thank you for what you do behind the scenes.

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Your work is needed and I appreciate you and also Happy New Year.

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We are now in: 2025

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ngs that he is going to do in: 2025

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We may hit some challenges inside the classroom, but one thing for sure, if we lean in on God, if we allow him to guide and direct our footsteps, we will be okay as long as we partner with Him.

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So let's go ahead and jump into our episode for today.

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Today we are going to talk about surrendering as we step foot inside of our classrooms for the first time, I I want us to step foot inside of that classroom surrendering every plan to God.

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Allow God to lead and guide your footsteps on this year.

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Proverbs 3, 5, 6.

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It says, Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.

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In all your ways, know and acknowledge and recognize him and he will make your path straight and smooth, removing obstacles that block your way.

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So again, surrender and trust that God will lead and direct your footsteps.

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So when you're planning, surrender your plans to God.

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Surrender everything about your classroom to Him.

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Surrender those challenging students over to him and ask him for insight.

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Ask him what is it that you need to do to help that student or to help your students.

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One thing that I remember is last year it was one of my students.

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I was trying things that I've tried in the past.

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It wasn't working and I heard God say to do something, but it was something that I wasn't used to doing.

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So at first I was like, well, God, I don't know about that because I'm not used to doing that.

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But I tell you, I gave in and I'm happy that I did.

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Because when God tells us to do something, we need to ask questions quickly.

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So after I did it, I started to see change.

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And I was like, wow, God, you were right.

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And he was like, of course I'm right.

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I can guide and direct your footsteps if you allow me to.

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So again, surrender your plans to Him.

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You might have a way of doing things, but God has a better way of doing it.

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So I encourage you to listen to him.

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Surrender is a big part of trusting God.

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It means letting go of our plans, our expectations and even our fears and allowing him to lead us.

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Another scripture that comes to mind is Romans 12, verses 1 through 2.

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And it says, therefore I urge you brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.

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This is your true and proper worship.

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Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

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Then you will be able to test and improve what God's will is.

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His good, pleasing and perfect will.

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So again, when we surrender, we're not giving up, but we are giving God permission to transform us.

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We're allowing His Word to transform us.

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We are allowing him to instruct and teach us in what we should do.

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We're allowing him again to renew our minds and show us His.

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His way, which is always better than what we can imagine.

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Cuz the thing is, God knows all things.

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He knows you, he knows your students, he knows what you're going to be faced with each and every day.

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So as we rise in the morning, we want to surrender to him and we want to say yes to God.

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Yield to him and say, God, I am your willing vessel.

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Show me what it is that I need to do on today to prepare to walk into my classroom.

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Show me how to handle every situation that arises in my classroom.

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God, I give my own insight.

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I give my own insight over to you God, I give everything to you.

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And I ask Lord God that you direct me on this day because I know you can do it better than I can do it.

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So again, I encourage you, surrender to God.

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Allow him to guide and direct your footsteps.

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Now I want you to take a moment to reflect and ask God, what do I need to surrender to you?

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It might be a challenging student, a situation with a colleague, or even your own sense of self control in the classroom.

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Whatever it is, I want you to know that surrendering doesn't mean you're failing.

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It means you're inviting God into the process.

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I believe going on this journey with God, one that knows all things, is the best thing that we can do.

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Allow him to be your GPS and guide you.

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And sometimes you may get off the road that he has you on, but I encourage you get back on.

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Just like when you're driving, you may get messed up and you may take a wrong turn, but the GPS will get you back on the right turn.

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That's the same thing with God.

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He will get you back on the path that you need to be on for your classroom.

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So again, surrender to God.

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Let's pray.

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Well, Heavenly Father, we thank you right now.

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We thank you Lord, just for who you are.

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We thank you for your goodness.

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We thank you for your love.

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We thank you for your mercy.

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We thank you for your faithfulness.

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Father.

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Father.

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We thank you Father for allowing us to see 20, 25.

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And we thank you, Lord God, that we surrender, Lord God, this year over to you.

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And we ask, Lord God, that you will guide and direct our footsteps.

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For we trust in you, Lord, with all of our hearts.

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We lean not into our own understanding, but all of our ways.

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We acknowledge you.

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And as we acknowledge you, we know that you will guide and direct our pathways.

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We thank you for removing those obstacles out of our way that try to hinder us.

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God, we surrender to you.

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We yield to you.

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We say yes to you daily.

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And we ask, Lord God, that you help us, Lord God, to respond correctly to every situation that arise in our classrooms.

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Help us to teach effectively, Lord God, for you have called us for such a time as this to bring forth fruit inside of our classrooms.

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So we thank you Father for what you're going to do and we give you all honor and glory.

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In Jesus name I pray.

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Amen.

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Well, thank you all so much for taking out the time to listen to this episode.

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As always, continue to pray, listen, transform so you can teach and make that godly impact God has called you to make inside of your classrooms.

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We'll speak with you all later.