God’s On Your Side

My enemies will retreat when I call to you for help. This I know: God is on my side!

Psalm 56:9

SUE DIDN’T KNOW what hit her. One minute she was enjoying her job as a middle school special-needs teacher and receiving praise from parents and administration alike. The next minute Jeni, the new district supervisor, began stirring up trouble. Jeni suggested that Sue try procedures that she was already using—and she wouldn’t listen when Sue pointed that out. Though Sue had served wonderfully as a special-needs teacher for seven years, thanks to Jeni’s unfair criticism, Sue’s principal began to doubt Sue’s ability.

The teacher’s aides who worked with the students in Sue’s class seemed to smell blood and decided to get in on the act. Sue cared about them and had gone overboard to be a good supervisor to them for seven years —even covering for their lateness and other problems. Yet they suddenly turned on her too.

Even one of the parents started blaming Sue for her son’s Down syndrome. Everywhere she turned, it seemed that Sue was facing people who were suddenly against her.

How did Sue respond to this conflict? She enveloped herself in prayer more than ever before. She prayed for the young district supervisor and her aides. Though she’d always prayed for her employees, students, and students’ families, she now prayed even more fervently for those who had become her enemies. Soon things began to turn around in her favor.

Sue learned that the promises of God hold true. Even though others may be against us, when we call upon him, he will vanquish our enemies and uphold us with his might and power.