Irene's Page

Gender

Female

City

Searcy

State/Province

AR

Country (not County)

USA

Occupation:

2nd grade teacher

I'm here to...

learn and gain new insights

Interests:

flower gardening, bird watching, teaching my 2nd graders, sunday school (I teach), raising my 2 boys....19 and 14 yr old...loving and nurturing my grown daughter 36 yr old

I'm passionate about...

God, children, birds, flowers, hummingbirds, butterflies, loving people

My story with God

I wasn't raised in church....came to know God in my 20's...He was there when I cried out to Him..as I had given up on living and was contemplating suicide at about age 25 or so...I was a single mom raising my girl..I had gotten through college...was working extra on Weekends and holidays at a nursing home as my teaching salary wasn't enough to pay all the bills....It was Christmas Break and I had taken my daughter to my folk's home about 80 miles away as I planned on working all I could over Christmas Break. I was going to go home to be with my family a day or so before Christmas. A freak ice and snow storm rolled in and was unrelenting in the area I where I was at. The ice and snow kept on coming in lasting for over 2 weeks...I became isolated with no electricity and roads that couldn't be traveled on. Even people who had their water pipes in a concrete slab had pipes that burst...I felt so alone...nothing to distract or entertain me..nothing to do...nowhere to go...Dark before sundown (cloud cover) and I soon ran out of flashlights, candles,etc. Now I've always been VERY afraid of the dark...I still am but in my younger days I was terrified...I had a handgun I kept in the house for protection...Soon my thoughts turned to using it on myself. As I thought about how ALONE I was...and how my life had turned out I felt very unloved...I was at the end of my rope...I called out to God to help me...I didn't really want to kill myself but felt like all hope was gone..I cried and cried and asked God if he existed to help me...I began to feel some hope and it came to me that I needed to be closer to my parents..I asked God to help me get a job near my parents...I knew I needed the support I would have if I lived closer to them. My Dad would have helped me by fixing my broken water pipes, a generator, etc...but he couldn't get to me with me that far away...There was a school district close to my parents and I applied. All my teacher friends said you won't get an interview as you have to "know someone"...soon I was invited for an interview...then they said you won't get on as you are one of the country club type, or you don't have a relative who can help you get on, They interviewed 5 or 6, But God Helped me..It was me..poor little old me..who got the job..then my friends said you won't last more than a year as you'll be hired on probationary status and they expect so much more of you than my old job...I've now taught there about 27 yr...I knew instantly after crying out to God that he was there and I knew it was Him helping me...he opened doors and provided for me in a mighty way!!! He is my friend who sticks closer than a brother...He is my shield and defender...he is my one true friend. I suffered other things in my life (through my own stupidity). But HE has always been there for me...I know he will never leave me or forsake me...

Other stuff about me:

I married my best friend..we've been married for 13 yr now...and our love grows stronger through the years..He has helped me raise our 2 boys we met when my youngest boy was 15 months old. He has never had kids of his own but considers my kids his own...he is kind, patient and full of fun. He is a lay pastor that has never been ordained. We serve a local Cumberland Presbyterian Church for about 12 years now. He also serves the sister church in the country...Cumberland/Methodist weekly, too. I used to sit through Church service at 9:30 and almost the same sermon again at the main Cumberland Church at 11:00. But when the bigger church started getting more kids I offered to do the Sunday School. Now he goes on his own out in the country while I go on to main church to teach Sunday School. Then we are together at 11:00 at the downtown Church. We love our work with the churches. About 50 -60 go to the main church and about 9 out at the little country church. We even was able to have a prison out reach at the big church...he's out of prison now and part of his family is soon to be baptized. We usually have a flock o Teenage boys around us especially in the summer...I could retire from Public school teachin but I love the art of teaching to much to give it up now..I've been slowed down a lot this year as I have Sjorgen's ..it is a type of arthritis...Anyway enough about me...gotta go... boys are up and as normal teens they are starving...