Proverbs 37:4 Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Once upon a time I believed that this was a promise from God that if we loved God, He would give us our heart’s desires. What an immature and incorrect interpretation! I came to realize that this verse teaches us that if we “delight….in the Lord,” He will plant desires in our hearts to cause us to actually DESIRE to do what He has planned for us. I did not always want to be a teacher, but God gave me a passion for education. I taught middle and high school English and history in a Christian school for several years, and I grew frustrated that I didn’t know how to help my students who struggled to learn. I did something I had never planned on; I went back to school for a masters degree in cross-categorical special education.
The summer I graduated, our family moved to Raleigh, North Carolina. I intended to find a Christian school with a special education program. How naive of me! There were no Christian schools that had a program for children with special needs (there are several now that do, PTL!). Instead, I took a position as a special education teacher for a Wake County public middle school. After a year at the public school, I was asked by Friendship Christian School in Raleigh to develop the Specialized Learning Center. I did that for ten years, serving with some of the best teachers I have ever known. Working with children with special needs is exhausting, challenging, fulfilling, and super fun!
After two intense battles with breast cancer in 2012/13 and 2014/15, I needed to change my hectic daily schedule. In 2017, Veritas Baptist College asked me to be a full-time (online) instructor in the education department; they also offered to pay for me to get my doctorate degree in special education. As an education instructor for VBC, I am able to share what I have learned over the last twenty+ years of teaching and researching to prepare a new generation of teachers.
I am on track to earn my EDD in Curriculum and Instruction/Special Education by the end of 2022. I am planning to write my dissertation on a topic related to the academic challenges facing students with special needs during the pandemic.
For more information: a Microsoft Sway: About Mrs. Joyner