Do Not Fear

I'm taking a break from the craziness of the teacher workshop week. I feel like this week has been about a month crammed into 5 silly days... and it's only Thursday. It's going well, though. My classroom is set up and my plans are made for next week's lessons. I just wish I felt as prepared as I appear to be. My head is spinning from all the information I've taken in over the last few days. Policies, procedures, tons of new names and faces, school maps.. the list goes on. I feel like I'm totally on my own figuring it all out and it's tough. My brain has been on overload and my emotional/mental state has been definitely on edge. My poor husband can attest to that, unfortunately. (He's so wonderful, sometimes I think I really don't deserve him..) I let all this get to me and begin to feel quite inadequate and unprepared for the year ahead of me. I think this is called first year teacheritis. (Or maybe I'm on my own experiencing these emotions.. but I really don't think so.)
As I read my Bible this afternoon, I decided to go through the little devo page handed out by our church over the sermon topic for these past few weeks. We've been doing the 23rd Psalm in depth and the page I picked up was thoughts and verses that correspond to verse 4 and going through the valley of the shadow of death. I know my first year of teaching, though it may feel like the valley of the shadow of death, will not be nearly as bad as somethings that could happen in my life. These anxieties will be replaced by confidence once I get going in the year but right now I have a lot of negative feelings about my ability to handle this. As I read in Joshua 1, I found comfort. Joshua has just been assigned to lead the people to the promised land and he's totally afraid and uncertain. The Lord just keeps telling him to "be strong and courageous, do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord is with you wherever you go." I think I'm going to post that somewhere so I can read that everyday the next few weeks. I often feel alone and like I'm fighting the battle on my own- then I am usually forced to step back, look around and realize that it's not all on me and I'm not on my own. Abba is with me and holding me and no matter what happens with this job, He still loves me and will still be beside me. I might need help remembering this from time to time during the next few weeks... :)