#52 Stories--Story # 52

In my congregation I am currently teaching an adult Sunday school class each week. This year the focus has been the Old Testament.  I have enjoyed the assignment more than I thought I would. While we were covering the "children's bible stories" like Noah and Jonah, I really enjoyed them.  But looking ahead I was terrified about the Isaiah lessons. I don't read a lot of symbolic stuff well, and so much of his writing was Messianic or symbolic in some way.  I worried that I would prove myself a fraud of a teacher once we got to that book.

Well, I'm nearly done with 5 weeks of Isaiah lessons.  I may very well be a fraud, but I have learned a lot.  Mostly I learned just how important Isaiah's words are to the world today--he wrote for our time often, and nearly always it was to prophecy about the Savior's doings and promises in the last days.

One week we studied the imagery Isaiah uses to teach us of Christ.  Breaking it down like that was comforting and filled me a new level of love for Isaiah--and the Savior.

The next week the lesson focused on the qualities of Jesus Christ, insomuch that we need to learn of Him and try to be like Him. Isaiah love the Lord. He must have known Him, else how could he teach us so clearly.

There are other lessons coming yet, but overall I think this has helped me to learn that while I might at first balk at an assignment I receive, if I do my best in fulfilling it, I am blessed beyond my ability--and loved through it all. And really, there isn't much more I could ask for in that vein.