An Advocate

Something I am thankful for

Over the last several weeks I have spent a lot of time in prayer over different situations I am facing. I’ve been praying about one particular situation and how to approach those who are in charge of one aspect of my job. I’ve wanted to go in guns blazing and blast them with my deep conviction and passion for what I believe is the right thing to do. I’ve also wanted to give up and walk away. Neither of these choices are actually beneficial at the moment.

I am not sure when it was last week but during one of the many times I spent in prayer about the situation, I thought about how I teach my students to advocate for what they need in the classroom. By this I mean, I don’t want my students just sitting at their desks and not understanding the material being taught. I want them to come to me when they don’t understand something. I want them to come to me when I may have said one thing and done another that isn’t beneficial to them at that time.

I try to teach them how to do this respectfully within the classroom environment. It can be quite the challenge!

I then thought about how I am advocating for myself in this situation. I am having to stand up and go to the people directly and ask questions. I also realized I need to find out if there are others who can help advocate for me. That is when through that time of prayer I realized two things.

The first one ,is that I have been approaching my situation out of frustration and I need to walk in humility and find out how I can get the people, I need, to be on my side. I need an advocate! It is great that I am advocating for myself, but I can only take this situation so far. I need someone above me to help.

The second one, is that I have the ultimate advocate! During that time of prayer a verse from the Bible came to mind reminding me that Jesus is my advocate and he goes to the Father on my behalf. The verse is 1 John 2:1, “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous one.” (CSB)

Remembering that I have the ultimate advocate in Jesus brought peace to my heart during that prayer time. God was showing me a picture of how when I am not able to plead my case, there is always Jesus standing up for me. I am very thankful for Jesus being the ultimate advocate in my life. I am also thankful for the people God puts in my life to help me along the way. We all need those who can stand up for and with us in this life.

I’d love to know if this is something you have to be reminded of? Leave a comment below!