Have you found what you're looking for?

I have climbed highest mountain
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you

I have run
I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for....

(I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For by U2)

I start off with the lyrics of this song because this is another subject I have lots of concern and prayer for other people right now. In this song, it's obvious that the subject of the song is a woman/person but I've been thinking more along the lines of your job or life's purpose. Do you have a job or purpose in life that you've found that is what you've been looking for?

I feel like so many people have not found what they were looking for in their jobs or life's purpose. So many people have dreams of having a grand job or being passionate about an activity/group yet they can't get there (yes, this economy is not helping). I'm going to detail my own journey to what I looked for in life.

I went to college to be pre-med due to parental and internal pressures but did miserably in it and almost dropped out of college due to depression and not knowing what I was going to do post-college. I kept my history major and eked out a degree in 4 years. I had a few odd jobs for the next few years (clerk at a law firm for 2.5 years thinking maybe to become a lawyer, worked at a gas station for 9 months, worked at a summer camp for 2 summers). I was listless and the only job that piqued my interest was the summer camp job (amazing two summers). During that time I also taught Sunday School with an amazing group of kids. I decided at the age of 24 to go back to school to become a teacher but I wasn't sold on it yet. I went through the classes and got my first classroom experience as a student-teacher a year later and realized that this is where I needed to be so at 26 when I got my current position, I had finally found what I was looking for...my purpose

To describe my life as a teacher, I would say it's been blessing after blessing. I have had so many wonderful students come through my life. I sometimes live vicariously through them and I've seen them struggle as teenagers do but I've seen them blossom as they get older. I've seen my share get pregnant/become fathers (and are still in my classroom) and/or go to jail and I want to cry and pray for them, but I've also seen my share go to college or the military and succeed in life and I want to cry tears of joy for those kids. This job was not without its valleys as I struggled my first 3 years and could've been done and burnt out but God kept me there and this was not a time where I was spiritually strong. Dealing with parents and student discipline can make me very anxious in the year. I've had such frustrating days in the classroom that emotions can get the best of me on any given school day. My heartstrings get pulled in so many different ways.

More than anything, I see my students out in the community and I am proud of them. Yes, we may have different religions or be of different ethnicities but they will always be in my heart as students I truly love and admire. I coached cross country (where I was nicknamed the caboose for being the slowest on the team 3 out of 4 years in HS) and I was blessed and continue to be with those students everyday. I coached the Academic Decathlon team to some great placings at state and continue to be blessed by those students everyday as they kick butt in college. I see students I've taught and I enjoy seeing them after I've taught them. These students all pour their hearts out to me as they say what they've been through and most of them are such good kids that you have to have excitement or empathy for what they are going through (college, job, having a baby, military). At this point, I really love my job so you could say I've found what I'm looking for.

My question to you all is have you found what you're looking for because even though it hasn't been easy for me, it's wonderful to have it. I cherish this feeling of purpose everyday. I urge you all not to give up on your dreams or desires especially if they serve a greater purpose.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
-Romans 8:28