Many teachers feel called to the classroom because of a love for children or subject area. The open secret is that teaching is also loving parents, colleagues, and administrators; meetings, assessments, and class parties. Love of that scope comes from a higher power, but even when teachers turn to God in gratitude or lament, they may not have the words to express what they need in the moment.
Suited for gift-giving, This Year, Lord: Teachers’ Prayers of Blessing, Liturgy, and Lament is a collection of honest prayers that emerged from two decades of teaching and working beside teachers.
Willie Tollett has her future figured out, and it depends on her father’s promise of a quarter section of land to work. Then she meets a stranger in the dark. John Musick, a World War I veteran from East Texas, is a good worker, but his off-duty pastimes are problematic for his pious employer. When Willie’s father takes Mr. Musick on as a hired hand, her simple life gets complicated. A town controversy, a midnight Howler, and Zane Grey Westerns come together to challenge everything Willie knows about the world.
So Long As It’s Wonderful honors the heritage of the women of the West and celebrates the imagination that expanded their prospects and possibilities for the future.
