Broken to Healed

Broken to Healed

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.  – Psalms 147:3 (NIV)

My story didn’t end the moment God stepped in that day and things did not get better right away. I continued to struggle with my worth and school. Fortunately, my mom finally removed me from the elementary school I was in and placed me in a private school for 3rd grade.

I remember my mom telling me that the only thing she said to the school was, “I don’t care if she does any academics. I don’t care if all she does is sit there and does nothing. I want you to work on rebuilding her self-confidence. That’s all I care about.” My teacher, Ms. H, was a great teacher. I still don’t have a lot of memories from that year either. But I remember how she taught the “I Can Program” by Zig Ziggler. I don’t know if the program still exists or not, but you can look up information about Zig Ziggler to learn more.

These were the bees my teacher called the, "I Can Bees."

My teacher also gave me a set of bees hugging each other. She called them the “I Can Bees.” I loved those bees and carried them with me. However, I believe I only have one left. The other got lost, but here is a picture of what they looked like. I’m so over the moon that I found this image, because when I looked once before, I couldn’t find anything!

Anyway, back to my story; Mrs. H. worked on the one thing that my mom requested. She tried hard to make me feel good about myself. I remember her always praising me and never criticizing me for anything. I did my 3rd grade year with Ms. H. and she was the first teacher that helped me to see that not all teachers were bad.

The next year, in 4th grade, I switched schools again. My mom placed me in another private school, where she could work, in order to help pay for the tuition. My mom told me that the school was concerned about me, as I was way behind my peers.

However, they decided to let me start in 4th grade because of my high IQ scores. That first year in that school, I had a teacher named Ms. C. I loved Ms. C.; she was another great teacher and really did her best to make me laugh, feel comfortable and help me with my schoolwork.

The next year is when I would enter the special education program. At this school, it meant being in a smaller class of about 6 to 8 kids and doing a one-on-one therapy program that was designed to help me academically. During 5th and 6th grade, things began to change for me. My teacher worked with me at her lunchtime; I can still remember her eating lunch while helping me with math. When I wasn’t in class, I was in a therapy session with another teacher. I spent the 30 minutes doing puzzles, and other activities that were designed to engage both sides of my brain. The program was called The Discovery Program. It’s still around today and you can find information on it through NILD.org, but that program changed my life.

With ADD or even most disabilities, there is usually a disconnect between each side of the brain. One is always trying to overpower the other and that can make it difficult for students to do well in academics or just with basic tasks. However, this program used various tasks that would help with the brain create the connections it needed to function. Both of my teachers worked hard with me and my parents supported me at home as well. My 5th and 6th grade teacher even went so far as driving to my house one summer to tutor me. That was a 2-hour drive for her one way, but she did it. Because she believed in me and what I could do.

By the end of 6th grade, I gave my life to God, and I did my first writing, a poem about God. When I look back at that poem, I realize now, how…rough it is. Today I would spend time editing it, but honestly, I won’t. A child who was healing wrote that poem. A child who was finding her voice. Is it rough? Oh yeah, it definitely is. But that poem was the product of lots of love and support from teachers and school staff that cared enough about me to help me and love me.

God changed my life those years ago when He stepped in, but He still had work to do. He knew I still needed healing, and He placed the right people in my life to do that. God doesn’t abandon us in our brokenness. He knows that when we are broken, we still need healing. Healing that only He can give. He gave me the healing I needed then and because of that; it set things in motion in my life that I would give me the strength that I would later need.

If you ever feel lost, broken, or like everything is going wrong. Know this, when the Bible says that “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds,” it means it. God takes the time to heal us, to make us better than we were before. It's hard to understand why God would allow us to be broken in the first place, but if it’s one thing I’ve learned, that it’s through the brokenness that He makes us stronger.

Warmest Blessings,

K. M. Leffler