Sarah Shepherd went from creating beautiful floral arrangements to creating engaging and memorable lessons for students. That wasn’t a career path she’d intended to take, but she admits that it was inevitable.

“I ran as long as God would allow from His calling for me,” she says, “but I have always enjoyed seeing the lightbulb moments and striving to make education enjoyable and relative to students, as well as getting them to go deeper in their learning. I can look back now and see that in my heart I have always known what I was called to do, I just needed God to make it billboard-size clear to me.”

Sarah attended the Adventist school in Okeene, Oklahoma, for kindergarten and first grade before the school was shuttered. She says those two years had a great impact on her life and gave her a better understanding of one-room schools. As a teen, she worked for three years at the Wewoka Woods Adventist Center summer camp. She also helped in the children’s divisions at church, further growing her love for teaching while she was pursuing other interests.

Before becoming an educator, Sarah had always dreamed of being a florist and an event planner. She left her job as a florist when her second son was born so that she could stay home with her young children. When her oldest son enrolled at the local Adventist grade school, she started volunteering there once a week and discovered her love for being in the classroom. “The one day a week volunteering soon turned in to me subbing when a teacher needed to be gone,” she shares. “At this point I decided to go back to school for education.”

While working toward an associate degree in elementary education, her career goals were suddenly accelerated. “God baptized me into teaching by fire,” she says. Her son’s teacher went on maternity leave a few weeks into the school year, and Sarah became the long-term substitute teacher. She continued to help out even after the teacher returned, and then became the permanent substitute when the teacher decided to step back out of the classroom to be home with her own children. “I finished teaching the last quarter of the school year,” Sarah shares. “By that point, I knew God was calling me to teaching, and shortly after, I pursued my bachelor’s in social studies, followed by my master’s in curriculum and development.”

This path was unexpected, but not unwelcome. “I first chose to teach in Adventist schools to be near my kids,” she says, “but I quickly realized that it was a unique opportunity to be able to share God’s love and grace without any restrictions. I believe that is truly what God has called me to do.”

Sarah loves her career, and her favorite part of teaching is the challenge of providing the materials and learning opportunities to help students grow and prepare for their futures in a deeper way. “What is most rewarding is seeing the growth of students and those light bulb moments and when they can make a connection to what they are learning to their lives,” she adds. “My greatest joy has been the times when I am able to give students experiences that they might not otherwise have, like trips to Washington, DC, where they experience new foods, riding the Metro, and learning about a world possibly different from the one they know or the opportunity to explore options for their futures. I also love seeing God work in my students’ lives and watching the journey they are on with Him.”

Sarah has only worked in Adventist schools, and that’s where her heart remains. “Adventist education on all levels provides a safe environment for students to learn and grow in a way that wouldn’t be possible elsewhere,” she explains. “An environment where God and His love and grace is center is an environment that can only promote the very best education possible here on Earth.”

And she knows true education goes beyond what happens in classrooms. She says, “My hope for Adventist education and my students is that it will continue to be a work in progress and that the desire to learn will never die.”

In her near decade of teaching, Sarah has learned much about herself, God, and faith. These lessons are hard won, and she says she only wishes she’d grasped them earlier. “I wish I’d understood fully that God is greater than our ups and downs,” she says. “With teaching there are ups and downs, but when you know that God is there with you and all things work to His glory, it can make it easier to get through the ups and downs with a hope that it will all be ok.”

Teaching has and continues to be a rewarding career for Sarah, and she encourages others to explore it as their way to reach others and serve God, too. “Becoming a teacher is putting yourself on the frontlines for Christ and gives you a front row seat to watch God in action in all aspects of your life and those of your students.”

All told, Sarah’s experiences in Adventist schools have shown her the bigger picture of life. “My journey in Adventist education has opened my eyes to how much God cares about us,” she shares. “There have been many things along the way that I have wondered why or haven’t even thought about and can see later that God had a purpose for it, from the choices in my degrees that have helped me grasp and implement new strategies to random classes or conversations that have led to meaningful lessons for my students. I don’t know what God has [planned] for my future in Adventist education, but I know it will be amazing if I allow Him to lead.”