Before we begin, congratulations to David of Burlington, North Carolina, the winner of our Mysterious Ways book giveaway. David tells us that Guideposts fandom in his family goes back to his grandfather, an avid reader of Norman Vincent Peale. We’ll send you the books right away, David!
With that business out of the way, a recent story in the news grabbed my attention. In Saturday’s New York Times, reporter Michael Winerip details how Georgia state investigators were able to zero in on the Atlanta school administrators responsible for a widespread cheating scandal that falsely raised test scores in order to line their own pockets with lucrative performance bonuses.
The lead investigator, Richard Hyde, had a serious obstacle in his way. Finding a cooperative witness was key to the government’s case. Without testimony from one of the teachers assigned to alter students’ tests, the administrators who led the deception might escape prosecution. But the teachers all had their own reasons to stay silent.
One teacher, Jackie Parks, a single mother who taught third grade at Venetian Hills Elementary School for 17 years, had gone along with changing the tests because she could not afford to lose her job. If she became a whistleblower, she’d be fired and might not be able to feed her family. A difficult risk to take.
But one night in August, just before the beginning of a new school year, she had a dream.
“I saw people walking down the hall with yellow notepads,” Jackie told the Times. Not teachers or students. People who wanted answers. “From time to time, God reveals things to me in dreams.”
A few weeks later, out of a hundred Atlanta schools under investigation, Richard Hyde showed up at hers.
“I think God led Mr. Hyde to Venetian Hills,” Jackie told the Times.
At first, Jackie was afraid to speak to him. But he returned, day after day, and Jackie found it impossible to stay silent anymore. “I wanted to repent,” she said. “I wanted to clear my conscience.”
Jackie wore a wire to meetings that captured key players discussing the case. Several months later, the state investigators released an 800-page report, implicating 178 teachers and principals in the scandal and bringing down the alleged ringleader, Beverly J. Hall, the district superintendent.
Was it anxiety that brought that dream to Jackie Parks? Or was it, as she believes, a Higher Power, pushing her to do the right thing?
Has a dream or a sign ever pushed you to do the right thing, even if it was difficult to do?
Share your experience in the comments below, or email your story to us.
