About the Book

Book: It’s a Good Day to Be a Teacher: 52 Devotions to Equip and Encourage Educators

Author: Gretchen Huesmann

Genre: Devotional

Release Date: Febuary 25, 2025

Refresh and Refocus Your Teaching Heart

Today’s educators face unprecedented challenges in and out of the classroom. Teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators, and special education teams need more than a few words of encouragement and a pat on the back.

Divided into four terms—fall, winter, spring, and summer—It’s a Good Day to Be a Teacher targets the trials and joys educators encounter year-round. The weekly devotions provide:

Spiritual insights and inspiration
Courage to continue the calling
Practical steps for application
Additional suggestions for deeper study

Teachers who use the tools of God’s Word and prayer will be encouraged and empowered as they witness God at work in their students, classrooms, and schools. This book helps educators teach from a place of purpose and peace and provides hope and strength to teach another day.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Gretchen Huesmann comes from a long line of educators, including both parents and grandparents. Her three-decade teaching career, in private and public schools, spanned seven states. Today, Gretchen enjoys mentoring and encouraging educators, ministry workers, and women’s groups. She is also a tutor and substitute teacher. An award-winning author, Gretchen is a member of Word Weavers International and serves as president of the Pensacola chapter. Her e-book, Teachers’ Prayer Companion: Prayer Guides for Education Teams, can be found at GretchenHuesmann.com. Gretchen and her pastor husband have raised four children, three of whom are teachers. Their empty nest sits near the gulf shores of north-west Florida.

More from Gretchen

Before I wrote the devotional for teachers, the focus of my writing had been for children. As a semiretired teacher and empty-nester, I’d hoped to fulfill my dream of writing picture books by investing in webinars, workshops, and resources to hone my craft. Then I was called back into teaching.

Three years and a pandemic separated my time in the classroom. The discrepancies in children’s abilities and behaviors appalled me. I experienced firsthand the added pressures I’d heard from colleagues. Three of my adult children, also teachers, shared similar struggles. Now I faced those challenges, too, so I sought the Bible for help and support.

Looking back over my teaching career, spanning more than thirty years in and out of the classroom, I discovered God was with me through every challenge. I wrote out a few of my experiences and applied Bible verses to those scenarios, uncovering valuable lessons.

As I compiled the devotions, common subjects emerged, such as staff relationships, pupil concerns, and dealing with parents. Yet, when I organized the book, I felt uneasy emphasizing the negative issues. Laying out three quarters of the printed devotions on my dining table, I prayed over the topics and asked God to reveal the structure that would attract and encourage educators. The answer was revealed as I recognized a progression through the school year, thus determining the structure of the book: Fall Term, Winter Term, Spring Term, and Summer Term. Each section includes relevant topics for the school year, including the all-important recovery during the summer season.

I hope teachers, administrators, and special educators will be not only encouraged by the devotions geared especially for them but also empowered to teach another day.

Interview with the Author

What inspired this book?

In August of 2022, I was called back into the classroom when a school needed to fill a teaching position at the last minute. As a substitute, I had witnessed some of the negative impacts from the pandemic on students and families. Working every day in the school revealed more extreme and surprising challenges, such as student behavior and lack of parental and administrative support. I discovered that teacher burnout topped those in the medical field. Additionally, in 300,000 teachers had left their careers. Clearly, educators needed more than a few words of encouragement, including me. I began to recall some of the lessons I’d learned over the years in education. God’s Word had empowered me to get through tough seasons before. I began writing those thoughts down and developed devotions to encourage but also equip and empower teachers.

What is your favorite Bible verse or life verse?

During my freshman year in high school, I floundered. The death of my father a few years prior had rocked my world and prompted a move away from friends and family. In my new school, a teacher required us to memorize Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you.” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (NIV).

This promise, first given to God’s exiled people, soothed my young soul and drew me back into Jesus’s arms.

Now I recognize the deeper meaning of what it means to be exiled— again and again. You see, I have taught in seven states. My husband and I have served in five congregations across the U.S. Every time we move, I must lean heavily on this verse and other promises in Scripture.

What would you like your readers to get out of this book?

My hope is that teachers will grab this small but mighty devotional and create a habit of praying in their classrooms and speaking Scripture over their students’ desks, whether they are in a private or public setting. When educators see God at work amid the struggles, their faith will grow giving them courage to continue.

What are you reading right now?

Although I am back to tutoring and substituting, I continue to learn and grow also. I just finished a fantastic book titled Your Internal Board of Directors by Jeff Meyer (2025). This mind-blowing non-fiction work helps the reader organize and utilize the voices within. Using Scripture and a dose of healthy psychology, Pastor Jeff reveals the productivity of a well-managed “internal board.” It’s a keeper for my resource library.

What is your most well-loved and well-used house appliance?

A year ago, a friend gave me her air-fryer. I had resisted this appliance when they first came out because I didn’t want another bulky item to store. But this little device has been a life-changer for us as empty nesters! I pull it out once or twice a week and love not turning on the oven during the Florida summers. The best use for it? Rewarming leftover pizza, my favorite food!