I wanted to share a testimony that the Lord has been doing for me. It happened again yesterday and I wanted to give Him all the praise.
I work as a sign language interpreter in a middle school during the week, and at a community college on occasional nights and weekends. In this job we are required by law to interpret everything that is said by both the hearing and deaf. I knew this could be a problem for me at times depending on the subject. While I was going through the interpreting program my teacher had said that interpreters reserve the right to accept/deny jobs. She gave an example: “If you know you are uncomfortable cursing, don’t accept a job interpreting at an auto mechanics meeting since we know they tend to use bad language.” Ever since then I prayed that the Lord would spare me from ever having to interpret any curse words and keep me from uncomfortable situations. Most of the time while interpreting we have teams. One interprets for 15-20 minutes and we switch back and forth.
Working with middle school and college students you know curse words are bound to come up. The Lord has always spared me from having to either say the curse word, if the deaf student signs them and I have to voice, or sign them if the hearing person says the word.
Yesterday I was working at the college; I was interpreting for a small group discussion between four hearing students and one deaf student. My 15 minutes was up and it was time to switch. As soon as the other interpreter took over, the deaf student got very angry and used several curse words. Then others in the group started cursing also. The interpreter working had to say and sign several very strong curse words. It was a very uncomfortable situation. If she would’ve waited 5 seconds longer to switch with me, I would’ve had to say a curse word. When it was time for me to take over again, the situation was over and the group was back to work!
From day one this is what has happened for me. I interpret, my team comes to take over, and almost immediately a word or subject is spoken about that I would not want to interpret or say. I have heard of so many times, especially in middle school, where a deaf student gets angry and yells at a teacher and uses many inappropriate words, which requires the interpreter to yell and curse. If I was caught altering a message so I wouldn’t have to say some words, I could lose my license. But, by His grace, I have never been put in any situation that has forced me to use any words I wouldn’t be comfortable with.
There is no way I could foresee when to switch out with the other interpreter because I think a curse word is going to happen. This is in no way anything I have done, but it’s everything that He has done for me! When this happened at the college I just smiled to myself and thanked the Lord for watching over me again! I want to give Him all the praise, honor, and glory for watching over me every day.