Do. Trust. Dwell.

The smell of pencils and paper is in the air.  Everyone is posting pictures of their kiddos headed back to school, myself included.  This will be the fourth year of homeschooling for our family.  I honestly never thought we would homeschool for this long.  I love the idea of homeschooling. I admire those women who whip up amazing hands-on lessons, follow through and enjoy every minute of it.  Homeschool moms are superheroes in my book.  For myself it was always a temporary solution until we could somehow budget in private school.  I have spent every year praying for that possibility and The Lord has never opened that door.  Each year I dread starting back to school. I loath the task of getting head strong, active boys to work through their lessons each day.  And it showed.  Most days were a fight and ended with some one crying. Usually it was me.

As the school year approached, I once again began praying and once again The Lord closed the door to other school options.  So in desperation one morning in my quiet time I laid down an ultimatum. Which by the way I do not recommend doing.  However in my foolishness, this is what I demanded- "Lord, this is it. This is the last year I am trying this.  If I have to fight my way through and do not enjoy school this year, I quit.  I will do whatever it takes to put these boys in school." God in all of His mercy gave me this answer...

Colossians 3:17

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of Jesus;

Giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in The Lord with all your heart,

Lean not on your own understanding,

But in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your steps.

Psalm 37:3-4

Trust in The Lord and do good;

Dwell in the land and freedom His righteousness.

Delight yourself also in The Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart.

He didn't stop there.  Over the next couple of days He shared the story of Caleb with me.  Remember Caleb?  He was the spy who went in with Joshua and declared the land was good and worth the fight.  He was one of the only ones to survive wandering the desert and then after conquering the land asked for the mountain that still needed to be overpowered.  Caleb asked for the difficult because he knew his God could deliver. 

So what does that say to me? I partly pray for the boys to go to school, because I loved school and I know they would too.  But mostly I pray to avoid the fight it takes each year.  I don't want the difficult. How small my faith feels when I admit this.  But with admittance comes confession and then redemption.  and so I surrender to His will and a new year.  There will be days of joy and days laden with the fight.  But I will choose to ask for the difficult.  I will choose to trust my great God.  I will choose to do my best.  I will choose to dwell in the land He has given me.

What about you?  Perhaps it is not your home life you find difficult.  Maybe it's your job, your health, your finances, or your walk with the Lord.  I challenge to ask for the difficult, dwell in the land and then see what miracles your great God does.

When Life Gives You the Shake Down

Change.  Just the word itself makes people squirm in their seats.  Change is my middle name and I still am uncomfortable with it. Change brings the unexpected.  Change means saying goodbye.  Change means being brave.  Change requires trust. It is as much a part of life as the seasons of the year. 

With each season of my journey I have had the opportunity to adapt and flourish or fail to thrive.  Trust me, I have done both.  Nothing is more gratifying than looking back and seeing God's hand triumphantly at work.  For the other times when my knees and forehead are skinned and bleeding (that would be due to falling flat on my face), my Lord is faithful.  I may have stumbled, but I never truly failed because He holds my hand, picks me up and delights in all seasons of my life.

 

With this last move I have been somewhat stumped on what this season holds for me.  I don't want to miss what God has planned for me here.  As I was recently encouraged, I want to "redeem the time" (Ephesians 5:16).  However, I have been overwhelmed with change this time. We moved to an even larger city, a humongous church with so many ministries to get involved in, the hubs has a crazy amount of responsibility with the new job and we are attempting school with three different grades. Not to mention that the culture in Florida is altogether different than any part of the country we have lived in yet.  Oh golly and who can forget the last three months of black mold remediation! To say the lest, this time I have been paralyzed by change.

I feel as if I am clawing my way up the side of a deep well.  Some days I feel as if I am making progress. I know optimism and the surge of His Spirit within me.  Other days, it is as if I am sliding, no falling, in a downward motion and I give into the strength of gravity. Do you ever feel that way?  God is good though.  He won't leave me in this paralyzed state.  A few weeks ago I could hear His whispered call, "don't give up" and "don't give into the slump". Maybe you know this struggle.  If so, be encouraged. We have HOPE! No matter what happens in our life (change) we do not need to loose heart due to this HOPE.  The "shake down" in life turns us to that HOPE, causes us to stand firmly in our faith and fill us with the life of Jesus.

 

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,

that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed,

but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken;

struck down, but not destroyed.

Always carrying about in the body the dying of the

Lord Jesus, that the Life of Jesus

also may be manifested in our body.

2 Corinthians 4:7-10