Perfect Preparation

Sometimes the Lord speaks powerfully to our hearts about a direction or call for our lives.  I remember clearly...the Lord spoke to my heart about homeschooling our kids when our oldest wasn't even born. Around six months pregnant, I remember the Lord's peace overwhelming me about not only being a stay at home mom (though the world is often against that decision...and it could appear as a 'waste of a college degree') but specifically about being a homeschool mother.  It may seem like no big deal, I mean after all the statistics are staggering in 2007 there were approximately 1.5 million students homeschooled in the United States.

Just being honest, homeschooling is tough.  There aren't any breaks.  There's little time to regroup.  Laundry still has to get done, the house still has to get cleaned, and children need to be fed...in addition to lesson planning and teaching multiple grade levels.  By no means is it an easy task.  By no means is it an impossible task.   I can most assuredly tell you it is not impossible because of Christ alone.  "Faithful is He who calls you, and He will also bring it to pass."  1 Thes. 5:24.   God is faithful and He has called and therefore...semester by semester He brings our homeschooling journey to pass.  A call that began over eight years ago, is now coming to fruition.

Around nineteen the Lord impressed upon my heart a passion for teaching His word as real, living and active in the lives of fellow sisters in Christ.  Let me just say, while I am much older than nineteen now at each opportunities to teach, by His grace....I've willingly followed His direction.  The opportunities have varied from youth to adult.  Unfortunately though, I often feel like I fail at this because I never know where to start or what to actually do to make this call a reality.   Yet God's word is true and He is the same yesterday, today, yes and forever...so obviously that would mean that I am the one who changes.  My discipline or lack of focus..is what holds me back a lot of the time...indecisiveness, fear of failure, fear of man (or in my case...woman).

A very sweet friend once said, "I think you are type A+"   Which simply and nicely means, I'm a high strung individual.   Just like with the call to homeschool our children has been a journey...more and more the Lord is reassuring me...this call is a journey as well.  In fact, I did enroll my oldest at a local private school for a year.  The challenge to keep him home and be his sole teacher coupled with the normal developmental struggles of a five year old boy overwhelmed me, and I enrolled him in K5.  He had a great year...but just like our Lord...He had called me, and while I probably would've kept him in the school...the Lord used circumstances to change our ability to keep our son in private school.  AMAZING.  It was the Lord little by little removing obstacles to make sure I was following Him and His call. The life I've been given is to be a testimony to Jesus and His redemptive work in it.

Just like the Lord and His calling on my life.  Over and over again I am reminded that the Lord called Moses, and he didn't just sit there.  Moses took action.  The Lord called Joseph, and Joseph took action.  Over and over again, the Lord calls His people....and they (we) mustn't be idle.  We must respond with open, willing and eager hearts.  We must be a people of action.

I am head over heals in love with this passage from Exodus 23:29-30

              "I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you.  Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land."

This is the Lord's promise to us....it shows His delicate care, His involvement in every detail, His thoughtful preparation of our future and His perfect use of our past.

His call may be evident, the fulfillment of it may be little by little.  There are enemies we fight aren't even of the flesh (2 cor 10).  God is going before us, He is running our enemies far from us. I am not suggesting we will never fight.  I am not suggesting the path will be smooth sailing.  I am confident by His word, that God goes before us, and little by little makes the path for us the will bring Him the most glory.  He gives us a call, He fulfills His purpose so that our lives are a true testimony to Christ Jesus.   ("And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony"...Revelation 12:11).

As we faithfully seek God in His word and live our lives fulfilling His call, giving glory to God through Jesus Christ...I am confident that God Himself calls us to submission, seeking and serving.  We must submit our lives to His call, seek Him in His word and serve Him in the call He has given us with all our hearts, minds and souls...and with our strength.  Which indicates we must be active!  We must actively pursue making His call a reality in our lives to give glory to God in our testimony!  Defeating the enemy and seeing lost souls come to Jesus.

I pray this word from Exodus blesses your soul, no matter where you are in your journey with our God.  I pray you see the Lord using your past and your present circumstances and experiences to prepare you bit by bit for your future. 

God doesn't stick us in the midst of a situation that He has not perfectly prepared just for us.  Look how lovingly He drove out the enemy for His children.   Not all at once, He didn't want a new enemy (the wild beast) to rise up and overtake His children.  He did it a little at a time, He kept them in a land where they were able to grow and increase before delivering them into the promised land.  Perhaps the last decade has been a place the Lord has been growing me and increasing me...or rather should I say, decreasing me and increasing Him in me...that the promised land He is taking me to will bring Him glory.