I am not a big fan of housework. Do you feel the same way as me? I have to work at noticing that the room is a mess. Once I actually realize that there is something that needs to be cleaned up I then have to work up the motivation to do something about it. At least that’s the way I used to be.
God gave me an amazing gift when he gave me my husband. He, my husband, loved me knowing that was the way I felt about cleaning. We were engage while I was in college and I would have enough clothes with me to wear a completely different outfit every day of the month, so that I would only have to wash my clothes once per month. He saw that all my personal papers (schoolwork and others) were organized by piles. He even saw that my closet was really just an area in my room where I threw things that got in my way. He loved me and married me anyway.
The other half of that gift was hidden from me until after we were married. It’s not what you expect. You may not even think it was a gift for me, but I learned that it was. Are you ready? He, my husband, REALLY prefers a neat home. Can you believe that!? How could he love a slob like me? Silly boy! Did you think I would change when I got married? We both had said that when we married we knew the other wouldn’t change just because we got married, so that just could not have been the case. Could it?
Marriage didn’t change me. Fortunately for my husband, Jesus did. Donald and I rededicated our lives to the Lord in 1992, 4 years after we got married, and things slowly began changing in our home. The housework thing wasn’t the only thing but it was the most obvious example. This was God’s grace. God gave Donald the grace to put up with my housekeeping inadequacies for all these years as He also gave me the grace to, with a good attitude, learn how to do it better. I won’t go all the way to claim I do it right, but I’m getting there.
God’s grace is no less necessary in homeschooling. Growing up I never wanted to be a teacher. I loved math and liked tutoring others on an individual basis but that wasn’t a full time job. I never wanted to get involved with reviewing & selecting curriculum or creating classes and high school plans. I especially never wanted to commit to daily classes, lessons, and correcting tests and papers. When my children were still very young, I took the mandate to train up my children seriously. I was scared. I didn’t have patience. I needed God’s Grace in a big way.
When my oldest was still 4 I enrolled him in kindergarten in my local elementary school. The state law said that if they turned 5 before the end of September, then started school. I was not ready to homeschool him. I was convinced I would ruin him so, coward that I was, I enrolled him. I spent months praying to God for guidance, patience, a plan, AND GRACE. I volunteered at his school every chance they would let me. I read all the papers he brought home and I listen to everything the teacher said and did when I was around. By the end of the year I remembered that God’s Grace is sufficient and I took him out of the system and started homeschooling him.
Every time I start to feel inadequate or insufficient in my homeschooling I remind myself that God’s Grace is sufficient. We found a church filled with many like minded families. We attended Bible Studies as a family. Now that my children are older (YIKES! Two are adults) some of them attend their own Bible studies without Donald or me. We go to church and get to know the leadership, the other families, and the singles. We know our children’s friends. We know who is sowing into our family. In studying our Bibles and applying the lessons learned there to our lives, we experience God’s Grace in our home and in our homeschool.
Be encouraged. Did into the Word and find out what God promises you. Find out what God expects of you. As you bring your life to match the fine examples set in the Bible, what in amazement as God’s Grace unfolds before you!
To find out more about Total Access to God’s Grace join us at the Finish Well 12 Homeschooling High School Conference! For information check us out at http://finishwellcon.com/
Until next time, Happy Homeschooling!
Laura Nolette
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