"In the past God spoke to our forefathers through
the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has
spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom
he made the universe." (Heb 1:1-2 NIV)
Last week, in God Speaks, Part 1, we discovered that though God used prophets to
speak to us in the past, He now speaks directly to us through His Holy Spirit,
and He does so in many different ways. In "The Beginning", I told the story of
how God led me to homeschool my boys by impressing ideas upon my mind, closing
doors, giving me general uneasiness and then peace of mind, and then confirming
His will with signs and wonders.
But God isn't limited to these many ways. The beautiful thing about God is that
He'll do WHATEVER it takes to get our attention!
And that's what I would learn as I was led through the rest of the story of my
boys' education...
At the end of our first homeschooling year, I asked God if homeschooling for the
following year was still His will. The answer was "yes", and we proceeded. I did
this at the end of year two and three as well, but then I got so comfortable
being a homeschool mom that I quit asking!
Six years went by before God started trying to get my attention again. He
initially used my husband who suddenly started talking about sending our boys to
school for high school. I wasn't happy. I didn't understand his reasons, and I
didn't agree. After all, God had told us to homeschool, and that is what we were
going to do!
But God was just preparing me in advance for His next move. Because He knows
that listening has never been my strong point, He began sending me the same
message through other people, and only when I had heard it from several
different sources did it finally occurred to me that perhaps God was trying to
get my attention! That's when I did what I should have done in the first place:
I began to pray.
I'm ashamed to say that my initial prayers went something like this: "Lord,
change my husband's heart! Help him to see Your true will for my boys:
Homeschooling!"
My prayer was partially answered. God did some "changing of heart", but it
wasn't my husband's heart that was changed. It was mine! Over the course of the
next two years, God began sending numerous sermons, Bible messages, Bible
studies, etc., on the topic of learning to be submissive to Him and to my
husband; and through it all, He helped me to be able to think about the idea of
school without getting mad.
The next thing God did was He allowed me to pass through some stressful times
with homeschooling. He opened my eyes to see how I didn't have the time to
provide the level of intellectual support my boys needed and still maintain a
part-time job.
In my mind, there was only one solution: Quit work! And I started praying that
God would take away my job.
But here He spoke to me through His Word. He clearly told me time and time again
that He had placed me in that job as a witness for Him, and quitting was not His
will.
God was again shaping my thinking, forming it to be in line with His, and He
used His Word to do so. But God knew I would need lots of confirmation, and it
was around this time that our local homeschool support group began to fall
apart. First there was a major split in the group. Initially we put our feet in
both camps, but when one group began doing activities that my boys and I weren't
comfortable with, we moved our loyalties to the other. Then, one by one, that
group began to shrink. Some families made the decision to send their kids to
school earlier than anticipated, and others simply moved away! I realized that
if I didn't send my kids to school for high school, I would be homeschooling
completely on my own!
But God wanted me to be certain, and He did one more thing: He opened up a
window of opportunity at work. In the 17 years I had been employed there, I had
seen a department of 7 full-time positions dwindle down to 3.5. Then, suddenly,
a new half-time position became available! Yet another indication that it was
time to stop homeschooling and start working full-time.
But I was still uneasy and as I began to pray for confirmation, God began
working the biggest miracle of all. I'm really not quite sure how He did it, but
one morning, I woke up completely at peace about sending my boys to school.
During this stage of the story, God spoke to my intellect, He spoke to me
through others, He spoke to me through His word, He confirmed everything through
circumstance, and finally, He gave me peace of mind! There is one important
thing to remember, however. God can only speak to an open heart. He'll do
everything in His power to open that heart, but you must also be willing to do
your part. You must be willing to actively pray, not only to KNOW His will, but
also to be prepared to ACCEPT His will. You can't just write off the impressions
you are getting. You need to ask God to confirm them, and you need to pray
through every step of the process that God will work that miracle in your heart
that He worked in mine.
But this is still only part of the story. God may have convinced me that school
was the right choice, but He still had some work to do. Why? Because "school"
meant the local Christian high school down the road!
Or so I thought...
Lyn Chaffart
The Illustrator: This daily newsletter is dedicated to encouraging
everyone to look towards Jesus as the source of all the solutions to our
problems. It contains a daily inspirational story, a Bible verse and encouraging
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The Nugget: Published three times a week, this newsletter features inspirational devotionals and mini-sermons dedicated to drawing mankind closer to each other and to Christ.