It is easy to be thankful when things are going well.  With gratitude we thank the Lord for the many blessings He showers upon us daily.  Some of those blessings we recognize and others we take for granted.

The Lord prepared our hearts and minds to homeschool long before we knew we would experience this joyous adventure.  He brought the right experiences and people into our lives so that we would be able to homeschool.  The early Christians left their families, homes, ways of living, and habits.  Sound familiar?  Leaving behind the cultural norms we have been steeped in as we grew up and stepping out in faith and obedience to God’s Word, we enter into a lifestyle of teaching our children at home with all the tribulations and rewards that it brings.

It is more difficult to be thankful when things aren’t going well.  Doubt and discouragement can invade our thoughts and prayers.  Well-meaning friends and acquaintances can wound our hearts (Psalm 56:8) with their misapplication of Scripture, their lack of compassion or understanding.  (Psalm 35:12)

It’s then that we need to learn to use the right tools to help support our members in their efforts to educate their children at home.

A couple of October’s ago we got two flat tires within a week.  The first one was fixed by Mike.  The other one happened the night before Mike was to leave town on business.   There wasn’t time to fix it before Mike left.  With a storm predicted, it was important that the tire get fixed soon and not wait for his return.  Feeling confident with the instruction that Paula’s father gave her before she got her license 30 years earlier, Paula set out to remove the flat tire and replace it.  The hub cap was removed.  The tire iron came out.  The lug nuts did not budge.  Even with the aid of our two teen-aged daughters, with them pulling and Paula pushing, the lug nuts would not loosen.  This was distressing and after due diligence of effort was used; finally Paula called her father-in-law, Gary.  Gary told her to use a long-handled ratchet wrench.  Paula retrieved the tool from the garage and the lug nuts came right off.  Whew!  What a relief!  The car was lifted into the air with the aid of the floor jack and the tire was removed so it could be fixed.  With the right tool, the job was so much easier and the task could be completed.  The wrong tool didn’t work no matter how much pressure was applied.

The right tools help us homeschool.  The wrong tools, no matter how we use them, do not help us.  Discerning whether something is the appropriate tool takes prayer and patience.  The best place to determine that is found within the Word of God.

When our hearts and minds are consumed with fear or sorrow and we are distracted from the ways the Lord cares for us, we can be tempted to use the wrong tool because it seems easy and we long for comfort.  Our Lord is bigger than our fears, our doubts, and our sorrows.  Even the disciples displayed their human weaknesses and they were at the feet of Jesus for three years!  Holding us in the palm of His hand, God cares enough to not leave us in a place of doubt and fear.  (Psalm 23, 1 Peter 1:2-4, 1 John 2:12-14, Galatians 1:24)  He moves us along to a different focus and eventually answers our prayers, although not always in the ways we envisioned.  He does this by bringing others into our lives who act as the hands and feet of God, administering Christian aide, love, grace, mercy and peace. (Ephesians 4:11-16)  Just as the early Christians did, we can band together, fortifying each other, and exhorting each other as we grow stronger from our association and devotion to each other.

It’s important to remember that, just as we all have not been imbibed with the same gifting and talents, our homeschools are often manifested in different ways and do not look or feel like another family’s homeschool does.  This is as it should be as our Lord has given us each children, made in His image, and therefore we honor that image by seeing to their individual needs and learning styles.  There cannot be condemnation in our community unless something is heretical.

Above all, remember that the best thing we can do is pray for one another as we are faced with the imbroglios and benefits of teaching our children at home.

Trusting in Him,

Mike and Paula

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