Spiritual vs. Physical

 "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:6

The very opposite of that verse in Matthew is that those who do not hunger and thirst for righteousness will be left empty (or wanting). Emptiness leads to a craving or a hunger for something to fill the void.  And as humans, we tend not to hunger and thirst for righteousness, but for something more tangible to fill the void. Therein is the dilemma:  we try to fill our spiritual void with physical things. Let me give you some examples of what that might look like in the life of a homeschool mom.

Maybe you’ve been missing your devotion time in the Word for awhile, and you feel empty.  You don’t associate that empty feeling with the lack of time in the Word, you just think you need to get some fellowship with others, or, if that isn’t possible that day, maybe a shopping trip will do the trick, or perhaps just that special coffee drink and a foot bath.  Sounds good, doesn’t it?  The only problem is you will be empty again tomorrow because you didn’t get to the source of the emptiness.

You lack energy in your relationship with the Lord; you miss that once close, fervent relationship with God and are left wanting. But you think it is physical and that you have lost energy as a teacher and mother and need a fresh hobby or new and improved curriculum to get you energized again.  There may be some new energy with the implementation of these things, but it will be short lived if the spiritual source of the problem is not addressed.  You try different things, only to end up in the same depressed cycle of craving something else to make it right. What you really need is fresh oil in the lamp of your soul so that the dross of self-desire can be burned away and the desire for closeness with your Heavenly father can be rekindled.

 What Drives Us

 What we crave, desire or “hunger and thirst” for is what drives us and is what we are driven to. Are you driven to staying on track with your daily agenda? Do you “have to have” complete organization? What about those math and grammar obstacles – do they lead to complete frustration in you?  Maybe you are driven to perfection only to be disappointed on a regular basis.  If these things are what we hunger for, then these are what we are driven to become or make happen. This driving sense of  having to “make it happen” (whatever the “it” is) will only cause agitation and frustration and our soul will find no satisfaction or fulfillment even if we get what we want.  Why?  Because our souls will still be left unsatisfied.  The only thing that will bring true relief and fulfillment is the hungering and thirsting after God Himself and nothing else.

 “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.  My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”  Your face, LORD, I will seek.”  Psalm 27:4, 8 

 We spend so much of our time and labor elsewhere – concentrating on where we dwell rather than on where He dwells.  We need to make it our life purpose and the primary purpose of our little schoolhouses to seek the Lord first and foremost.

 “My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.  Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young – a place near your altar, O LORD Almighty, my King and my God. … Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.” Psalm 84:2, 3, 10

  If we are seeking Him first and foremost and are hungering for His fellowship, we will then be driven to seek His agenda rather than our own. He will be faithful to direct our path towards His agenda for us. And we may be surprised at where that path actually leads.  Perhaps His agenda has more to do with you blessing your husband than with your own plans of having your husband more involved in the schooling.  Or maybe His agenda has more to do with you really loving your children by treating them kindly and disciplining them consistently rather than your agenda of having them make the grade or get all the spelling words correct.  Perhaps His agenda will lead your little school on the path of finding out more about His Character rather than your agenda of finding that new and improved history curriculum.

 Get Yoked Up

 There’s nothing wrong with needing a rest or needing more organization or a new approach to schooling.  We all will need these things sooner or later. The fault lies in what priority that thing is taking in our lives and in who is at the controls. As women, we naturally want to be in control of everyone and everything around us. But we soon find that not everyone and everything is cooperative with our plans. We become burdened with a yoke that is too heavy for us. However, the Lord’s yoke is easy and His burden is light.  If we are finding that our yoke is increasingly difficult and our burden is definitely not light, then it is just that – OUR yoke and not His. Get yoked back up with Him and follow His leading in the work that lay ahead of you.  His path will lead to peace if we would let go of the controls and follow His lead. Our path, which seems so right, will only lead to destruction.  How do we do this? We need to train our ears to hear His voice speaking to our hearts through His word and through prayer.

We Will Fail

“Whom have I in heaven but Thee?  And there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee.  My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”  Psalm 73:25, 26 

 Even in the midst of our seeking God, we sometimes feel like all has failed. And especially in this homeschooling endeavor, where much is required of us, our flesh and our heart will fail, and has failed - that is a fact.  However, the next two words in the verse say it all, “but God!” But God is the strength of my heart (all that my heart needs.) But God is my portion (all that my flesh needs) forever!  And there is no failure in Him, there is only victory.

 In our efforts to seek God and His Righteousness, there comes a greater awareness of our total lack of righteousness.  This is turn creates a craving for true righteousness which can only be found in Jesus Christ.  There is no one righteous, not one.  Over the years, we can pride ourselves in so many things through the different seasons: How well we discipline our children, or how tolerant we are.  How we submit to our husband, or how we have him in submission.  How good our kids are doing in school, or how unschooled they are.  All of this is filthy rags and it stinks.  What we may consider is right or good is sometimes detestable.  We are to hunger to know what is righteous to God.  To put it succinctly, only Jesus is righteous to God.  Therefore, as we come to a fuller understanding of Who Jesus is, we will find out what pleases God.

 Hunger and Thirst Quenched

 Consider these verses relating to what we are to hunger and thirst for and how they are quenched:

  Jesus is the Bread from Heaven which satisfies hunger:

 “In their hunger, you gave them bread from heaven.” Nehemiah 9:15 

 We can feel pursued by enemies, or crushed, or dried up, or out of breath – but following the Spirit’s leading is what quenches this thirst:

 “The enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground; he makes me dwell in darkness like those long dead.  So my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed.  I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.  I spread out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah.  Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails… may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” Psalm 143:3-7, 10

 Meeting with God quenches our thirst: 

 “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When can I go and meet with God?” Psalm 42:1, 2   

 We are to crave the nourishment of the Word in order to experience spiritual growth:

 “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”  1 Peter 2:2

 Our knowledge of Him gives us everything we need for life:

 “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”   II Peter 1:3

 The Greek word for ‘filled’ is to satisfy or gorge - this speaks of abundance:

 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.  Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?  Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.” Isaiah 55:1

 “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.  Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.  Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 7:37…

 We crave after and are driven toward many things.  We devote our minutes, our hours, our days and therefore our lives to what we desire.  May we begin to devote our lives and our homeschools to be close to Him and may we begin this very day.

 “Who is he who will devote himself to be close to me? declares the LORD.” Jeremiah 30:21

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Posted by LittleEblingsAcademy

And....
WISHING YOU NEW YEARS BLESSINGS!!

In Him, Beckie :o)

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Posted by mamasmurf

May the Lord bless you and keep you throughout this new year!

Chrissy

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Posted by Hediedforme

You are so wise, thank you for sharing this. Good timing.



Would you mind praying that I get my priorities right so that it shows in how I spend my time (less worrying about the house and organization and more in the Word)?



God bless you and Happy New Year,

Psalm40

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Posted by proudmommaof3

I think clear back in May I post on your blog that I saw in the TOS mag. that you suffer from extreme morning sickness which I do too. I also saw you have 8 kids!! How do you do it? We are pregnant with #4. The morning sickness is not as bad a normal. I am doing 100% better than usally (I am ten weeks now) but, mentally how do you manage. Are kids are 6,3, and 11 months. The two older ones can pretty much take care of themselves but the baby can't. I can hardle take care of myself, let alone have another little person fully dependant on me. How does your husband handle it. We are fully detremined this will probable be our last. He can't handle the stress and I can't either for that matter. Just wondering.

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Posted by ApplesofGold

That was wonderful to read. Thank you! Holly

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Posted by mime4jesus

Hey Ms. Deborah,

I'm sorry that this does not pertain to your recent entry, I admittedly haven't read it. But I did want to tell you something that I thought was really neat.

Just a few days ago, I was at Mrs. Rolf's house, helping with registration for leadership camp. When I saw Deborah and Christopher Wuehler, I knew I knew you from somewhere but couldn't put my finger on it. When I finally remembered, I thought it was really neat that I was setting up housing for some people in California that I met over a blog!

So anyway, just wanted to let you know that I've been thinking of you two, and even though I can't attend Leadership Camp this year, I hope that you two have an awesome time! Learn a lot!

For HIS glory,
Mime4Jesus

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Posted by 4evrHischild

I missed this post when you first wrote it, but really needed it today. Thanks~

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Posted by Christy

Please visit my blog to join us in honoring Missey Gray this Thursday, March 1st. Missey was the homeschool mom who died last year while giving birth to her 5th child.

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Posted by 4evrHischild

Please pray for a baby named Alina who is having open heart surgery this morning in Colorado. She is given only a 10% chance of survival. Her dad is currently serving in Iraq and cannot be there with his daughter or his wife. I'm not sure if there is any other family around to support this mother while she goes through this very difficult time so we need to lift her up in our prayers collectively so that she will feel the peace and strength of God to help her get through.

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Posted by CandyFoote

Hey, we haven't heard from you in awhile!
How are you doing??

Candy

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Posted by Mommy2fourCs

Just stopping by to say Hi. As always your blog is full of wonderful and helpful information. I always enjoy my time here.
Dixie

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