Wednesday, January 25, 2006

God is very specific

Today I (Tara) spent a good portion of the day feeling totally annoyed and discouraged about homeschooling. It has been clear since last April that the Lord was leading us to homeschool Paige. (Before we even knew we'd end up in Haiti.) Even when you know something is "supposed" to be, it is still easy to get discouraged and forget why you decided to do it in the first place. I forgot this morning.

I know much of the world thinks homeschooling is some club for freaks who don't have a clue about educating children. It is not my job to worry about what people think. My job is to do for my children what is best and to submit my decisions to God and pray that He would give me discernment and patience and wisdom.

Anyway, I was discouraged with some stuff that had happened in the last day or two and I was just angry and wanting to quit. (Not that I was going to quit, just that I was pretending in my head, like I had the option.)

First a friend from IL called to encourage me, she let me vent and listened. Then at nap time I left to go run and pray and change my attitude. When I got back from my run the doorbell rang. Standing at the door was my mom's friend who wanted to check on us and pray for us. She said she wrote down on her calendar about a month ago that she would stop by today when she was coming through Big Lake. She said she crossed it out and decided not to come but then when she was driving towards home, she decided she better stop.

She has homeschooled for many years and knew exactly how to encourage me and help me change my attitude about some of our recent bumps in the road. She talked to me for a while and then offered to pray before she left.

It is crazy that she stopped by on the exact day at the exact right time that I was discouraged and that God is *that* specific that He would send her to encourage me. No coincidence that these friends showed up today. It serves as an excellent reminder that He is in control of everything and that He cares about everything we struggle with.

“The next moment is as much beyond our grasp, and as much in God's care, as that a hundred years away. Care for the next minute is as foolish as care for a day in the next thousand years. In neither can we do anything, in both God is doing everything.� ~C.S. Lewis