Saturday, July 25, 2009

Gearing Up For Battle!

All right, ladies, it’s time to gear up! Lace on your combat boots, sharpen your swords, shine up your helmets, and make sure your shield is strong and in order. It’s almost time for battle!!

Really? Not really. But it’s time to begin the preparations for the next year of home school. I know, it’s only July, but many of us will begin sometime in August, some of us in early August. So it’s time to prepare for the next year now.

Sometimes home education feels like a battlefield. And I’m not even talking about the kids’ attitudes. I’ve been home schooling for nineteen years now, and sometimes I think I’d rather do something else with my time, and so I shrink from even thinking of school. But, I’ve had all of May, June and now July off, and it’s time to get back to business.

How I Prepare for the School Year

I start my preparations with prayer, asking God to give me wisdom on the best way to tackle the next year. Because every year brings its new challenges, each year is different and may need to be changed around a bit. This year I will again have four students, rather than the three I’ve had for the past two years, so there’s going to need to be some changes in how I operate this year. But no changes should be made without first asking the Lord for wisdom and guidance.

Secondly, I ask my husband to pray for me and with me. This is a joint effort, though much of the intricate daily workings fall on my shoulders, and I simply could not do much without his help and support. By communicating to him my burdens and our needs, he can pray for the family and give guidance where needed.

For me, my schedule is going to be the most difficult thing by far. With travelling like we do, and four children in school, it’s going to be tough to make it work. My husband and I have been praying about it, and I know it can be done.

After I’ve been praying about the coming school year for a few weeks, I dug out all last years’ school books and reviewed where every child is in each subject. I used this information to determine where to begin when we start back to school in August. Also, I find out if we need any additional curriculum or supplies before then. I placed several orders last week, and they should be arriving soon at the place we will be parked next week. And, of course, there’s Walmart’s school supplies sale! Notebooks for five cents?? Oh, yeah!

So I’m laying in my supplies, so to speak, preparing for the next year. But how do I prepare the kids for the next year? Well, it helps that they know what day we are starting. It is set in stone at August 10. Now, what happens on the 11th, who knows, but we are starting school on the 10th! I’ve been talking more about school, and about the different subjects they will be doing. Some of them, especially the youngest, are pretty excited about starting. Jason is looking forward to learning how to read this year, and he’s been begging for school for months. If some of the others catch his enthusiasm, it will be good.

Ladies, schooltime is going to come anyway. Don’t you think we ought to get our battle gear on and prepare for it? The Lord will strengthen us as we seek His Face for our children.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

I LOVE It!

For those of you who don't know, THE GUYS ARE BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We picked them up from the airport on Monday night at around 11:00pm. Since no one was willing to stay home and go to bed, we all went, and ended up staying up insanely late. That's ok, though; the guys are home!!! They were gone for two months, and that's long enough! I'm SO THANKFUL to the Lord for their safety.



Tonight at the missions conference, they are going to show a slide show of their missions trip to Germany, and talk about what God has used them to do over there. I'm really looking forward to it. And, to top it all off, they will be preaching on Sunday!! I'm really looking forward to it.



Now, you may say, calm down Lisa. That's not too much to get worked up over. I suppose you may be right, but when I start to think about what the Lord has done for me and how the Lord has graciously chosen to use the members of my family, I get overwhelmed with gratitude and thankfulness!



Sometimes I think of our daughter Kathryn and her husband Matthew serving the Lord working with bus children in the UP of Michigan, and get so thankful. Then I think of my "guys" serving the Lord here in the States or abroad, doing whatever the Lord would have them do. And there's my sweet daughter Sharon, who has given her heart to the Lord to guide and direct her life, the word "gratitude" simply does not express my feelings adequately. I have been supremely blessed.



Pardon me if I go on just a little bit. I am not in the least deserving of His Mercies in my family, but I am sure thankful for them. All I ever wanted after I got saved was to serve the Lord and have a family that serves Him, and He has kindly granted my request, so far. God has been so good to me.



Lately I've been thinking of this Scripture, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." (2 Corinthians 4:7) That is exactly how it is with me. Any treasure here is of Christ, and all the glory goes to Him. He is the reason, the power, and His is the glory. Praise His Name!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Spritual Suicide

The Lord has been so good to grant me some blessings, some “handfuls of purpose,” these past few days. We arrived here in NJ on Friday, set up the tent on Saturday, and began the tent meetings Sunday. I came here so hungry to hear something from God, to hear from folks who love the Lord and fear His name, and the Lord very kindly showed me His goodness.

We’ve been traveling these two and a half months, and it seems to me that I have seen more spiritually sleeping people on this trip than I have ever seen before in my life. I have been a servant of the Lord for twenty nine years, and I remember many times of fervency, and of seeking Him. A strange lethargy has overtaken His people here in America; a very odd thing to behold.

While I was in PA, I spent some time with a friend of mine whose daughter has been diagnosed with anorexia. Now, for those of you who don’t know, anorexia is an eating disorder. The young person becomes obsessed with her looks and thinks she is fat, when in reality, she is just right, perhaps even a little skinny. Many times anorexia becomes a serious problem as the person refuses to eat. In many cases, anoexia is fatal.

I got thinking the other day: I wonder if we American Christians are spiritual anorexics? Or, more precisely, spiritually bulimic. Bulimia is a related eating disorder (many anorexics are also bulimic) where the person eats and then gags themselves to throw up all the food they just ate, so they wouldn’t get “fat.”

It seems that we go to church and hear the preaching, then go home and turn on the TV, completely erasing all the spiritual gains we got in the House of God. We get no nutrition, though we are going through the motions of “eating.” We could be enjoying the great meals of the Word of God, but we allow the electronics and gizmos of this world to ravish our hearts and take us withersoever they will.

Because she rarely eats, my anorexic friend’s daughter experiences physical problems like digestive issues, bruising for no reason, etc. In actuality, these physical problems are merely symptoms of a greater problem. I wonder if many of the problems we experience in our lives – marital problems, financial problems, parent/child troubles, etc, are merely symptoms of a greater problem: a lack of true, close, intimate “still” time with God. Maybe we are lacking that precious time of meditation on the Word, that calms our hearts, stills our souls, and turns us in the right way. Maybe we are lacking those special prayer times, where God seems to be right there in the room with us.

Are American Christians killing themselves?? I wonder…..