Chapter 10
Growing up
I was talking to someone about homeschooling last week and I
said “I was just a baby when we started this!” and my hubby, charming male that
he is, laughed at me!
But, truth be told, I WAS just a baby! I wasn’t even 30 yet!
I am thankful that when I was a child my parents took me to
church and made me participate in programs like AWANAS and that when I
misbehaved I had to copy chapters of the book of Proverbs. I
have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you, Lord.
Psalms 119:11. I was in my late
20’s before I understood what was meant by a daily quiet time, but I am so
thankful for the mission leaders that taught me, and my husband, to do a daily
quiet time. I was given some great tools to grow up in the Lord.
More than that, and building on that, I am thankful for the opportunity to home educate my
children. When we discussed
homeschooling we saw it as a way to take Godly instruction to our children to
the next logical step. Homeschooling has been a wonderful way to grow up some God loving kids.
Every year, about this time, there are tons of commercials
and pictures that show sad faced children returning to school and mothers
jumping for joy. Until I started
homeschooling I was one of those mom’s who looked forward to when my kids would
not ‘bother’ me with their questions and need for fun and games. Homeschooling grew in me a deeper love for my
children and a deeper appreciation of the people that they are and someday will
become!
And then one day, something totally unexpected and odd
happened.
Even though I had been completely engrossed in their
schooling, I missed when they grew into young men.
We went from a house of little kids to a house of older
elementary and middle school kids!
My kids were getting older.
My heart started to break a little bit.
My oldest was yearning for a challenge, stretching out. Growing
a boy into a man is quite the task. How
many conversations did we have about respect and humility…. How many did we have about love and
hatred…. How many did we have about
applying the principles of the Bible to how you act every single day, and not
just pulling these out on Sunday? How do
you teach these things?
There
were times when my son would ask a question that was so hard that I didn’t know
how to answer him and through this the Holy Spirit would give me the words to
say. More than anything it took a lot of
patience and a lot of explaining every concept, every principle, and using the
Bible to explain why I was asking him to help with the dishes, or to talk about
a crush, or his frustrations. Through
all of this, we leaned on the Bible and what God has to say about life.
So many things that stress us out, make us worry, cause us
pain, are matters of the heart. If our
heart is right, fully surrendered to God, we can find Grace in every
situation. How to teach this to
children? How to stay calm enough to
teach this when the dishes aren’t done and everyone needs clean socks and who
knows what we are going to eat for dinner and… the list is endless. How can you teach matters of the heart when
you are so stressed out that you can’t think strait? Pray. Grow up.
Be a person. Pray. Talk it out. Pray.
Cover it in Grace. Move on. Pray some
more!
A book that I love The
Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian helped me keep some
sanity.
Another book helped my hubby keep some sanity. Together Drason and oldest son worked through
the book ‘Preparing your son for Every Man’s Battle
This year Mac turns 14. He has grown so much that I have to look up at him to look him in the eye. He is very proud of this, as every young man is, but I am most proud of the man he is becoming and how he is growing into a Godly man I admire.
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