God Speaks, Part 2 :
The Middle
"In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe." (Heb 1:1-2 NIV)
Last week, in God Speaks, Part 1, we discovered that though God used
prophets to speak to us in the past, He now speaks directly to us through
His Holy Spirit, and He does so in many different ways. In "The Beginning",
I told the story of how God led me to homeschool my boys by impressing ideas
upon my mind, closing doors, giving me general uneasiness and then peace of
mind, and then confirming His will with signs and wonders.
But God isn't limited to these many ways. The beautiful thing about God is
that He'll do WHATEVER it takes to get our attention!
And that's what I would learn as I was led through the rest of the story of
my boys' education . . .
At the end of our first homeschooling year, I asked God if homeschooling for
the following year was still His will. The answer was "yes", and we
proceeded. I did this at the end of year two and three as well, but then I
got so comfortable being a homeschool mom that I quit asking!
Six years went by before God starting trying to get my attention again. He
initially used my husband who suddenly started talking about sending our
boys to school for high school. I wasn't happy. I didn't understand his
reasons, and I didn't agree. After all, God had told us to homeschool, and
that is what we were going to do!
But God was just preparing me in advance for His next move. Because He knows
that listening has never been my strong point, He began sending me the same
message through other people, and only when I had heard it from several
different sources did it finally occurred to me that perhaps God was trying
to get my attention! That's when I did what I should have done in the first
place: I began to pray.
I'm ashamed to say that my initial prayers went something like this: "Lord,
change my husband's heart! Help him to see Your true will for my boys:
Homeschooling!"
My prayer was partially answered. God did some "changing of heart", but it
wasn't my husband's heart that was changed. It was mine! Over the course of
the next two years, God began sending numerous sermons, Bible messages,
Bible studies, etc., on the topic of learning to be submissive to Him and to
my husband; and through it all, He helped me to be able to think about the
idea of school without getting mad.
The next thing God did was He allowed me to pass through some stressful
times with homeschooling. He opened my eyes to see how I didn't have the
time to provide the level of intellectual support my boys needed and still
maintain a part-time job.
In my mind, there was only one solution: Quit work! And I started praying
that God would take away my job.
But here He spoke to me through His Word. He clearly told me time and time
again that He had placed me in that job as a witness for Him, and quitting
was not His will.
God was again shaping my thinking, forming it to be in line with His, and He
used His Word to do so. But God knew I would need lots of confirmation, and
it was around this time that our local homeschool support group began to
fall apart. First there was a major split in the group. Initially we put our
feet in both camps, but when one group began doing activities that my boys
and I weren't comfortable with, we moved our loyalties to the other. Then,
one by one, that group began to shrink. Some families made the decision to
send their kids to school earlier than anticipated, and others simply moved
away! I realized that if I didn't send my kids to school for high school, I
would be homeschooling completely on my own!
But God wanted me to be certain, and He did one more thing: He opened up a
window of opportunity at work. In the 17 years I had been employed there, I
had seen a department of 7 full-time positions dwindle down to 3.5. Then,
suddenly, a new half-time position became available! Yet another indication
that it was time to stop homeschooling and start working full-time.
But I was still uneasy and as I began to pray for confirmation, God began
working the biggest miracle of all. I'm really not quite sure how He did it,
but one morning, I woke up completely at peace about sending my boys to
school.
During this stage of the story, God spoke to my intellect, He spoke to me
through others, He spoke to me through His word, He confirmed everything
through circumstance, and finally, He gave me peace of mind! There is one
important thing to remember, however. God can only speak to an open heart.
He'll do everything in His power to open that heart, but you must also be
willing to do your part. You must be willing to actively pray, not only to
KNOW His will, but also to be prepared to ACCEPT His will. You can't just
write off the impressions you are getting. You need to ask God to confirm
them, and you need to pray through every step of the process that God will
work that miracle in your heart that He worked in mine.
But this is still only part of the story. God may have convinced me that
school was the right choice, but He still had some work to do. Why? Because
"school" meant the local Christian high school down the road!
Or so I thought . . .
Join us next Saturday for God Speaks, Part 3!
May God bless each of you abundantly as you seek to know His will for your
lives!
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Mother of two teens, Author and Moderator for
The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a
website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems,
www.scripturalnuggets.org
, with Answers2Prayer Ministries,
www.Answers2Prayer.org .