Tuesday, April 28, 2009

"How Do You Do It?" Part 3 - Relying on God

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See Part 1 here.
See Part 2 here.

A commenter asked in my last post if I considered myself a very organized person. After I was able to catch my breath from laughing myself silly, I thought I had better address what kind of person I am and how that plays into my homeschooling.

I am definitely not an organized person. I don't like to make lists, nor do I enjoy checking things off of lists. Plastic containers and drawers and boxes with color coded lids don't do anything for me, nor do fancy label makers.

I am not patient. I am messy. I complain too much. I don't enjoy waking up early, and I am lazy.

I could go on, but you probably get the idea. I am a flawed human being. I struggle. I sin and fall short.

Thank God, though, that I have been redeemed and I am no longer a slave to sin, but a slave to righteousness. For this reason, I go to bed each night committed to doing better the next day. I ask God for patience and strength and endurance to complete this thing I have taken on in a way that will bring glory to Him.

I believe that the task my husband and I have taken on is an important one worth sacrificing for. We pray that we will bring glory to God by raising up godly children who will impact the kingdom for the cause of Christ.

You may have notice that I italicized "if things go according to plan" in Part 2 of this series. There are plenty of times each day that my plans are ruined. Those are the times that I have to remind myself that God may have different plans for me that day.

Maybe the literature lesson was interrupted for the third time in less than 15 minutes when the baby decided to paint her bed with the contents of her diaper* because I needed to teach my children how to handle a frustrating situation with humor and patience. Perhaps it was an answer to a prayer to allow me to grow in patience and gentleness.

Hopefully, I take the interruptions as they come and use them as an opportunity to grow in the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.

And hopefully, I get right back to my schedule real quick like before any more interruptions happen.

When people ask me "How do you do it?" I want them to know I can't do it on my own. BUT "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" AND "my God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus."

That is the only way I can do it.

Relying on God.

*true story

6 comments:

Amy said...

I've loved this series! Thanks for the reminder to rely on God and accept His plans when they are different (and therefore better) ;) than our own. :)

Harmony said...

the baby decided to paint her bed with the contents of her diaperMy sister did this a time or too back when she was a toddler. Except it was the wall, not the bed.

Good series. :-)

Kara said...

Thanks for sharing all this. Sometimes "letting go and letting God" is the most difficult to do, but in the end it sure makes things easier:) I just need to repeat that a thousand times a day!

Raising Olives said...

Connie,

I am really enjoying this series. Thank you so much for taking the time to explain "how you do it".

Homeschooling is such a blessing and it is much less complicated than some people think it is.

When you get the time, I would love to see you post about how and where you schedule blogging time. I'm having difficulties fitting that in on top of everything that goes on. It is not just finding time to post, I have that down, but responding to emails and commenter questions. I'm staying up too late and that is not making anyone happy.

Blessings,
Kimberly

Anonymous said...

I know the feeling. I don't get the "organized" comment ... I need a few more children for that! I just have three, three and under so I get the "You must be really patient" comment.

Same result. I get a laugh. When my children are old enough to understand, they will laugh along with me, I'm sure.

I'm so flawed. And God is SO GOOD TO ME!!!!

God bless,
Ashley
www.homesteadblogger.com/Jonash2004

Charla said...

That's so true! And relying on God applies to everything. He's been teaching me to do that more and more. I think I am and then He shows me that I'm not relying on Him 100% because there's no room for worry when I give Him 100%.
(God is so good! We have a new two week old grandson that is so precious, and his brother is 20 months old and adorable. I spent this past week in Abilene helping our daughter with the babies. What a blessing!)

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