Until Jesus Takes Me Home

Words spoken 22 years ago to my beloved in his parent’s backyard in front of family and close friends. A garden like scene, something the little girl in me always wanted. And a setting that plays out in Song of Solomon, one of my most favorite books in the Bible. A story of love that is unfettered and an allegory of God’s love for us.

To have and to hold.

For better, for worse.

For richer, for poorer.

In sickness and in health.

To love and to cherish.

Until Jesus takes me home.

I married my best friend, the only one I want to do life with. I am eternally grateful that God orchestrated our paths to cross. Even on that night we first actually met, full of sorrow and loss. God used that night to bring me His absolute best that He had been preparing for me. That night in June all those years ago is proof that everything the enemy desires for our destruction, God uses for His glory and for our good.

We have had seasons full of laughter and joy. Thanking God for all He has done and will do. And seasons scarred with tears and stress. While pressing into God, knowing He is our Comforter and gives us rest.

We have had seasons when we are able to live life without worrying about how we are going to buy milk. Thanking God that He is our Provider. And seasons of job loss and empty cupboards. Trusting God that He is still our provider, and He is always faithful.

We have had seasons of health and rest. Thanking God for His protection as we maneuver through our days. And we have had, and are going through, a long season of sickness. Trusting that God is our Healer and that He will restore that which the enemy has taken.

Song of Solomon 8:6-7
Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death; ardent love is as unrelenting as Sheol. Love’s flames are fiery flames - the fiercest of all. Mighty waters cannot extinguish love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If a man were to give all his wealth for love, it would be utterly scorned.

Through every season. The delightful and the miserable, we walk, there is a deeper love growing that is not conditional on circumstances, or emotions.

Through every season. The times we are spiritually filled and the times it feels like we are running on empty, we have learned how to cling to each other and run after Jesus together.

Through every season, The years of weakness and the years of strength, we have learned how to carry each other in prayer.

Our marriage story is full of hills, steep cliffs and dark valleys, raging oceans and glorious peaceful meadows. In every season God has been there, holding us, guiding us, and being our strong fortress in the time of trouble.

Psalm 18:2
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my mountain where I seek refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Jesus hasn’t taken either one of us home yet. I am so glad that our story is not over. And God is still working on us. While our marriage is far from perfect, and neither of us are always at our best. God is faithful and has continually shown us His best for us, especially while we are hanging onto the cliff over the darkest valley for dear life or trying to keep our heads above water in the raging waters of the darkest storm.

First Day of School and Great Expectations

First Day of School!

A clean slate.

A fresh start.

A new beginning.

I love the beginning of a school year. The new books, freshly sharpened pencils, notebooks with blank pages waiting to be filled. The expectation of something great.

Preschool  -  Junior High  -  Senior High

This year marks the beginning of our 16th year of homeschooling. Believe it or not, I still do not feel like a seasoned homeschool mom and I absolutely do not think of myself as an expert in homeschooling. I constantly battle doubts that I am making the right choices in educating my kids, and am always afraid I am forgetting to teach them some valuable piece of information.

We try to have an overarching theme or goal for each school year. It gives us purpose and direction for our homeschool year. We are homeschooling not only to give our children an education tailored to their learning styles and personalities but also, to point them to Jesus so that they may walk in His truth.

Last year, we asked the kids what God was calling them to that they did not feel equipped for. God will always work through us for His glory if we just say yes to what He calls us to. Ephesians tells us that God is able to do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine. This truth is what I wanted the kids to learn to walk in.

No matter what God calls us to do, He is more than able and faithful to bring it to completion. This became our question and mission for the whole family as a unit and individually. We are continually asking God what He is calling us to that we feel completely inadequate to do. Because that is where God does His best work in us and through us.

By the end of the school year, I knew that God was only just beginning to show His call on our kids and He is not finished yet. He will continually reveal His call on our lives.

This year, we have a mission statement, again for the whole family.  
I want this year to be full of opportunities for us to learn how to be a people who walk by faith with mercy in our hearts and glory on our faces.
We are called to be lights in the darkness because Christ lives in us and He is the light of the world. Our scripture focus for this will be

Philippians 2:2-18
So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose. Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world. Hold firmly to the message of life. Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run or labor for nothing. But even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. In the same way you should also be glad and rejoice with me.

I am excited for what God will do during this school year. Our philosophy for homeschooling is to teach to the eternal and let the temporal fall into place. I love watching God write His story on my kids lives through our homeschooling adventure.

A renewed focus.

A refreshed purpose.

A continued journey.