Here

Why is it so easy to run away? To all the homeschooling mamas out there, maybe this will make you feel better: We had a rough school day today. (And it’s not over, I just somehow had a minute to take a breath.) My children don’t want to think. They would rather cry because they don’t get something than to sit there for longer than 5 minutes and THINK about how to do it. Or just put an answer down so it’s done, even if it’s wrong. They just want to move on and not have to stay on that problem anymore. They also like to take shortcuts in cleaning their messes up. We spent 30 minutes today on how to properly clean a bathroom. It’s not hard to hit the toilet bowl instead of the toilet seat, it just takes more time. Oh, there’s toilet paper in the toilet and it won’t flush? Just add more to it. It’ll be ok. It’s not hard to get a plunger and fix the problem, it just takes more time. It’s not hard to wipe the toothpaste out of the sink after they get done brushing their teeth, it just takes more time. Instead of picking their clothes up and putting them in a basket in the closet, they would rather just take the easy way out and drop them on the floor for mama to pick up. Let someone else clean the mess up.

We go through life the same way. God leads us to a place where we don’t want to be and instead of just trying to figure out what we need to learn, we cry and complain because we don’t want to be here. We just want to move on. Even if it’s wrong, if we run away we don’t have to THINK about it anymore. Quitting is easier to do than staying the course when things get hard.

And I’ll admit it to you, sometimes I want to quit. Quit homeschooling. Quit church. Quit trying to be an encouragement. Quit using my talents. Just run away where no one knows me and I don’t have to fix any messes. Life’s hard. It’d be easier to just walk away sometimes.

“And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.” Psalm 55:6

Boy, I like that guy David. I think we would get along great. We have a lot of the same thoughts. I raise both of my hands in the air and shout “ME TOO!!!”

Just when I think I’m about to go ahead and do that, God sends me exactly what I need.

I received a package in the mail the other evening with the words framed from one of my favorite hymns.

“O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!”

The note that was included said, “thank you, …you are beautiful, inside and out.” Obviously I don’t agree with that, but it made me cry.

Not even a full 24 hours later a dear friend sent these words:

“Why is it when things get hard that we want to walk away and quit? I was reading about Abram this morning and He reminded me again … That God has told me repeatedly over the past 10 years, just because something is hard doesn’t mean you quit. It started with Abram and then God sent a number of reminders to me today of those that did this. Abram left and went to Egypt because of the famine and got into trouble and God brought him back, it actually says to where he had been at the beginning. His son repeated Abrams same mistake. Moses left and came back 40 years later after he had learned his lesson of humbleness as he watched sheep. The children of Israel refusing to go in the promised land resulting in 40 years in the wilderness. Paying for it with their lives. Jonah fleeing Gods presence was moved by a fish to where God wanted him to be. (There are others).

I do not want to have to repeat a trial or be forced to where God wants me to be. He reminded me today that His word would be empty had it not been for men and women that had stood for Him in adversity, trials, or difficult situations. And… What sort of story am I writing with my life for Him? Is it worth telling?…

Don’t quit, keep pressing on, stay faithful to what God has called you to do, even though it’s hard.”

At the exact same moment one friend was sending this message out, another sent me a song. The time on both messages are the same – 9:21. Here are some of the words:

“I can’t remember a trial or a pain
He did not recycle to bring me gain
I can’t remember one single regret
In serving God only, and trusting His hand
All I have need of, His hand will provide
He’s always been faithful to me.”

Well, now what was I to do? Keep going. Keep serving. Keep encouraging. Keep using my talents. Keep ~big sigh~ homeschooling. Don’t quit.

Because the same lessons I keep harping about while I teach my children, are the same lessons the Lord has to teach me over and over.

“We might think that it’s not worth it to keep going but really it’s not worth it to quit!” -From another wise person, whom I love very much! 😉

Are you tired? Keep going.

Do you think you can’t do as good of a job serving God because you don’t have the same talents as someone else? Use what you have. God gave you what He wanted you to have.

Is life overwhelming? Don’t quit.

Do people think things about you that aren’t true? God knows your heart.

Do you wish you could just run away? Run to Him.

You know why?

God led you here. Here is not where we always want to be, but God has us here because there is a purpose. There is something here we can’t learn anywhere else. We find out who God really is, here. We can’t learn to trust Him if nothing is ever hard. We can’t learn how far His grace can go until we need it most. We can’t learn how much He loves us until we’re made to wonder how he even could. We can’t learn how much we need Him, if we can make it on our own.

Running away is easy. Staying here, where life is messy and hard and overwhelming, that takes time. Time to learn. Time to listen. Time to grow. Time to find out who we are and who we aren’t.

So wherever you are today, stay. Here is where God takes you where you’ve never been before.

I wrote this song last week, trying to be an encouragement to my husband. And since then, I have clung to the words God had for me. Listen here:

(My family has a youtube channel you can subscribe to. I find that I don’t do very much for the Lord. And sometimes what I do, isn’t for the right reason. But God has given me this, this I can do. So if you get a blessing from anything we post, praise God. We only want to do it for Him and we definitely couldn’t do it without Him.)