The Lord Bless You
The Lord Bless You
If you are a homeschooler, you have made tough decisions about your children’s education. Friends from church and extended family members possibly have wondered about you and your decision. As graciously as you could, you explained your choice and how you wanted to make the best possible decision for your family. Situations like those are stressful! But you obeyed what you believed God wanted you to do, and you stuck with that decision even though it brought some level of suffering.
Those of us who have chosen to home educate have come to realize the great blessings that accompany that choice. God tells us He will bless us when we obey Him, but we sometimes miss seeing how many blessings He bestows. Some blessings we expect and some we do not. Just as we enjoy the blessing of a lower grocery bill when we do not overeat, we also enjoy better health, mobility, and strength—things we did not know we were missing because we ate too much.
When we decided to homeschool, we knew we would enjoy the blessings of a safer learning environment for our children, a personalized education for each child, and yes, biblical socialization. We didn’t realize that God would bless our family with a world of other blessings that did not appear to have anything to do with homeschooling.
Our family enjoys these life-changing blessings and more while we disciple our children:
· A home-centered life instead of a school- sports- activity-centered life
· A vast library of real books instead of government-approved textbooks
· Flexible plans to accommodate others’ needs
· An age-integrated environment of real-life discovery and learning instead of TV and Wii
· Improved relationships and real-life discipleship time with all of our children
· Family dependency instead of peer dependency
· Freedom of choice apart from external control
· Powerful testimony toward our neighbors as they witness us with our children
· Masculine sons of grit
· Feminine daughters of virtue
· Context for my wife and daughter to obey Titus 2:5
· Biblical context for me to obey Deuteronomy 6:7
· Lots of chocolate chip cookies—the result of teaching fractions and measurements
The list could go on!
Because we “feared the Lord, and walked in his ways,” we were blessed beyond our imagination, and we realized that the greatest blessing from our decision to homeschool is that we homeschool.
It is my prayer that God will give you these blessings of obedience and more.