Joy in God's Grace

I would love to share with you what God is doing in our trials.  The last three weeks have been a whirlwind in our family.  In my last post I announced that I would not be homeschooling for the first time in my sons education.  The economy such as it is has driven the big changes in our home.  We have our house on the market to sell [Let me know if you are looking for a house in TX].  We need to eat so I have to work.

My son has special needs.  Last spring he was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder or SPD which is a neurological disorder causing difficulties with taking in, processing and responding to sensory information about the environment and from within his own body (visual, auditory, tactile, olfaction, gustatory, vestibular and proprioception).  You can learn more about it at understandingspd.com.  Our years of homeschooling have been exactly what he has needed, providing an environment in which he learns best.  Sending him to the local public school was like having to send him into a sensory battlefield.

We felt that if it was God’s will at this time for him to be in a large classroom environment, then He would provide for us and help him through it.  God is very good and gives us what we need.  A dear friend of mine approached me with the name of a friend, Mrs. Baker, who would homeschool our son.  She has had experience teaching special needs and has a daughter with SPD.   She also has a friend who can help her with occupational therapy for him as well.  Our specific needs were met so kindly by God through this special lady and we are grateful.

This week was his first week of school.  The first morning was full of anxiety of the unknown, but the boy I picked up after school and pictured above with his teacher, was brimming with joy.  He loved his teacher.  He got to meet lots of new children and made some friends.  One of his co-ops are with children who also have SPD which means he is no longer the weird one in the group.  They all understand each other and don't look at his behaviors as odd or different.

In my last post I expressed how my going back to work and my son having to be public schooled has been a back cloud that has always hovered over my staying home with my son.  I know that it is the same with many, many homeschooling single income families.  Over the last year and a half the Lord has been dealing with my sin of worry.  I keep going back to what Jesus says on the sermon on the mount in Matthew ch. 6.


The Cure for Anxiety

“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?  And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?  And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,  yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!  Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

When I worry about what is going to happen tomorrow, I demonstrate that I don't trust God to provide for whatever that future may bring.  Again He has demonstrated that He will provide for us and give us exactly what we need in our situation today.  I also try to remember that God is much more concerned about my character and Christ likeness than He is in my comfort.  Sometimes He has to take me out of my comfort zone to teach me a lesson I have not gotten any other way.  So today I rejoice that our financial situation is difficult, because I have been given the opportunity to see God's loving provision for our family in this special way.