One of the biggest lessons that God has been patiently teaching me, is how to live by faith, and not by my feelings.  What do I mean by this?   I mean that my feelings dominate everything in my life, and can many times lead me down the wrong path.  I have learned to doubt my feelings, and double check them, before I act.   I’m not always good at this, and many times God has to get my attention to listen to Him, when I come to a fork in a road.

Let me tell you a story that illustrates this point.  I homeschool.  I have homeschooled for over twenty years.  My husband and I made this decision together—to homeschool our children.  For the most part, it was a good decision.  Our oldest is an IT guy—he started building his own computers when he was 14.  Our second oldest is a Mechanical and Bio-Medical Engineer, working in his field of study.   Our third is studying Music Performance and was on the President’s list all last year.  I have one more child at home just starting high school.

My philosophy of homeschooling is that it is a relationship where God is in charge, and I just need to listen to Him, not my feelings, but God. 

When my second oldest child was going into his junior year in High School, God was leading us to join a homeschool co-op about 40 minutes away.  Most of the parents that taught in this co-op were engineers or spouses of engineers.

I was terrified.  I felt inadequate, and my plate was already so full—I was afraid of failure.  We went through the interviewing process, and we were accepted into the co-op.  This was in May, and the co-op started in September.  I was given my assignments of teaching two classes and helping with a committee.  Again, I felt completely overwhelmed. 

My feelings were telling me to withdraw, to not go into this co-op.  I then looked at what I knew with my mind—my son was clearly gifted in engineering.  He was on our communities’ Robotics’ team, and he wanted to study how things were made.  He needed more challenges and accountability—this was the direction God was leading us.

Yet my feelings of terror persisted, until…..

I was driving during a torrential rainstorm.  I had been praying in my mind, to the Lord, telling Him of all my fears and anxieties, and then, I was driving in this storm, that came out of nowhere.  I could feel the car start to swerve and I could not see a thing.   A weight descended upon our car, and it seemed as if the tires clung to the road.  The presence of the Lord settled upon me.  The Lord spoke to my heart, “I am with you.  I will never leave you.  I will walk with you through this.”

I thought the Lord was referring to this co-op, that He would be with me and help me through this time—and He was, but it was so much more—this happened a year before He took my son Sean home. In hindsight, I realize that this is what our Lord was also referring to—He would be with me through the storms of life.  He would get me through.   This is what it means to live by faith—knowing that we don’t have to go through this life alone—God will be there for us, helping us take one step at a time-in His power, and through His grace, to do His Will.

So Let Us Be Encouraged!!

** Picture is of my dad, his brothers and a friend. Men who have weathered the storms of life with God’s grace.