Of the many things I'm thankful for--and that's a lot!--I'm so very thankful for a special friend God brought into my life early on in my homeschool journey. She's a kindred spirit in the truest sense, and the Lord has grown a precious friendship between us through the years.
One of the greatest things we share besides our love of the Lord and His Word is prayer. Every Sunday that we're able, we have a phone prayer time over our coming week. We pray over our schools and kids, our husbands and schedules and stresses. Even just the freedom to talk out our needs and concerns helps to unburden our hearts or clarify our thinking and faith.
And wow, what a difference it makes in my week! Not only does God answer prayer! but as the week unfolds it is no end encouraging to know that she's praying for me about whatever specific needs I have. We have gone through many deep waters together...illness and serious health concerns, job layoff, support group crises, spiritual attacks and oppression, discouragement and weakness, parenting issues, homeschool stresses and needs...the list goes on. We've had a safe place to talk it all out and know that nothing but love and support are there for us. Thank You, Lord, and thank you, my friend.
We've seen the Lord's faithfulness and VICTORY through it all, whether the answer comes right away or has been a process. It's become a commitment that we can't afford not to do, even with our busy schedules.
So I strongly encourage you to ask the Lord to give you a prayer friend if you don't have one. I think homeschooling is a 'front-line' work of God that the enemy targets any way he can (you know what I mean, don't you?!), and in such agreement God promises to show His power.
"As iron sharpens iron, a friend sharpens a friend." Pr. 27:17
I know that over the years, the friends who pray faithfully together have meant so much! You are truly blessed to have this special prayer partner.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of this homeschooling journey my kids and I prayed every morning for our homeschooling friends. We have gotten off track--we don't always come together for prayer. This is a nudge to get it together for sure.
Blessings on your week!
Nancy
My Inbox was sparse this morning (rare!) so I have a few minutes to surf before the little boys troop over for my short time of homeschooling (reading for the little ones; math for the older one). But yes, next week . . . all subjects all morning, while DD and hubby are enjoying time in Europe. But Ellie grabbed Julie's pacifier yesterday and shoved it in the baby's mouth! (Julie has a cold!). So please pray that Christian doesn't get the cold, or Kristel will have to stay home. She doesn't want a sick baby on the plane (and I don't blame her).
ReplyDeleteAnyway, that was a special post about praying friends. I have had a couple friends over the years with which we shared and prayed. But I've found that my life goes in "seasons." (once you get older, you can look back and really see the seasons! As the kids grew up and left home, I found (strange) that my fellowship with my other homeschooling friends was not as close. Our interests and concerns revolved around our children and our schooling. As that season started to come to a close, new seasons opened up (like the writing/publishing season). Naturally, I've found other praying and sharing sisters.
But here's the amazing thing, something I never thought would be: my best praying and sharing friend lives in Ohio (I live in WA state). I've never met her face-to-face. I met her because she was a fellow Kregel kids' author. We bonded right away and share everything by e-mail! She's never homeschooled but has a blog here on HSB (I talked her into that). We're Trixie and Honey from the Trixie Belden mysteries we both loved as kids! We pray for each other when issues come up. We console each other when we're frustrated with our publisher for some reason, and we critique each other's work and give suggestions and encouragement. It is some of the most fun I've ever had! I know we'll meet in person some day (and I don't mean here on this present earth).
The internet has opened amazing opportunities for like-minded friends that I never would have found if I'd limited myself to my local community. Surely this internet community has opened the possibilities of finding like-minded sisters all over the globe! What a blessing--unique to our time!
Oops! This was awfully long. But then, what would you expect from a writer? LOL