The Small Branch

Well, I am officially in a foggy, boggy, funk (again). You would think, as often as this happens to me, I would be used to it. Or, even better, be able to trust enough to actually get out of it. I feel like I keep falling into a mud pit, crying to be pulled out, and then jumping back in. All those lies I listen to. All that trust I lack. School is a great example. People ask me how to homeschool , and I give them the patented homeschoolers reply - "What works for us, probably won't work for you. Here are some ideas, but you really have to figure it out for your family." The problem is, figuring it out for your family can be very scary. And even when you think you have it figured out, something changes and you have to flex with it. I have friends who run the gamut from total unschooling to sitting down at the table all morning to have school. Personally, I like something in between, maybe even leaning toward unschooling . My husband, however, definitely lea...

Have you ever been on a long vacation? One where you stay in a hotel. Maybe it wasn't even a vacation, but work. Have you noticed how, as nice as it is in the beginning, the eating out really starts to annoy you? You really enjoy eating the "junk" (even if it isn't too junkie) at first, but after a while you really crave some good veges, some plain dish that you call "comfort food". Something homemade. Now, if you are one of those people who eat out every meal anyway, you don't realize that you are missing out on these wonderful foods from home, but if you almost never eat out, it hits you hard. "Why in the world are you talking about this?" you ask. I'll tell you why. 1 Peter 2:2-3 tells us we are to crave the Word of God. Crave it! Not just fit it in to our schedule. Not just fill out a Bible Study lesson. Not just read it after we have read all the other books we think are great, but crave it! That is like our food situation above. When ...

Today, I am wondering if I shouldn't have called this blog "The Chipped Stone" or something like that. We have been studying a lot about cornerstones and capstones, walls and construction this week. (1 Peter 2) One thing I have learned, though, is that every stone has its own shape to fit in its perfect place in the wall. It takes a lot of chiseling and smoothing for the stone to be the right shape. Sometimes, I feel like I am being chiseled, cracked, repaired, chiseled, cracked, repaired, over and over again - as I move in the wrong way while the Master Mason is working and cause each crack and chip. Forgiveness is another thing we talked about. Who do I have trouble forgiving? Me. Plain and simple. Usually I feel like the ultimate screw up. Like everything I do is not only messing me up, but messing up everyone around me and totally dishonoring God. Total surrender is very hard for me. I have been put in positions where I am totally on my own too many times t...

Have you ever thought that you could clearly see something that God was working out for you - so clearly that you were almost positive that some certain thing was going to happen. And then it doesn't. SLAM! Down you go. This happened to us in a big way this last week. We were sure. We saw all the ways that things were working out, often in totally illogical ways, working towards one specific life changing event. And then it didn't happen. So, were we wrong? Was God ignoring us? Was He just messing with us, toying with our hopes and dreams? NO - to all of the above. We were right, God was working in big ways in our lives, just not the ways we thought. He never ignores us. He never messes with us or toys with our hopes and dreams. So what happened? We were called to stretch and grow some more, that's what. I once read a beautiful illustration of our walk with Christ. It is like climbing a cliff. It is difficult, but we grow stronger because of it. And then,...

Well, here I am again. Trying to find the time to put some thoughts down. I actually have missed blogging somewhat. I know that I am not a gifted writter, so my thoughts are often random, but putting them down seems to help me sort them out properly.