As the the Lord has been unfolding the next "season" of our lives, things are starting to come into focus...
This year has been hard in many ways. There has been many stresses in our lives to make us feel overwhelmed and wanting at times to quit...but the Lord took us faithfully through!
For those of you who don't know, we have been going through the process of closing out our school year with college tours, filling out applications, and getting all sorts of information together to send to the college that our daughter will be attending.
We made it! The Lord brought us through homeschooling all the way through 12th grade!
To think that we made it...made me weep...
The Lord is so good. He lead us through to the end and now it is time to send out our first "arrow".
I have been thinking about what this means. The Lord trusted us to love, teach, train, and discipline our daughter so that she would become an adult able to stand in her faith, loving, teaching, training and disciplining whoever the Lord entrusts into her hands. Generation to generation, bringing glory to the Lord.
When she was little, I didn't want her to grow up. I wanted to keep her small for as long as possible so that I could enjoy hearing her funny little thoughts and see how she expressed them is such "grown-up" ways.
Time went by and I enjoyed the stage when she became my "junior" helper. She was so excited about learning how to cook and how to clean and how to be "grown-up".
Then came the time when she entered womanhood. To think that she was old enough to talk about "grown-up" things!
Here we are. She is all grown-up, feeling just like I did when I was her age. A mix of excitement at the possibilities ahead and scared stiff because of all the unknowns.
Isn't that like an adventure? Isn't life itself an adventure? Oh, and when the Lord is at the head of the adventure, WOW! :o)
The Lord has given us an adventure and for this we are extremely grateful. He has blessed us beyond our imaginations.
BUT WAIT! Our adventure hasn't ended...!
Over the past few weeks, we were pleasantly made aware that the next "season" in our adventure will include another baby in our family! Now you must realize that I'm 46 years old. At my last Doctors visit, he told me I was entering menopause! This is truly a surprise and a gift from the Lord.
While pouring over college materials and pondering my curriculum for the next year and working through the multitude of thoughts and emotions that have filled my head in regards to this new season...a baby was not in that mix! So now I will have a new little one to love, teach, train, and discipline to become an adult who will love, teach, train and discipline whoever the Lord entrusts into their hands....
"Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it...Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth.."
Psalm 127:1a, 3-4
18 comments:
Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!! Oh my goodness!!!
I was feeling all sentimental with you about your daughter growing into a woman and taking the next step in your lives...which is Wonderful...When you shared your NEWS a tingling warm-fuzzy feeling covered me from head to toe! Wow! Congratulations!!! I rejoice with you in your daughter Kirk's life, and in the new life God has created in your womb. Oh, Karen, God bless you greatly. (He has, I know...may he continue to do so.):)
Oh, Karen, how wonderful! Great news!
Roberta,
Thanks so much! Yes, we are rejoicing in both of these blessings and the overwhelming abundance of the Lord. He is so very good to us. We are so undeserving, yet very grateful. Thank you for sharing in our wonderful news!
God's Rich and Abundant Blessings to You!
Terri,
Yes! wonderful news for us! The Lord is so good! Thank you for sharing in our joy!
God Bless You, Abundantly!
Karen,
Congratulations again!!! I loved your post. You pulled my heart strings. I can remember the feeling of my summer before leaving home for college... excitement & nervousness. How blessed you are. How blessed your daughter is that she knows our Heavenly Father and the captain of her faith... our Lord Jesus.
Continued blessings to you..
-Linda
WOW!! Congratulations! That is SO cool.
Oh,
I am so excited for you! What a blessing to have "finished up" with one and for God to see fit to lend you another little one! You are blessed!
It is so wonderful to graduate a child from homeschooling but it is also very difficult. I feel a bit of "tearing away" with our oldest and, as a mommy, my heart is saddened by this. I know that the whole point of being a mommy is work your way out of a job, but this doesn't help it feel any better. I realize that this is a season and I trust God to lead me through it--He is faithful!
Congratulations to you on your graduate!
Linda,
As you can tell, my "heart strings" have been being pulled in different directions. :o) I am extremely blessed. I have seen all 5 of my children come to the Lord. Last year my youngest, who is now 5, was having a conversation with my oldest about heaven and hell. Kirsten was cooking and Annie asked her if she got burned by the stove, would she die? Kirsten proceded to tell her that yes, she could and if she is a Christian she would go to heaven to be with Jesus, but if she isn't a Christian she would go to hell and be separated from God. Her next questions was, "how do I become a Christian?"
I was in the other room, "vegging", looking at catalogs...
I heard this whole conversation and then cringed when Kirsten told her to go and ask me how to become a Christian.
I cringed because I felt so "not ready" and I didn't know what I was going to say to her....Isn't it wonderful that it isn't about being ready or having the right words! It is the Holy Spirit's work. Glory to God! Of course we had been praying for her salvation and the Lord answered our prayers!
When she came out to talk with me, I sent off a quick prayer for help, then just asked her, do you want to become a Christian? She said yes and I told her that she would have to ask the Lord to make her a Christian.
The unusual thing in this scene is that she agreed to pray on her own. I had tried other times to "get her to pray" and was always met with resistent.
Not only did she pray, but there was a change that took place in her. Over the next few days we noticed that she was much more tender and obedient. The other wonderful thing was that she came and cuddled up next to me and said to me, "Mom, remember I prayed and became a Christian?" She was so happy and I was so thrilled!
The Lord is so awesomely good to us!
Thanks so much for sharing in our joy!
Love and Many Blessings,
Karen
Wife, Mom, Teacher,
Thanks so much for sharing in our joy! It is really cool! We are very happy.
Many Blessings to you,
Karen
Randi,
Thanks so much! I do understand your feelings of "tearing away". Something that my husband said really helped me. He said that if I hang on to her, I will lose her, but if I let her go, realizing that she belongs to the Lord and rejoice in knowing that He has allowed me a great priviledge, that I will ultimately have her for eternity. I will be praying for Dear Sister.
Congratulations to you also! You made it through, too!
It has been like swimming up-stream. Many of our friends opted to put their high school aged children into public schools or Christian schools. So my daughter doesn't have any homeschool peers.
Let's be praying for one another as our "arrows" are launched.
Warmly,
Karen
My first thought was..Wow! Better you than me! :) My kids are grown, and I am now a grandmother, and am five years older than you, so I love being with my grandkids, but having another one of my own would be a shock! Congratulations and wonderful that you are experiencing the goodness of God in granting you another child to train up in the ways of the Lord.
Candy,
Thanks for sharing our good news! We were surprised, but pleasantly so.
The Lord is awesomely good! He is extending my youth! :o)
Blessings,
Karen
Congratulations Karen! I love your joyous attitude to your surprise! It is a great blessing to me.
Hello Sherrin!
Thank you! The Lord has been so good to us. Besides, when I read that the fruit of the womb is a reward, I can't help but be happy that the Lord chose to reward us! :o)
Thanks so much for joining in our joy!
Blessings,
Karen
Blessings, Karen!
As you pointed out... God is good! And not because of the blessings He pours into our lives, but because it is His nature. But how wonderful when He blesses us along our earthly way!! Congratulations to your daughter & yourself for making it through school, and congratulations on the news of the baby! May God bless you all!
Marlene,
Yes, you are right. God is good because He is good! What an awesome priviledge we have to be adopted into His family...too wonderful for words...
Thank you for sharing in our joyous news!
God's Abundant Blessings to You!
Karen
KAREN!!
How did I miss this? I have bloglines! How did they let me down?
Congratulations! That is fantastic! My youngest was a "surprise" and I can't tell you the number of times we have remarked that God knew we needed this boy (Sam). He is a wonderful son and a joy! I pray that your little one will be as much of a blessing to you and yours as our "surprise" has been to ours!
Congrats!
Hi Kim! LOL!
Thank you! This little one has already brought alot of joy to our family. My folks (in their 70's) have been so thrilled that they have gotten up and "testified" at their church. :o)
We even have some married foreign friends (students) that are so excited for us that they wondered if they should believe in God too!!! (they have been trying to get pregnant for the past two years) The Lord is so good to us!
Thanks so much for sharing our joy!
Warmly,
Karen
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