For 8 years, my family and church family worked hard to serve the homeschooling community by planning and hosting Finish Well, a homeschooling high school conference. It was a labor of love and we were all sad when due to life’s seasonal changes, we had to lay this ministry down.
I want to take you back in time to our second conference. The first had been just for Moms, but we expanded it to teens and their parents with the second conference.
Finish Well 2010
“The skit was excellent. But, unfortunately, that is exactly how my family is,” a man admitted to my husband at the Finish Well conference. He was referring to the skit that opened up the conference on Friday night portraying the communication problems that many homeschooling families experience in their homes. This skit revealed the spiritual battle that occurs when we try to communicate.
Many fathers, after the skit was finished, listened attentively as Pastor Mike challenged them to lead their homes and walked them through how to win back the heart of a rebellious teen. In fact, you could hear a pin drop. Every eye was watching Pastor Mike, listening. I never knew the problem was so intense in homeschooling families. People needed hope. When an altar call was given, dads rushed forward to ask the Lord to help them, anoint them.
Wow! I did not dream the Finish Well Homeschooling High School Conference would begin like that. Well, actually, the conference began with airsoft games in the late afternoon. Maybe that was foreshadowing of what was to come. Later, in the evening, the battle in our homes was revealed. Still later, the Lord began to be victorious in men’s hearts, winning the battle!
How It All Began
My friends, Laura and Cheryl joined my husband and me in wanting to do another Finish Well conference on homeschooling high school after the successful day-long seminar we had last summer with our friend, Virginia.
“So many moms need encouragement with homeschoolng high school,” Cheryl said over and over again. “But families need help too!”
“Let’s include the teens too! And the dads!” I shared my vision with them, asking them to pray that God would not just equip families to homeschool, but touch dads and teens too.
“This is about more than homeschooling,” my husband had informed me a few weeks before the conference. “God wants to move in families lives.”
My husband was absolutely right. Yes, we covered all the basics of homeschooling high school, courtship, transcripts, communication, family business, and other important high school topics in workshop after workshop. But, God was doing something deeper. God was after hearts.
Our Heart
Why should I be surprised? God is always after hearts. When I think of how God tenderly leads us as homeschooling families, I am overwhelmed. We often need supernatural provision because mom is at home and we live on one income. Moms often need extra energy from the Lord to juggle homemaking, babies, pregnancies, toilet training, and phonics training….all at the same time! We also need encouragement from the Lord to keep going.
Isn’t the reason we started homeschooling because we wanted our children’s hearts to belong to the Lord? Don’t we want to protect our little ones from damage and destruction to their minds and hearts while they are young? We are so concerned about their hearts.
But, it might surprise you to know that God is even more concerned about the hearts of our children. They are His precious children, even before they are ours. It was out of His concern for the hearts of His little lambs that He led you to homeschool His/your children. You see, He is after their hearts. AND He is after your heart….always.
The Heart to Finish Well
No matter where you are in your homeschooling journey, this race will not last forever. One day you will turn the final tassel on the graduation cap of your youngest child and your job as homeschooling mom will be finished. Let your heart now be to run the race of homeschooling to the glory of God so that you finish well. We can be tempted to give up and give in.
We are tempted to give up on homeschooling because we lose sight of the reason we are homeschooling (our children’s hearts!) and the end of the race. When we are finished our homeschooling journey, our children will be living lives to the glory of God. It will all be worth it!
Another temptation we face is to give in. We might give in to discouragement, given in to complaining, or give in to fussing at our family members. The only way to keep from giving in is to guard our heart so that it only yields to the Holy Spirit, not to temptation!
So, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, don’t give in and don’t give up. Persevere so that you will run the race to the glory of God and finish well! Take heart, dear friends, your heart matters to our precious Savior, Jesus, and He is with you!
Start Strong, Run Hard, and Finish Well!
Until Next Time, Happy Homeschooling!
Warmly,
Meredith Curtis
