Refusing to Worry
I’ll admit it. Lately I’ve been a little bit worried about getting back to homeschooling in the next few weeks. It’s not that I’m worried about actually homeschooling. I’ve been homeschooling my children for 16 years. I feel comfortable homeschooling now. In fact, I actually enjoy our school year more than I enjoy our time off during the summer. What I’m worried about is my curriculum.
I know that as a Christian I’m not supposed to worry about things. Philippians 4:6 (NIV) says, “Do not be anxious about anything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” I know that I’m supposed to pray and ask God to guide me. I know I can count on Him to work through me to do whatever I need to do. I get it. The problem is, though, that I’m human! And no matter how many times God has taken care of me and worked things out for my best, the human side of me still likes to be in charge. I still like to know the plan and to be in charge of the plan! But that’s not what God wants for me, and I feel like He often leads me to step out of my comfort zone (and away from my plans!) to see that I don’t need to be in charge. He does.
So after years of homeschooling and working with curricula that I’m comfortable with and that my children and I enjoy, I feel like God is telling me to make some changes. After all these years! I usually buy my curriculum for the next school year in April or May of the year before to take advantage of sales and free shipping. This past April, though, I just didn’t feel like it was the right time to do that. I just felt for some reason like God wanted me to wait. I had no idea that He was going to tell me to change everything, though! I guess He wanted to reveal just a little bit along so I wouldn’t panic. 🙂
So I waited. And waited. I began to wonder what was going on. Finally, just a couple of weeks or so ago, I felt like God was leading me to start choosing the coming school year’s curriculum. Different curriculum.
I’m now in the process of praying and listening and looking around. I’m still not really certain about everything my children will study this school year. I’m not sure about every single curriculum we will use. I do have some particular items in mind, but I’m waiting for God to confirm that I’m on the right track. I know He will.
And in the mean time, every time I start to “rush” God to let me know what we need to study and what curriculum we need to use, I remind myself of what the Bible says in Philippians 4:6 about not worrying. I have to remind myself often–especially as the school year gets closer. At the same time, though, the more I pray and wait on God, the more peaceful I feel. The more certain I am that I’m doing just what He wants me to do right now. Wait.
If you’re worried about homeschooling or curriculum for the coming school year, perhaps God is telling you to wait, too. If you’re anxious about a job situation or a possible move, maybe God wants you to learn to rely more on Him and less on yourself. If things aren’t going like you’d planned and you’re not sure why, it could be that God is teaching you that He has the master plan. He’s in charge. And He will make sure things work out for our good if we just let Him be in charge instead of trying to take His place.
Am I saying that I never worry? No! I do. But I am saying that, every time I start to worry, I remind myself to pray because God has everything under control. It’s all going according to His plan. He’s got this! We don’t always know what it is. He doesn’t always reveal what’s in the distant future. Sometimes He waits until the last minute to reveal the next step! But it’s all for our own good.
Do you worry about things? Do you tend to try to take control and do things your own way? If so, then maybe God is telling you to leave it to Him. Just remember to pray instead of worrying.
Photo credit: www.freedigitalphotos.net, by digidreamgrafix
