Wanna Be a Steader!

One of my FAVORITE authors/speakers/homeschool moms is Sally Clarkson of WholeHeart Minisitries.  I just LOVE her - her precious, sweet heart for hard working, stressed out, homeschool moms and their families.  Not to mention that she and her husband, Clay, have written one of my favorite books, "Educating the WholeHearted Child."  I am on her "Heart2Heart with Sally" e-newsletter list and today's letter just caused me to weep tears of joy and affirmation! 

How often are we (am I) tempted to give up on a dream; on praying for that dream, just because my prayers weren't answered "quickly"?  Just because someone I've shared my dream with says that it's impossible?  Just because I'm tired of praying for it, but "Something" tells me to keep on?  We all have those prayers, those desires of our hearts, don't we?  I certainly do.  Sally's letter has encouraged me to NOT give up!  It really goes along with a previous post I wrote, "Do You Ask God?"  (http://www.homesteadblogger.com/wannabeone/15740/Do+You+Ask+God%3F.html)

Below is Sally's newsletter.  I hope you are blessed by it.  Sally is also a homeschoolblogger!!  I encourage you to sign up for her newsletter and read her blog - linked below.

Blessings from Ohio, Kim Wolf<><

ANSWERED PRAYER

And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.  Matthew 21:22   My Dear Friends,   I greet you this morning from Santa Fe , New Mexico , where I am spending a week with Joel, my 19 year-old son. He is also my soon-to-leave-for-college son, so I am relishing each minute I have with him. We are attending a creative arts conference sponsored by Image, the literary journal of Seattle  Pacific University , which happens to be the college Joel will be attending this fall. It’s been a special week, but today is also a special day.   Today is my 53rd birthday. I awakened with a joyful heart, thanking God for the many ways the He has blessed me and walked with me through the seasons of my life. I also am thanking Him for all the wonderful people I have been able to call my friends. Thank you for being willing to open the door of your heart to share the love and light God has placed in your soul. You have let me into your life, and come into my soul, so that we could encourage one another and share His love. You have helped me keep going on this path of life. True, generous, giving friends are few and far between, yet I have been richly blessed by those of you whom God has mercifully sprinkled along my path. Thank you.   The past few years of my life, there have been some unresolved issues in my life for which I have spent hours and days in prayer asking for God’s help. Often my prayer would seem like a vapor that would dissolve somewhere between my room and the inner chambers of heaven, where Jesus himself was said to be praying to the Father for me. "Where are you, God? Do you hear? Do you care? Am I too sinful for you to respond to?" God was gracious with my questions, and day-by-day, month-by-month I found that my faith, though often frail and weary, was what pleased His heart. I had devoted my life most to pleasing Him, so I picked up my fainting heart off the floor and breathed into it the words of those before me—Peter, Paul, David, Moses—and would continue to put one foot in front of the other, always seeking to keep moving forward on the pathway He had designed for me to walk.   I sought to increase my understanding of prayer by filling my soul with the wisdom of other praying people. Richard Foster's book on prayer was of great encouragement. Yet, Luke 18:2-8 became for me a strong foundation to stand upon when no other words would come to mind:   There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God, and did not respect man. And there was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying "Give me legal protection from my opponent," And for a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, “Even though this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, lest by continually coming she wear me out. Even though I do not respect God or man, and because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, lest by continually coming she wear me out.”   And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now shall not God bring about justice for His elect, who cry before Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them speedily. However, when the son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"   I would follow the pattern of the verse, and keep coming back to God to plead with Him about the same desires of my heart and areas of great concern. Many of you know that I have been believing the Lord for many years to provide a certain kind of a home—a place with large rooms for Bible studies and dinners, and with a living area separate from our own where our many guests could come to stay and have their own kitchenette, and that was isolated from others so groups in our home wouldn’t bother neighbors. Often, I would feel tempted to quit praying. With limited financial resources and a market of homes beyond our means, I would think, "Am I wrong to trust God to provide? Is this dream from God or just my personal desires?" I also prayed for more personal issues in the lives of my family and children which seemed to go unanswered. Yet, all along the way, I never felt that I should quit praying, and remained vigilant before the Lord day after day. Often, I would feel the weight of my family's questioning, "When are you going to settle down? You are always too idealistic.” Others would question our dreams and ideals. Yet, I couldn't turn back. The Holy Spirit kept my heart fast.   About a month ago, we were faced with the difficult prospect of having to sign another one-year lease on the rental home where we had already lived for two years while trying to find a permanent home in the Monument area. It was Monday, July 3, and we had to sign by the morning of July 5. Monday morning, Clay sheepishly told me, "I have found one more house on the internet. It probably isn't going to work, but I feel we should be faithful to look at it anyway." We had been looking at homes since March, so I knew the drill all to well.   We quickly made an appointment for 5:30 that afternoon, and met our realtor at the unoccupied house. Clay’s reluctance at mentioning the house to me was because we had already seen it once before in an open house back in March. At that time, I had talked with Clay and said, "This house has a lot of room, but it would take far too much time and money to fix it up, and I don't think I have it in me to do that at this time in life." Though I badly wanted a home, my priority was still my children and our ministry, and buying a “fixer-upper” that was at the top of our price range would require far more than I was willing to commit. So, we passed it by, and within a week or so it was no longer on the market. That’s why Clay was so surprised to see the home unexpectedly back on the market that day. He was not optimistic about it, but it was literally the very last home we could look at before having to sign a new rental lease.   So, we went to see the home out of obedience. When we walked in, we were stunned. We quickly learned that the reason it had been off the market for four months was so the owners could remodel in preparation for relisting since it had been on the market since the previous summer. It was like a new house—new paint, new carpets, new light fixtures, and an updated kitchen and appliances. It was very close to the home I had prayed for all those years. Then we found out that the owners, who had built the home in 1991, had dedicated it to God and prayed for the next owners. Like a word from the Lord, at the entrance there is a large stone that says, "God bless this home." The amazing thing is that we purchased the home for the same price they offered it at before they remodeled. One other piece of providence is that our lease for the rental home actually expired May 31, but due to personnel turnover, the property management company “forgot” to contact us. God knew exactly when we would need the house, and He provided it not a moment too soon, or too late, ready for instant living and ministry. We packed up the rental home in record time (it’s already rented), closed on July 18 (a miracle in itself), moved in a week with the help of wonderful friends and a great local mover, and started living in our new home on July 25—three weeks to the day from when we saw it and said, “This is it.” Of course, it was only appropriate for our lives that we also squeezed in four days for a conference in Denver , shuttling our children to their various obligations, running our ministry, and just living. God answers prayers in the midst of our normal, everyday lives, if we live every day by faith.   All that would be enough, but there have been some other major breakthroughs in our lives in regard to some personal prayers. I see these two areas of incredible evidences of God's work as an encouragement to me to keep praying and keep pressing the throne of heaven for heavenly answers. We prayed for this home for four years, which makes it all the more special to us now that God has so obviously providentially provided. We had prayed for another area for many, many years, seeing things get worse and worse. Yet, by God's grace, we saw life and light come into the situation in a new way and found ourselves so thankful for His living grace.    I hope that this is an encouragement to many of you who have so diligently sought the Lord for your own issues, desires, and needs—children, houses, money, family, medical, jobs, and more. I see so many precious moms especially going to bat for their teens in these times. It is indeed a battle for their spirits, yet I believe that the Lord has put moms on the earth to be warriors for the next generation. Keep going, keep pressing in and on, stay vigilant in prayer. I know our precious Lord will answer your prayers in His timing. You and your long and diligent prayers are so important in keeping His light and grace alive in history.   Our answers to prayer have taught me to keep hoping and praying in regards to other areas—seeing anew that prayer is a special gift that by which we please our Lord and bring His glory to bear in the midst of real life. May God’s abundant love, grace, and faithfulness be evident in your lives as you live by faith for Him. Now that we have lots of room, you all be sure to come for a visit! Just don’t come all at once. ;-)   Blessings to each of you,   Sally   sally@wholeheart.org  My HS Blog: Be sure to visit my new WholeHearted Homeschool blog. It\'s on The Old Schoolhouse magazine Homeschool Blogger website. I hope to have new online ministry opportunities soon as a new website launches, and as the Lord is possibly providing a new staff member to help with technical and online areas.