FEAR

What does fear look like? Often we think of fear as the boogey man jumping out and scaring us, or walking through a dark forest lost and alone, or even the loud clap of thunder….fear. On a daily level though, what is fear? As parents we have the daily fear of something terrible happening to our children. We fear the worst, as one of the littles once said to mom here, “You always think of the worst possible things.” Yes, moms have a ‘gift’ for imagining the worst. This video from the Skit Guys, called “Mom googles” is a hilariously accurate of how moms see things. https://skitguys.com/videos/item/mom-goggles

It is an unfortunate truth that moms respond to the concern for our children with fear. Fear is not trusting God with all areas of our life, especially our children. Homeschooling can be a wonderful time of learning and growing in relationship with children, but when the choice to homeschool is done out of fear it is robbing parents of the sweet blessings that can be had. When we homeschool because we are fearful that our children will: see skimpily dressed people, might learn about other religions, will face a bullying situation, be victim of a school shooting, be kidnapped, coerced into illicit behavior, be tempted by drugs and alcohol, possibly turn from God….we have taken the faith we claim to have in God, and given way to fear. By the way, homeschooling alone does not stop any of those things mentioned.

In many families who homeschool, parents strive to have a sterile environment, where they children are not exposed to the sins of the world. Not over-exposing our children is a good thing, fearing any exposure is not. A healthy fear is ok, but even better is fear that has said its prayers: FAITH.

Moms (and dads) we need to trust that if we are homeschooling we are doing it because it is what God has called us to do, not because we are allowing satan to have his way with our minds and we are responding to fear. We cannot control every aspect of life, we cannot predict what our children will see, we cannot predict how our children will be tempted, and we cannot even decide if our children will chose to walk with the Lord. What we can do is have faith. Have faith that if God has called you to homeschool, you can do it successfully. Have faith that we can teach our children in the way they should go, so when they are old they will not turn away from it. Have faith that we can teach our children to have grace with those who might not understand the value of their own bodies (news flash, sometimes those skimpily dressed individuals do not even realize they are dressed in ways that could cause one to stumble, or view modesty differently than you, but still love the Lord) Have faith that God loves those children even more than you! So hard to comprehend that, but it is true. God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and sound mind (II Timothy 1:7) Having the power from God alone, gives us the confidence to walk in faith, the sound mind keeps fear at bay.

How do you keep fear away? Stay in the word of God each day! You do have time, you do have time. Every mom has time, ask God, He will show you, you do have time.

If you are feeling overwhelmed by homeschooling, take some time, and pray….really pray and listen….ask God if He has called you to homeschool or if you are doing it out of some fear. I do believe in homeschooling, but not every family is called to homeschool. There are some amazingly strong Christians in our schools, youth and adult.

If you know God has called your family to be part of the homeschool world, are you allowing God to come first, marriage second, family third, home duties fourth and curriculum later?

Not fear of…anything….in the equation…rather faith!