Homeschooling Amy

Schooling your children at home is both challenging and a whirlwind of crazy ups and downs full of fun times and tantrums. I love it....most days. There is so much growing and learning going on around here and the best part is- my kids are learning some things too.

In the last few weeks I have learned new things about Lewis & Clark, the physical maps of the U.S.A. and how Sam plans to take over the world with his Legos and toy cow. Perhaps the most difficult lessons have come as Malinda and I read her book for Bible Class. It's a book highlighting heroes of our faith. People who dared to believe God and take Him at His word. People who gave their lives to serving Him.

Today, we finished reading about Amy Carmichael. A woman who left her home in Ireland and arrived in India at the age of 27- never to return home but live and die in India taking care of hundreds of children rescued from a life of temple prostitution. When a young woman wrote to Amy and asked her what life as a missionary was like, she responded by saying

"Missionary life is simply a chance to die."

 

 

I can't help but think....shouldn't this be true for all of us? Unfortunately we get so comfortable and focused on our own lives and our own comforts that we forget that there is a world of hurting people all around us and far away. I am blessed to have been brought up by two parents who weren't content to live a small life. They dared to peak over the fence and saw what was beyond our borders. It's one of those values I insist on sharing with my children. I would be so sad if they grow up with a care for the rest of our world...but I digress.

 

Lately, I have had my own personal struggles. (I don't like to share about my personal life a whole lot so I know that might come as a shock to you.)  Struggles that have found me spending far too much time looking inward rather than outward. Far too much time wasted on one person and not invested in the world around me. I think that is one of the biggest annoyances of all this mess I have been dealing with lately. The time, the energy, the focus, the passion all wasted. As I continue to plod along and feel wholeness again I desire to die. Die to myself- die to dreams- die to plans and live as if I believe God's word.

 

I am fully aware that I do not have to live in some exotic land to die to self and live out God's plan but I have to ask....am living a missionary's life?

 

I am reminded of a video my dad posted recently. It was something like.....

 



 

Kind of makes me think.....

 

As much as I love my life right now.....I have to remember it's not my life to love. I surrendered my life a long time ago....or did I?



Passing Through

I was due any day and I was rather large. In fact the doctor said I was measuring generously. I was so ready to welcome Samuel into this world and be done with the pregnancy. That's when it happened- that's when I saw a truck full of migrant workers pull up to the trailer next to ours and begin tumbling out on to my lawn. There were 100s of them- ok maybe I am exaggerating a little but it sure felt like there were 100s of them. Somehow they were all supposed to live in the double wide trailer that was only 20 feet away from my home.

We had already dealt with the drug using neighbors on one side and the revolving door of drunken men on the other side and gotten somewhat used to the booming bass zooming past our house at all hours of the day and night, but this pushed me over the edge. My in laws watched me as I completely unraveled and panicked as I watched this all unfold literally right outside my window. I was a mess!

Once my ever calm and loving hero of a husband got the low down on the situation and my in laws got some food in my ever growing body I was able to regain my composure and stop panicking. I guess I should say at this point that I don't have anything against migrant workers per se. My panic was based on the fact that the other trailers full of migrant workers were loud from drunk men partying and a little creepy as the men stared you down as you drove by- even when I was so swollen I looked like I might explode.

So, anyway, it all worked out and I even made an attempt to be neighborly and brought over some groceries to the women and children who lived there. As I continued to give the situation over to God and plead with Him to rescue me from the hell I lived in, other wise known as a trailer park, I became really interested in the life of migrant workers. One day Father God showed me that soon these hard working people would be moving on from the blackberry harvest to the next field of produce ready for the picking. I saw that these people- mostly young men but some older and some were complete families were living here but this wasn't home. They knew it was a temporary home. A place to rest and enjoy while there but that they were only there to do a job and nothing else. It wasn't for them to get involved with the happenings of that town or for them to invest too much in the trailer they were living in for the season. They knew it was temporary and everything would soon change for them.

Then it hit me- I am a migrant worker. I have been called by God to go where the harvest is. To keep myself ready to go when my season is up. To enjoy where I am but never get so attached to any one place that I can not get up and go where He is sending me. This was so liberating! Rob and I had moved quite a bit up to that point and I had always felt the need to explain why to people and make excuses. But no more! I realized that were doing exactly what God had for us. For some people their harvest season may be longer and keep them in one place longer but for us He had us going several places. We had several harvests to tend to.

So, now I work to remind myself of those migrant workers laying all over my "yard". The ones who made themselves at home but knew they were only passing through. I am enjoying where God leads us but I know it's only for a season. I am to go where He sends me and when He sends me. I am only passing through and where I live is only a place to lay my head as I get about working on the harvest! I am looking forward to the day I get to return home with my Father God.