Did you find yourself doing the very thing you never dreamed you would do this year? Are you a homeschool mom? Aaaaaagh!

I have to start by telling you (not in a trite way but in the sincerest way I know) how proud I am of you.  

I prayed about what I could write to you to encourage and empower you.  I asked God, do I address fears?  Do I write about grace for the less than ideal days?  Do I hit on giving it everything?  What do you want a new homeschool mom to know?  And clearly I heard God tell me, to remind you how proud HE is of you.

God is proud of you.

Saying yes to a big assignment is hard.  Accepting the responsibility and the role in this next season for your family requires sacrifice and courage.  The assignment is just beginning but you started with a trust in God’s plan over your own.  You let the Spirit inside you declare victory over the fear your flesh would seek to yield. 

God is proud of every victory that involves your obedience!

You are new to homeschooling and you may feel every bit a novice and an amateur. But when it comes to obedience to God, you’re not walking into this next season a novice—you already have some experience under your belt in what matters most in all of this—obedience to the Father.

As with any new assignment, it begins with some excitement and uncertainty all at the same time. 

What will it look like? 

What will I need to know?  What if I don’t know what I need to know? 

How will it change things with my marriage, my family budget, our routine?  

The excitement won’t take long to wear off but the doubts and uncertainties will likely linger. 

On days when it becomes less glamorous and nothing feels instagram-worthy, holding on to the obedience of yesterday will not be enough. 

Saying yes to God for the assignment of homeschooling is great, but it is the next yes and the yes after that which will make the difference.

Paul wrote to a group of people in Philippi who had come into relationship with Jesus and given Him their yes.

Paul said,

“Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.  For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.” 

Philippians 2:12-13

Read again.

This journey you have embarked on that began with what felt like a big yes to God is only the first step in the next part of God’s sanctification of your life.  

(Sanctification is big churchy word that just means God isn’t done with you—that’s what it says in Philippians 1:6. “He who began a good work in you, will be faithful to complete it.”)

Maybe you thought you were saying yes to God because it was what was best for your kids and your family and as a mom, that’s a superb motivation.

But what if its more than that?  What if your yes, is for your benefit?  What if it is for God to stir up passions that have laid dormant and He is ready to use?  What if it is to weed out the affections that draw your attention away from Him?  What if has positioned you for this season to reveal more of how He wants to use you in His BIG Kingdom purposes?

Your yes isn’t insignificant.

v. 13 goes on to say , “For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.”

Your daily yes to God to show up, give all you have and trust His grace to fill in all the gaps is about more than your little home.  It is about more than your kids and your family.

Your daily yes is part of a much bigger picture.

But most days won’t feel that way and your faith in what God is up to will be tested when you don’t FEEL God’s presence in the mess–in the waiting for someone to find their shoes, pick up their legos or finish the math worksheet already. It will be harder to FEEL God’s presence then.

There will be days when you wonder “What am I doing with my life?  What difference am I really making?”

I read a story about interview with survivors from WWII.  The soldiers recalled how they spend a particular day.  One sat in a foxhole all day; once or twice, a German tank drove by, and he shot at it.  Others played cards and frittered away the time.  A few got involved in furious firefights.  Mostly, the day passed like any other day for a solider on the front.  Later, they learned they had just participate in one of the largest, most decisive engagements of the war, the Battle of the Bulge.  It did not feel decisive to any of them at the time, because none of had the big picture of what was happening elsewhere.

So, this is it…your assignment…your part in God’s big, good purpose.  

You are not just saying yes to lesson plans, sticky experiments and flashcards……you are saying yes to God.  

And today’s yes isn’t enough for tomorrow. 

Each yes is significant and each moment requires a new yes.  

Not a yes to big spectacular moments—because most days they won’t come.  Instead, a yes to embracing that God’s big moments are happening in the tiny moments—the tiny yes.  

Hear me, Mama…your yes matters.  It matters to the sanctifying work God is doing in you and it matters to the BIG redemptive work God is doing in the world. 

Your tiny yes matters to the BIG redemptive work God is doing in the world.

A Prayer of Commission for a New Homeschool Mom

As you embark on this journey, here is my prayer for you as a commission for you as God’s soldier carrying out the assignment of your commanding officer.  

Take a moment to quiet your heart and ask God to examine your heart for fears, insecurities, strongholds in your flesh and anything that gets in the way of God’s grace flowing freely through you.  As He reveals those to you, will you imagine you are putting them in your hands and offering them to God.  

Take this moment to yield to God’s spirit and release to Him what doesn’t belong to you.

2 Timothy 1:7 says that you have not been given a spirit of fear but a spirit of love and power and self-control.

Fear that you holding on to was not given to you by God—release it for His safe-keeping.  

Receive upon you the love and power and self-control that is your’s because of the Spirit that lives inside of you.

God, thank you for these warriors—these soldiers who have taken on the assignment you have given them.  Like your servant Gideon none of us are worthy are equipped for the task and when we think we are apart from you, we reveal our insufficiency of your wisdom.

So, God, we acknowledge that apart from you, we aren’t enough.  We ask for the wisdom you promised to be our’s.  As we gain insight and knowledge through the words of these veteran women who have gone before us, will you tuck away nuggets in our hearts?  Will you nurture learning relationships between mothers today?

God, will you give this mother peace and confidence to walk in your Spirit as her mind is steadfast on you.  Let her enjoy and cherish the tiny salt and light moments she has with her children.  Give her home laughter and joy and security because you are the hiding place for those she loves and cares for.

Give this mother a divine vision for what you want to accomplish this year in her home.  Let her efforts be ordained by your hand.

Be honored by her yes today.  May your presence be evident and her awareness of you be heightened.  I pray this in your name.

Amen