The Question I Never Wanted to Hear

I  remember a day long ago when Patrick was about 6 years old (he’s 17 now) when he came to me and told me that Jordan and Shawn were carrying buckets of water and he tried to carry one, too, but he couldn’t.  I asked him how full it was.  He said it was about half full.  I told him to dump out some of the water and try to carry less.  He said he did, but it was still too heavy.  I’ll never forget the sorrow in his voice when he said, “Mommy, the other boys can carry those buckets real easy.  How come it’s so heavy for me?  Why can’t I carry things like they can?  I’ve tried to do other things they do, too, and I just can’t do them.  Why is it so hard for me?”  Then I know what the problem was.  He was discovering the limitations that arthrogryposis had put on him.  My heart was broken.  I never made a big deal about the arthrogryposis because I didn’t want him to feel like there was something wrong with him.  I wanted him to try things without thinking, “Oh, I can’t do that because I have arthrogryposis.”  And it had worked really well.  He did everything on time and better than my other kids.  He was a daredevil and rode a bike sooner than his siblings.  He did tricks and jumps on his bike!  But he had discovered that his biceps were not as strong as theirs.  And he was asking me why.

 

I told him about the arthrogryposis and how the doctor said he didn’t have as much bicep muscle because of it.  But I told him that he could still work on it and try to build as much muscle as he could.  I told him to start with lifting the bucket with nothing in it and gradually add a little bit of water to it.  He wasn’t sure if he could even lift an empty bucket, but I told him to keep trying.  I told him that he was already a miracle in what he was able to do.  That the doctors had told me that he may never be able to feed himself or brush his teeth or groom himself or walk or ….  He had proven all of that wrong.  He was able to dress himself, feed himself – everything – all of his life!  So I told him that God would help him with this problem, too.  That we were praying, and we believed that God would heal him completely.

 

Just look at him now!  He can bench more weight than his older brother!  And he has a powerful punch. God is an awesome God.  He is our healer.  Patrick tells everyone he meets what God has done for him.  God is willing and able to heal if we press into Him and believe His promises.

I Will Be Their God

By Gary Wilkerson, son of David Wilkerson

Oct. 22, 2012

 

“And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul” (Jeremiah 32:38-41, ESV).

Do you remember when you raised your hand in third grade and asked, “Teacher, can I go to the bathroom?” What did the teacher reply?

“Of course you can, but the correct question is, MAY I go to the bathroom?”

In this verse God uses the words, “may not.” It is a declarative statement: “You may not do it!” He is saying, “I am going to put My law in you that you may not break covenant with Me.”

I love that He calls this an everlasting covenant. If I could impart one thing into your life, it would be this message of understanding, walking in and enjoying the reality that God’s covenant with us is an everlasting covenant.

Can this New Covenant be broken? God says through the prophet Jeremiah: “Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar — the LORD of hosts is his name. If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the LORD, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever” (Jeremiah 31:35-36, ESV).

When will the New Covenant promise be broken? When the stars refuse to shine, when there is no longer a sun, and when man can go down to the depths of the core of the earth and measure the stars and the universe. So God is saying, “The New Covenant is an everlasting covenant!”

Warriors In Training!

Trying out some techniques for deflecting punches

Stretching and limbering up for conditioning

Conditioning – wow, that looked painful!

This is Aaron, the sensei.

This young man trains with Aaron, too. As we talked a little bit, I found out that he was from Ohio, too. That’s where I was born and raised. Gary and the kids were born and raised there, too, until we left in 2005. I asked him where in Ohio he was from. He said near Miamisburg. I couldn’t believe it, because that town is really close to the little town that I grew up in. Then he mentioned Germantown and Farmersville. My jaw dropped. I said, “You know about Germantown and Farmersville?” That is the exact school district I went to and graduated from and then taught first grade in. He said, “Yeah, I’m from Farmersville.” I almost ran over and hugged him. He suddenly felt like family! Farmersville and Germantown combined into one school district (Valley View) when I was in First Grade. I taught at Germantown Elem. for 3 years, then at Farmersville Elem. for 2.5 years. He was in First Grade at the time I was teaching there. But he was living in Houston until his 4th grade year. Then he went to live with his dad in Farmersville in 4th grade. He knew many of the kids that I taught in First Grade! Do you believe it’s a coincidence that I met him here in Houston last week training with my sons? I don’t think so. God is up to something. I’m not sure what, but I know He’s up to something.

Now time for some fun stuff!

They got kind of intense at times.

My boys loved it. They came home sweaty and tired, but Aaron took them to a Vietnamese noodle shop afterwards, so they were full and happy. They are getting quite an education from Aaron. What a blessing he has been to our family!

My Thoughts on Tattoos

I think that if a person really wants a tattoo, s/he should wait until they’re married. The reason is that once you are married, the husband’s body belongs to his wife and vice versa. If you have put a tattoo on your body before you even met your future spouse, you may have spoiled your body for them. I am glad that my husband doesn’t have a tattoo. I don’t like them. I don’t like how they look, and they spoil God’s creation for me. That’s my personal opinion, and I’m sure there are other people who feel the same way. They have become so popular now that I feel that people should really consider this before getting one. I don’t think it is fair or wise to get one before you are married. If you still want one after getting married (to the one that God has chosen for you) and your spouse doesn’t have a problem with it and even likes the idea, and you have checked with God, then go ahead.

That’s just what I think. I know God does different things with different people. But if you have a desire to get married in the future and you think that God is preparing you for that, then wait on the tattoo until after marriage.

God’s Curriculum for Your Children

I was recently asked how I let God give me His curriculum for my children.

I have learned to pray and ask the Lord what I need to teach the younger ones and how I need to teach each one. He speaks to me in my spirit and lets me know what I need to do. He has reminded me at times when one of them is ready for Phonics when I may not have been aware of it. He helps me to know the kind of book to get or what subject that they need to learn. He gives me ideas of how to teach certain concepts.

For example, early this morning I woke up before I was ready to get up. I was praying and thinking. I started thinking about teaching fractions. Yes, I really did start thinking about that. I realized that an easy way to help the twins understand fractions would be to use measuring cups and let them stack them and fill them with water and pour them into equivalent fraction cups, etc. That way, they will understand that 4/3 equals 1 and 1/3, and 2/4 = 1/2, things like that. I intend to do that soon. Probably the next time I bake cookies or something with them. I believe God was giving me a plan for the best way to teach the twins the basics about fractions.

The Spirit nudges me when one of the younger ones is ready to learn to recognize letters or numbers. Sometimes He lets me know when they already have a concept mastered, and I need to help them move on to the next step, like teaching them about how letters go together to make words. And then sentences. And then paragraphs. And then more difficult words. And so on.

I use materials we have on hand to start out:

-Paper and pencil or crayon
-Alphabet books
-Early reader books
-Letter magnets
-Letter flash cards

I teach them to write their name. They start to ask me how to spell certain words. I help them write what they want. I believe in doing what comes naturally in most things. When I try to force things on them that are artificial or contrived, they often rebel and don’t really learn what I wanted them to learn. I go to the library and get lots of books that have simple but interesting stories and beautiful pictures. I love picture books and read lots of them to my little ones.

In some ways, the kids help me direct their learning by asking questions or trying new things and asking for help. But behind it all, I can sense the leading of the Holy Spirit. Recently, I was led to buy manipulatives like Pattern Blocks and Teddy Bear counters. We’re still in the fun, play-with-them phase, but I plan to teach concepts with them soon. I have idea books for how to use them to teach different concepts.

We have done plays that the Lord helped me to write. We have done unit studies that I suddenly found in my files on my computer or from ideas that just came to me of things that we should study about.

I go to the library and peruse the titles on the shelves. Sometimes a particular title jumps out at me, and I check out that book and read it aloud to the kids. Many times those books lead to further study on related topics. The kids will research and find out more on their own.

We have studied the Old Testament very thoroughly. I understand the whole story of the Bible so much better now than I did before I started homeschooling my children. We are just starting to dive into the New Testament. I believe the Lord led me to lay a firm foundation in the Old Testament first so that my children can understand the culture of the Jews, which Jesus was part of, and the prophecies that He fulfilled and the background of all of the writers and stories and teachings of the Bible. We have used several different curriculum to cover our study of the Old Testament. We have used:

Heart of Wisdom by Robin Sampson

Ancient Civilizations and the Bible by Diana Waring

The Daily Bible by F. LaGard Smith

Historical fiction based on stories and books and people of the Bible

– The Heavens Before and the whole Genesis Trilogy by Kacy Barnett-Gramckow

This trilogy covers Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth and Nimrod and the Tower of Babel up to Abraham. It is fantastic!

When we landed in Kansas City after the traveling (homeless) part of our Journey of Fire, I asked Shawn what he wanted to study. He said he just wanted to study his Bible! I was floored. I was happy, but I also wanted him to do some Math and other subjects, too. So I asked him to do some Math and to write about what he was learning in the Bible. He agreed to that. He has studied many other subjects, too, but his main area of study really was the Bible. He was 15 years old.

I went through the library catalog and found historical fiction about Abraham, Jacob, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, etc. and read to the kids so that they would be able to relate to the people and situations in the Old Testament. I found some through book lists such as Sonlight catalog’s history and readers book lists for different history periods. In this catalog, you can also find books at all levels from before preschool and up that will teach some Bible and history to even very young children.

We are loosely following Diana Waring’s curriculum Romans, Reformers and Revolutionaries for Early Church History through 1799 AD.

I have taught my children to pray and ask the Lord what He wants them to learn.

I believe that God will show you the books to use, the subjects your children need to learn, the skills they need to learn, and the best way for them to learn them if you will just ask Him.

As your children get older, they will start to learn because they want to know a certain thing. It is really hard to keep a child from learning! If you have encouraged them to explore and discover, they will continue to do this as they grow and mature. And the Lord will lead them into the thing that He created them to do.

I have linked this post to Big Family Friday at Holy Spirit-led Homeschooling

Holy Spirit-Led Homeschooling