I never realized how much I trusted in my own strength and abilities until my husband and I found ourselves stranded in the middle of nowhere, Arkansas. There we were, a family of seven, a dog, and a trailer full of all of our belongings, stuck in a town where we knew no one. Our trusted and most reliable vehicle had blown its engine thanks to some bad fuel at our last stop. We were traveling back to the east coast after a year of mission work in Mexico. Of course our year in Mexico presented many unique challenges that only missions can bring but this was a challenge far above and beyond all of that. While in Mexico, we were surrounded by and in touch with other people. Here. We had no one. Our friends and family back home wanted to help, but how? Strangers that passed us by gave sweet treats to the kids but unless a diesel mechanic appeared on the scene, there was nothing anyone could do. Nobody in the area would touch our vehicle because it was a diesel. We were hauling our belongings in a trailer that belonged to someone else so we could not ditch it on the side of the road even though I was tempted. Rental vans were out because we needed to tow our trailer. Rental RVs were out because we were so far from a city to pick one up. If we were home or near someone we knew we could make this all work but we weren’t so we couldn’t.
All the phone calls in the world. All the Internet searches available. None of them did anything because of “protocol.” Protocol hindered any company from allowing us to rent their vehicles. (No towing, too much mileage, too many people, etc). It was at this point that we realized that we could not trust in ourselves or others but the Lord and the Lord alone. Finally, my husband stopped, gathered the kids and I together and prayed.
We prayed for help, in a way that only He could provide.
The next morning, a man and his son began walking towards our van and said, “Are you guys okay?” Of course I wanted to smile and say that everything was fine but what good would that do? I lightheartedly laughed and said, “Actually, no!” We shared with him our story and you will never believe what he said! He said that he had quit his job, retired early, and devoted his life to helping people and he wasn’t going to leave until he knew we were safely on our way. And he kept his word! And, a fun fact is, his wife homeschools his children as well! This family, though from out-of-town as well, went out of their way to help us. Though it took almost a week before the details were worked out, they went above and beyond what they needed to in order to help us out.
An answered prayer.
As my husband had prayed the evening before, I felt like I was one of the Israelites standing in front of the Red Sea. There in front of me was a wide and vast body of water that I had absolutely no way of getting around. Like the Israelities, I had a destination I had to get to, but had no way to get there. I felt powerless. Just as God appointed Moses to lead the children of Israel to the promised land, God appointed my husband to be the leader of our family. I had no choice but to trust my husband and trust that God would answer his prayer. We waited, and God did just that. Everything inside of me wanted to “make something happen.” At home, I am responsible for making sure the children are clothed, fed and educated. Though my husband has the final say on major decisions, I am entrusted to make plenty of decisions that determine the outcome of what the children eat or do most of the time. Being put in a situation where I am stripped of my normal duties and made completely dependent on the unknown outcome of the good part of a week was not easy. But it was powerful.
Are you at a standstill in your homeschool right now? In your life?
Have you come to a place where you feel like you can’t move forward, sideways or even backwards?
Maybe you want to homeschool but your husband wants to send your kids to public school. Maybe you have that one toddler that is extra challenging and you are considering putting him in daycare this year but you are concerned about finances.
Maybe you can’t afford the curriculum that you know would be the best fit for your children. Whatever the struggle, whatever the challenge, it is possible that this is a difficulty that nobody within your circles both online or close to home can help you with.
Sometimes there are things that we can’t simply type into the Google Search bar and find an answer to. And I know this sounds crazy, but there are even things that the all-powerful Facebook cannot help. We have contacts all over the United States and when our situation became known a friend in New York posted our situation on Facebook. Someone in California who has family in the part of Arkansas that we were in called their family member who called us. They offered to bring us food! This was awesome and amazing! The power of connecting people via the Internet, via Facebook is phenomenal, but even though we were connected with someone with a kind heart, our situation did not change.
Only God could change our situation. Only God can change yours. Whatever your situation is, trust in God and His power and I am confident that he will help just as He did for us!
Some trust in chariots and some trust in horses
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
Psalm 20:7
