Sometimes we find ourselves discouraged as homeschool moms and we question whether or not we are really called to do this overwhelming work of homeschooling. Can we really do it?

Here are a few tips I have for you:

• Know that you have a heavenly identity
• Know that you have a right to be assured in Christ
• If we've been called to homeschool, we have been graced to serve joyfully

I truly hope this episode is a blessing to you.

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Hello and welcome to Christian Homeschool Moms podcast. I'm Demetria, your host and welcome again. It's our second episode and things are just getting warmed up around here.

We have a year ahead of us to grow as a community and to connect [email protected] or at least that's my hope. So, as I mentioned in my last podcast episode, I'm completely open for new ideas and volunteers to help build this site and community.

Potential interviewees, guests, guest bloggers, guest people who want to be a part of the podcast as far as the upcoming book club. So if you want to join me as a temporary co host, you can do that. So let me know. The way I see it, the more the merrier.

So the more of us we can get involved that will be available to help other homeschool moms, the better. So. And so the next thing I wanted to bring up is that we had a contest and giveaway a couple of weeks ago.

So if you click on the community fun link on my [email protected] you'll see that I ran a contest the other week and I gave away an ABEKA health curriculum for third grade, and it's actually part of a blog carnival with Homeschool Creations, if you guys know about that block. Homeschool Creations has a wonderful blog, very helpful resources available there. And she ran a blog carnivore contest and I participated.

So the winner of our ABEKA health curriculum was Tracy Reed. So congrats, Tracy. Thank you so much for participating in the contest and being a part of that.

Up next, I have just a couple of words of encouragement for you guys in the next segment and just stick around and hopefully what I have to talk about will be very encouraging to you. So my topic today is God Equips Us for the Homeschool Task.

And I just feel that this is a topic that a lot of us homeschool moms are concerned about, whether or not we're really equipped to do this. I mean, a big undertaking, it's not something that I think any of us have treated lightly.

I mean, we've gone into the home education journey knowing that it's something that we want to commit to. So, you know, God equips us for it.

That's probably one of the very first things that we should go ahead and recognize as homeschool moms that we're okay, that we can do it. If this is something that you have been called to do, if you really Feel that this is an option for your family and it's not for everybody.

So if it's not for you, then it's not for you.

But if home education is for your family, and you know that this is what you're supposed to be doing with your children at this season of your life, then you should know that God has also equipped you for everything you need in order to homeschool, to home educate your kids. And so this is really encouraging for me to just talk about this and hopefully it will encourage you guys as well.

The first thing that I think we need to understand, though, as women of God, and we are women of God, is to recognize our identity in Christ, like who we are in God's eyes. Who are we? Well, we're his girls, we're his children, we're his daughters. So we belong to him, you know, and that. That says a lot.

It says a lot about our royalty, that if our Father is the king, then I mean, who are we then? You know, we're someone very, very special.

So just to realize that you have an identity in Christ and knowing that he loves you and he has the very best plan for you and your family, he's not going to let you down that he's your heavenly Father.

So of course he wants to keep everything in a good place for you and for your kids, and he wants to keep you safe and he wants to keep you encouraged and he wants to keep you in a good spot. You know, he wants you to be okay. He doesn't want you to suffer. He doesn't want to beat you up over the head every day.

He doesn't want you to be discouraged and worried, and he doesn't want you to suffer through your homeschooling. Yeah, in life, Jesus said we will have trials and tribulations.

But he also said on the flip side of that same statement, be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world. So there's supposed to be some cheer involved. There's supposed to be some joy involved in this journey.

So the second thing I'd like to bring out, besides the fact that we have an identity in Christ, is our assurance in him that we have to realize that we have the right to be assured and reassured over and over again that we're his and so are our kids. If we belong to Jesus, then our kids do too. And it's okay to feel relaxed and comfortable and very, very unworried.

I know that's not a word, but just very, very relaxed in Christ, knowing he's going to take care of our families. So if we're assured of what he wants to do through us and in us, then we can also just go ahead and relax.

And that's part of being part of the maturity process that has to take place in our lives as believers is being able to relax and trust God, just trust Him. So that's something that I'm working on. Trust is a big issue in my life, trusting God to take care of everything.

But I'm learning that even when I don't have it all together, which I never do, God has it all together and he's my Heavenly Father.

So if he's going to keep me together, he's going to keep my homeschool journey together and he's going to keep together all those things in my life that he has planned for me and my family. So I need to trust him. And I'm learning daily to do that.

The second thing, or I guess would be the third thing that I want to mention, besides knowing our identity and having an assurance that he's going to take care of us, is we need to follow through then with obedience and servanthood.

So I mean, if we can trust our Heavenly Father, then it's should be so much easier to obey the things that he wants us to do and to teach our kids to obey God. So that spirit of servanthood should be wrapped up in the spirit of joy.

So it's not something that we, oh no, I have to get up and homeschool the kids tomorrow.

It's with joy and with, and no, I'm not saying that every minute of the time that we spend working towards the finished product is a complete overwhelming joy. Because many times when we're in the.

Many times when we're just in the midst of trying to make everything work out and we're handling a million things at one time and we're balancing our kids with housework and with making sure they get to all their activities and taking care of our husbands and taking care of our in laws or taking care of our parents or taking care of our friends and making sure that everybody is has what they need.

Sometimes we fail to do what we need to do as far as just trusting God and just relaxing and knowing that we can do what we do with joy because it can become really overwhelming.

But it's in those times that we need to step back and say, hey, you know, maybe I need to cut some things out of my schedule, or maybe I need to rearrange my life so that I'm not overwhelmed But I need to be doing what I've been called to do. I need to fulfill my mission with a sense of purpose, without being cranky, without feeling overwhelmed.

And the way to do that is to ensure that you're getting your spiritual needs met, that your spiritual tank is full. So if you've got just the spirit of joy, that joy comes from spending time with the Heavenly Father.

It comes from getting that fuel to that we need from our Father. And we can't get that when we're not spending time with him because we're so busy doing everything else.

So the first thing we need to do and getting equipped for the homeschool task is to find that time alone with the Lord and just spend that with him because he is the source of our joy. He should be the center of it all. And if he's not, it will absolutely, positively, without a doubt, fail. And failure is not an option in my book.

And I don't want it to be an option for anyone else.

If you've come into this homeschooling journey, whether you're first time homeschooler or whether you've been on the road and you're a veteran homeschooler, you've been on the road for a while in this journey, but you're not feeling that spirit of joy. You're not feeling that you're doing what you're supposed to be doing with your kids.

You're feeling very overwhelmed, or you're feeling that you're doing what you need to do, but you're just not. You're not enjoying the process.

I. I'd ask you to evaluate whether or not that God's joy is filling you up because you're spending time with him or not. Are you spending that time with Him? And that makes a completely big difference in how your days will look. So that's just from one mom to another.

And we're all on this road together and we're all trying to get there. I hope I've encouraged you to, to realize that you have been equipped for the task. Everything you need is at your disposal.

Everything you need to do this work that God has called you to. You have it, it's inside of you. You need to stir it up. It just needs to be stirred up.

You know how when we let the pot of chili just simmer a little bit on the stove and it just kind of simmers, but it's.

Or maybe you've turned off the oven and it's just sitting there, maybe it's getting cold and Sometimes the gravy thickens at the top and it's just sitting there. It's no good when you don't stir it up. You got to stir it up and get things moving for it to be active, to activate the ingredients.

So in our lives, God has given us everything we need to survive. But not only that, but to be a blessing to other people and to live productively and to infuse others with the same joy. But we have to be able to.

We have to stir up those gifts that God has given us and stir up the abilities that he's given us. And you have what you need.

Whether God has gifted you with the ability to explain things effectively to your kids or whether he's given you the ability to. Some people are just really good at storytelling. Maybe that's your thing. Maybe you're artistic.

You can teach in ways that you use the gifts God has given you to show your children what they need to learn in very unique ways. So just realize that you've got everything you need.

And if you don't feel that you're capable of the tasks to teach algebra or to teach biology, just know that there are tools and resources available that you can tap into. There are DVDs, there are. There are tutors that you can hire.

There are all kinds of tools and resources available online, through video, through audio media, through the. Through your library, through.

There are just so many different things that you could use, programs that could help you so you don't have to do all the teaching yourself.

But if you know that there are things available, you can tap into those resources and still be able to use the gifts and talents that God has given you to raise your kids to the best of your ability and for the glory of God. That's what I have to say today about God equipping us for the homeschool task. I really hope that I've encouraged you.

And if you have any comments or questions or anything you want to have any feedback, I'd love to hear from you again.

The website is ChristianHomeschoolMoms.com if you're reaching me through itunes or through some other media online, please feel free to visit the website and leave a comment on the podcast on the blog and I will respond to you. So thank you so much for listening and have a wonderful week.