For 2 long years I was miserable at my job.  I was a high school English teacher, and I longed for an escape from that career path.  I had taken out student loans and gone back to college in my late thirties to finish my degree, and I felt I had no choice but to work for the rest of my life as a teacher to pay back all that debt.

In March 2009 I reached the point where I knew something had to change.  I prayed and asked God to either give me a love and passion for teaching or to deliver me from it.  I had seen so many discouraging and tragic things in the public schools that I decided I did not want my two middle school children to go through public high school and that somehow we would homeschool them in 2009-2010.

I could no longer be a cheerleader for public education.  It has always been very difficult for me to be passionate about something in which I have lost confidence or in which there are programs and policies endorsed that I detest and/or strongly disagree with.  It is dishonest really.  I felt trapped.

Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with anyone who sends their children to a public school.  Each family and each kid has individual personalities, circumstances, and needs.  Public schools may vary significantly across the country.  In fact, my oldest son only has 3 years of high school remaining, and he is finishing it in a Texas public school near where he lives with his dad.  However, what I have seen in the local public schools where I live has convinced me beyond a doubt that my younger two do not need to be there.

The very week before I was to return to school in August God opened some new doors, and I was able to quit teaching and homeschool my kids.  I had already signed my teaching contract, but the district was willing to release me.  There was a replacement available immediately, and everything “fell” into place.  I know God worked it out.  It is true that He is seldom early but never late.

While our family’s budget is tighter now - and it can be quite scary to walk and live by faith - I have peace in my heart about the decision to leave the teaching field and begin homeschooling.  God is providing for our needs, and I thank Him.  He is so good – ALL the time.

My greatest enemy is fear.  Perhaps some people don’t struggle with it very much, but it frequently rears its ugly head in my life.  Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, give I to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful” (John 14:27).  I am so glad He gave us those words.  Trusting this promise and many others throughout the scriptures – along with prayer – is amazingly effective at quenching those fiery darts of fear.

Advice from me – or what proved true to me in my recent LONG storm: Don’t give up.  Don’t quit.  Whatever you are going through, keep putting one foot in front of the other if you are a Christian who is going through an impossible, no-end-in-sight situation.  Surrender to God (even if it is a minute-by-minute decision), keep trusting Him no matter what you are feeling, and take one day at a time.  He won’t leave you.  He may allow you to get to your breaking point so that you finally cast EVERYTHING upon Him, but He won’t let you break if you stick with Him.  Even if all you can do is cry out to Him for help, just keep on keeping on, and someday you will have the joy and peace again that you are not feeling now.  He is and always will be in control – of everything.  Read His promises, and keep calling out to Him.

God bless you.