• Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Aimee Smith - Rest in the Trench

Helping homeschool moms cultivate victorious rest

  • About
  • Blog
  • Speaking
  • Contact
  • Shop

Resurrection for Joy-Filled Learning

20 Apr
Joy can be resurrected in the midst of the hard homeschool task

Early on a gloomy Good Friday, my daughter and I tucked our heads to shield our faces and ducked into the building to escape the cold drizzle. The weather of the previous day was preferable: bright sunshine and thirty degrees warmer. My agenda had also been preferable: a relaxing morning at home, an Easter egg hunt with friends, an enjoyable game of soccer, then dinner with grandparents.

Some days, we must choose to embrace the hard task.

With our minds willing our hearts, we stepped into mock trial practice. We’ve been here before with my older son. Mock trial is a hard school assignment. It stretches my personal teaching ability, requires teamwork and coordination, and insists on long-term diligence. Each time we approach this assignment, I dread the middle of the process.

This year, the dreaded middle collided with Easter weekend. It was a slight miracle to coordinate a time for nine homeschool families to gather. So we made the choice to exchange beautiful relaxation for hard work. I begrudgingly surrendered our resurrection celebration.

Death to our desires, an exchange of our agenda, a surrender of something good.

My heart determined to join the discussion of prosecution and objections. But God’s plan for my heart included a law, a principle, higher than our judicial system. He provided beauty I could not create. In divine ordinance, He offered joy I could not expect.

In the midst of our academics, my heart received reminder of this beauty:

Mock Trial is a hard thing. Easy things require little or no faith. Jesus had hard things to do, too. There was once this cup – a cup He would have liked to have seen pass Him by, but it did not. So, He drank from it. For the joy set before Him, He drank it dry, and as we are conformed to His image, we have been called to not shy away from hard things either. (paraphrased)

Marc Hays, Classical Conversations Challenge B Curriculum 2018, page 31

Drink the cup. Expect true joy.

Jesus chose to leave the Garden for a walk to Calvary. He willed Himself to drink the cup of suffering. He surrendered the beautiful experience for something better.  As a result, he lives in joy and offers us joy in Him.

The clouds never parted that Good Friday. But something in my heart shifted. As I watched our young teenagers seek justice and defend mercy, my heart saw beyond the hard task. A ray of sunshine never burst through the window, but a Light shined in the darkness of my heart.

Joy-filled learning doesn’t merely come from created experiences. It’s not merely walking together in the park, reading books in a hammock, or creating crafts at home. Those moments are important, yes, but God always has more.  

My surrender of a good plan revealed God’s better plan. As our teenagers approach adulthood, they need a joy that Mom cannot create. They need to learn, as we do, to receive a joy that comes through the struggle and trial, through the gloom and despair. It’s a joy that exists because Jesus drank that cup.

You can create moments of relaxation. You can create moments of celebration. But only God can create moments of resurrection. Only God can create true joy in the midst of struggle.

Mom, you have a choice today. Surrender your good plan for His best plan. Receive the gift of a hard task. Put to death your good desires so He can breathe His life into your day. So exchange your preferred agenda. Embrace the hard task. Expect His true joy.

In Jesus’ pierced hands, the result of hard work and struggle is beautiful joy.


Joy can be resurrected in the midst of the hard homeschool task

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Print
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Categories:
Uncategorized

« 3 Life-Changing Truths about Rest for Your Soul
Names of God »
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

aimeesmith.restinthetrench

Homeschooling... Seeking rest in chaos... Persevering through chronic illness... Tenaciously worshiping in trials... Clinging to Jesus through it all.

aimeesmith.restinthetrench
After a decade of homeschooling, I wonder if I'll After a decade of homeschooling, I wonder if I'll ever be consistent. Our homeschool story consists of one disruption after another life interruption. I often wonder, "if only I could be consistent..."
.
I have discovered something far better. God is constant. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. You see, my consistency places the weight of success or failure on my shoulders, but God hasn't asked me to produce a successful homeschool. He has called me to praise and trust Him.
.
"My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing, yes, I will sing praises!" (Psalm 57:7)
.
God's constancy overshadows my consistency, or lack thereof. So I will sing His praise, and my heart will be steadfast. That's what my family really needs anyway: Mom's steadfast heart.
.
#restfulhomeschool #restinthetrench #homeschoolburnout #homeschoolprayers #homeschoolmom #homeschoolstruggles
We may not know what's ahead. . We may not know wh We may not know what's ahead.
.
We may not know which direction to turn.
.
But we know the One who walks with us all along the way.
.
(If you aren't confident you're walking with Jesus, if you're unable to find peace, please reach out. I would love to talk with you.)
.
#restfulhomeschool #homeschoolburnout #homeschoolprayers #homeschoolmom #homeschooldevotions
What if being still is a prerequisite for knowing What if being still is a prerequisite for knowing God?
.
For really knowing Him. For truly believing He WILL be exalted in all the earth. For being able to relax and rest knowing all will be ok.
.
"(God) says, 'Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.'" Psalm 46:10
.
What if the AND is really a SO?
.
Be still SO you *can* know. Be still in order to KNOW. .
He is God.
.
Maybe this is part of why God instructs us to rest.
.
#restfulhomeschool #homeschoolprayers #homeschoolmom #homeschooldevotions #homeschoolburnout #homeschoolencouragement #homeschoolstruggles
I might have a problem. What are you reading? . #r I might have a problem. What are you reading?
.
#restfulhomeschool #homeschoolmom #homeschoolbooks
Wait. . Is this the story of our entire lives righ Wait.
.
Is this the story of our entire lives right now? Why do we have such desire for something beyond the current moment? What are we waiting for?
.
My mind, as yours I expect,  is filled with many unanswered questions and much uncertainty. And so we wait.
.
As we wait, let's keep our focus.
.
Psalm 53:9 - "I will wait on Your Name for it is good."
.
Wait on Jesus. He is good.
"Restore to me the JOY of your salvation." Psalm 5 "Restore to me the JOY of your salvation." Psalm 51:12a
.
.
Every morning. I need His restoration.
.
Every morning. He gives us His Word. He offers renewal. He restores our joy.
.
What did you read in God's Word today?
.
#restinthetrench #restfulhomeschool #homeschoolprayers
No gatherings for worship or fellowship today. Clo No gatherings for worship or fellowship today. Clouds instead of a glorious sunrise. A threat of major storms here in the southeast. Jesus, why couldn't we at least have a beautiful day? What are You trying to accomplish?
.
A few minutes in Luke 24 reveals the first Easter wasn't all glorious either. People were filled with confusion, fear, and doubt.
.
Women arrived at the tomb early to serve Jesus. Peter ran to the tomb only to return with confused answers. Men walking to Emmaus encountered a puzzling stranger.
.
Until they each had a personal encounter with Jesus Himself. He explained the Scriptures, opened their eyes, and gave understanding to their minds.
.
Jesus gave them peace, promise, and an expectation of power. .
Their world continued in unrest, but they were changed.
.
How will Jesus' peace, promise, and power change us today?
Load More... Follow on Instagram
This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: API requests are being delayed for this account. New posts will not be retrieved.

Log in as an administrator and view the Instagram Feed settings page for more details.

Categories

  • Rest in the Trench
  • Uncategorized
  • About
  • Blog
  • Speaking
  • Contact
  • Shop

Copyright © 2021 · Bloom theme by Restored 316

Copyright © 2021 · Bloom Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in