I don’t know about you, but it is very easy for me to make great and mighty plans for our summer - only to see those plans dashed in a matter of days.  This summer I had hoped to spend time each day reading classical literature to my children each day under the shade tree.  I had also planned to review math with each child, spend one on one time with each of the 8 kids on mother/daughter or son outings, and build up their godly character through short, biblical character studies.  Somewhere along the line we were going to go to the beach, visit the fossil quarry nearby, and have at least 2 picnics a month after getting all the flower gardens weeded and the house cleaned from top to bottom.  Take a wild guess how much got done?!!!  Maybe 10% of my plans were fulfilled!

Instead of seeing my plans come to fruition, God had other plans.  We had several children who needed special attention come into our  home on various occasions during the last few months.  My kids thoroughly enjoyed having new playmates, but they also didn’t receive as much attention as I might have wished to give them.  The garden needed much more weeding than I dreamed possible, various homeschoolers dropped by for advice and counsel, our bookstore required more attention than we expected, we ended up taking 2 of our daughters to Chicago for National Talents for Christ competition, we became involved in preparations for Vacation Bible School, and the list goes on and on.  I was tempted to get discouraged as I realized another summer was flying by without my dreams and desires being fulfilled; however, it hit me like a ton of bricks that those were MY plans and MY desires.  They weren’t necessarily God’s plans.  God’s ways are always higher than our ways and it is vitally important that we remember that. 

Recently I reflected on what God has done in our children’s lives this summer.  Because of our trip to the National Talents for Christ competition, we saw our family bond together in amazing ways as we traveled in the car together.  The 2 older girls reviewed their scripture memory while we listened to them quote it.  We had plenty of time to listen to scripture on CD also while talking about God’s work in our personal and spiritual lives.  As we toured the Field Museum of History, we discussed the fallacies of evolution and God’s hand in ancient history up to the present age.  When we had other children in our home, God gave us the joy of seeing one of the little girls come to a saving knowledge of Christ.  What an eternal reward!  As we weeded the garden and harvested the blueberries and raspberries, the kids were able to open up to me, one by one, and tell me about their struggles and questions in understanding their daily devotions and their life in general.  Great strides in godly character were made there in the garden and in the kitchen while working on produce.  I saw my older daughters mature rapidly in their homemaking skills as they took on more of the home responsibilities as I did the business.  Our 11 year old asked to help out with God’s Eternal Masterpiece and she got more math review in than I could’ve ever given her if I had handed her a textbook.  She has become our little computer guru and loves to help us out with the bookstore inventory and processing.  We didn’t have time to get in the swimming lessons, but I discovered that the children learned how to swim on their own as they went out to play in the pool each day.  They now can do more with swimming than I ever dreamed was possible.  I can’t help but think that the Lord is chuckling as He sees me marveling in His work in our family’s summer life.  It is so nice to know that God will accomplish that which is good in His timing and with His power - not mine.  Do I still hope to get the beach and a picnic or two in?  Yes, but if it doesn’t happen, that’s OK.  There may be more important things to do that holds much more value in eternity.

I can’t help but come back to one of my favorite passages of scripture - Proverbs 3:5,6.  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He SHALL direct your path.” 

Have a wonderful summer!!

Becky - God’s Eternal Masterpiece

www.godseternalmasterpiece.com