My Testimony

It has been said that one's testimony should not be more than a few days old. In other words, you can't live you life retelling what God did for you once long ago. You should be constantly in a state of Him working in and through you for His purposes. We should be able to say, "Hey, let me tell you what God did TODAY!" So in light of that, I wanted to take a few minutes and tell you what God has been doing in and through me over the last several weeks.

Back in the summer, an article that I submitted to The Old Schoolhouse was accepted for publication into their Winter 2010/2011 issue of the magazine. I had been waiting anxiously for about seven months to see that article in print. How very disappointed I was when they e-mailed to tell me, only a week before the magazine was to ship, that, due to unforeseen circumstances, my article would not be used in that issue of TOS. They asked if I would be willing to let them keep it to use in the Winter 2011/2012 issue of the magazine. Well, to be perfectly honest, I was furious and really didn't care a thing in the world about letting them keep it. I was ready to just call the whole thing off and forget about it.

For the next few days, I prayed hard over this, and I sought the counsel of some Godly people. And let me tell you, when you pray and really seek God over something, He will answer. I asked God, very honestly, why he was slamming this door right in my face, right on the heels of another door being slammed in mine and Brient's faces. I told God I just didn't understand it, and I couldn't figure out what was going on or what to do. This is what He told me.

He said I was putting too much hope in people, and not where it needed to be, which was in Christ. I had put my hope in the people at TOS, and they let me down. I had put my hope in the people at my husband's job, and they had let us down. There have been times when I have put my hope in people at church, and they have let me down. The bottom line is, people let you down. The only One who will NEVER let us down is Jesus Christ. When our hope is focused solely on Him, we can rest in the fact that He knows the future, He has our best interest in mind, and He has a perfect plan to see us through. After He showed me those things, I had to repent of my selfishness and my misdirected focus, and I had to ask Him to help me refocus my attention on and hope in Him. Whew! You would not believe the release I had after that. It was as if a burden was completely lifted off of my shoulders. I no longer needed to sit and worry over the things that "might be," because now it didn't matter. Whatever happened, I knew it was in God's perfect plan.

So the next morning, I e-mailed The Old Schoolhouse and told them that I would love for them to keep my article to print next year. I told them I was very disappointed about the whole thing, but that I was trusting God to do everything in His timing. Done.

Well, let me tell you, as soon as I did that, God began to pour out blessings one after another.

First, I talked to Sharra, a girl who, last summer, wanted to have me be a pre-show speaker at one of TOS's webinars, but that never came about. So I asked her if that was pretty much a dead issue, since it had been several months since I had heard from her. She told me that she did still want to use my presentation as a show opener, but there were several factors that had prevented them from doing as many webinars this last year. That's why mine had not been used. But she was still planning to use me hopefully this year to open for a webinar.

THEN, Sharra asked me if I would like to be on the Homeschool Speakers Bureau. Well, to be perfectly honest, I had no idea what that was. So I looked at the link she sent me for a little more information. I was amazed - first at the site, and second, at the sheer fact that she ASKED ME TO BE ON IT!! It is basically an online database of speakers who are available to speak at any convention or meeting or whatever. If a person is holding a convention and needs someone to speak during the event, they can search this database to find an appropriate speaker, and they will pay you to come speak! Oh my! So I told Sharra that I would LOVE to be a part of the Speakers Bureau, sent in my application, and was approved two days later. Woohoo!

And then, Sharra asked me if I would like to be on the Schoolhouse EXPO Squad! The Schoolhouse EXPO is BIG, and TOS was in need of bloggers who would be willing to help promote this great event. YES!! I definitely wanted in on that! So I signed up, and now I am part of the EXPO Squad and will be regularly blogging about all the great events leading up to and including the EXPO in May!

Also, I decided to send in another article to a different magazine, Eternal Encouragement, which is a magazine to encourage women to be all that God has for them to be in the areas of motherhood and being a wife, and so much more. My sweet friend, Juliann, sent me one of their newsletters out of the blue one day. I had never heard of this magazine, but I decided, after reading their newsletter and web site, I wanted to get in on their work. So I sent my article to Lorrie Flem, the publisher, and forgot about it. Two days later, Lorrie e-mailed me saying that she really enjoyed my article, and that she wanted to publish it in their fall issue of Eternal Encouragement! WOW! I am so excited, I just cannot tell you!

So I tell you all that to say this. There was an issue in my life that was not pleasing to God. I was placing my hope in many things, but not the right thing. I was not putting my full hope in Christ where it belonged. After God brought that to light, and after I repented, He began to work and move again in my life. I seriously wonder if He would have poured out all those blessings the way He did if I had not done what I was supposed to do first - repent.

Is there something holding you back from all God has for you? Is He standing by waiting to bless you, but can't because you have too much "self" in the way? Is there something you need to pray over and ask His forgiveness? Don't miss out on all that God wants to do in and through you simply because of some little thing that's in His way. Ask Him to show you any area that needs to be yanked out by the roots, and then ask Him to forgive you.

I am still a work in progress. He has not shown me all that He has for me yet. And I am sure there are still areas He will bring to light in time that I need to work on. But I have just been simply amazed at how, when I turned my face back to Him, He was able to pour out blessings over me. I love it!