Tonight we were training - or at least beginning to do so - but then the training turned into a conversation that has been on both our hearts since we began. I needed to talk and share - and he did, too. In our talking through tonight the Lord reminded us both of some things we needed to hear. The Lord had been preparing him and me all week for the conversation we needed to have.
I am not going to lie - his training has been hard. It is always in the back of our minds that we must "train" every day but Sunday. We have persevered. We have kept the faith because of the promises from God's Word that He will do far more abundantly beyond what we ask or think.
But in the last week it seems as if it has gotten harder. Between the end of school, typical dealings of teenage life, a weary teacher-Mom, and our brains being tired, Satan has decided to attack. He has chosen to use events and people to become "uninvited guests" on our journey. May I just be real here? Recently, we have felt beaten down and chained to the journey. There have been sacrifices of time and energy that have drained us in ways we didn't realize. We have had moments of wondering if all of this is really working for him. Are things going to get better for him - is his future going to work out as the Lord promised?
I have recently taught my students from Acts about Paul and Silas on their missionary journey in Philippi. I have written about this story before - Praise Him at Midnight - and this week the Lord has brought it back again to my heart.
Paul and Silas had been beaten and thrown into jail for doing the right thing. They were placed in a dark dungeon and chained. Instead of complaining about how hard things were for them, they chose instead to sing and praise the Lord - while being chained - while suffering from their beating.
While I know that our circumstances are NOTHING like Paul and Silas, the Lord gave me some spiritual reminders as my boy and I were talking tonight.
We are doing the right thing - this brain training is exactly what the Lord planned for us to do because He led us to this journey, just as He led Paul and Silas to Philippi. We must trust in all of this that God has a plan.
As he and I talked, I shared with him different things the Lord has been showing me - and he shared some things the Lord has shown him. We discussed that we could complain over feeling beat down and chained. We could allow our circumstances to control us. Or we could praise the Lord for where we are - and what He is doing in our lives.
We listened to each other as much as we talked. We grasped what the Lord was showing both of us. Because of this journey, he and I both have grown closer to the Lord in ways we never would have imagined. We have been able to have moments and talks that would not have happened if we had not been in this journey. And we are learning to trust even deeper in the One who brought all of this about for His glory. While we have been "chained" to where the Lord has brought us, we are learning to praise Him while we are still in the dark of exactly how this will all turn out. We are not alone.
In His love, He reminded us tonight that as we praise Him in the journey, our chains of doubt, fear, and uncertainty will fall away when He has brought about all that He will accomplish.
Until then... we will praise Him.