God's Little Blessings

It seems that when we are discouraged God will give us little blessings along the way to encourage us. That is what happened to me yesterday at speech class for Brandon and Brittany. I walked into the class feeling very defeated and discouraged with several things, and God's amazing grace was given to me during the first half hour.

There have been a few areas in my life right now that at times really discourage me, and just when I'm overwhelmed and seem like I can't take it anymore, God makes His presence known. Our business has been really struggling in the last year and a half, but God has been incredibly faithful and has continued to provide for our business and us personally. I do the books for our business so I watch God every two weeks provide exactly what we need for our payroll which has been awesome. It is our only source of income which has been really trying for us this last year because as part owners we’ve had to cut our pay in half to make ends meet. But again He has been faithful in providing which is awesome. This last month we’ve had to again cut our pay in half because business is slow. So Tuesday night as I was trying to make payroll and pay our personal bills, I was a wreck. I truly don’t know what’s going to happen because it’s winter, which is a hard time anyways for contractors, but there is still not a lot of work out there for contractors. So I came to speech class on Wed. feeling very defeated about our economic situation.

Then, I’ve been really struggling with Brandon and Brittany with school issues and the fact that they struggle with EVERYTHING! I have to help them with all of their subjects because they have a hard time with them all, especially language – reading, writing, spelling, etc. They really both need tutoring but again we can’t afford it because of our economic situation. I’ve been feeling very discouraged specifically with speech because it is so language orientated that even though Brandon is very animated and enthusiastic, I feel like all the weight is on me because they are not capable of researching, writing, or even really putting their thoughts together well when they do impromptu – which at home is not the real impromptu because I give them more time to try to organize their thoughts. They really haven’t been able to read a large amount of literature because of their dyslexia, and their memories are not very good, so examples for impromptu are extremely hard. Then I tend to get into a rut of comparing my kids with all the other intelligent and talented kids they’re around constantly, which I know is not right because they do have their gifts in areas. I know it all takes time and practice, and but when I don’t see much growth it’s all very discouraging.

So Wed. I came to class really wondering if speech is truly where God wanted me with them right now. I was ready to say that I didn’t think so because I’m just tired – mentally tired of trying to figure out all our finances and mentally tired of battling my kids school issues day in and day out. BUT then I stood outside the door while Holly finished her speech with the precious "Young at Heart" men and women (they are older, but yes, truly young at heart) who said they were going to pray. We were whispering so I thought they said that they were going to pray for Holly and I thought “how sweet”! Then as I watched them surround the classroom and Mrs. W asked all the Touche students to stand I was in awe! The blessing of them taking their time to come pray over our kids was amazing and powerful! I honestly couldn’t stop crying I was so touched from the power of their words and their impact on these kids lives. I had an incredible peace come over me as they were praying and the thoughts came to my mind “this is what it’s all about – the process, the mentoring, the support, the encouragement, and the challenge to learn to communicate to others effectively.” It’s not about how well they do, how good they are, and it’s definitely not about me or them – it’s about the their growth and God’s plans. And in the end if all they learn is the confidence to gather around others to pray out load for them like the “Young at Heart” did, I will be thankful! I am thankful for their example of Godly men and women, and hope and pray they touched my children's hearts as much as they touched mine by their example. I know that they probably don't see the preciousness of the older mentoring the younger, but hopefully some day they will look back and remember what a blessing that was for all of us! Thank you God for your little blessings along the path of life!