Beauty In The Broken

Broken. It doesn’t just happen to objects…… our bodies, heart, and mind can feel it too.

Sometimes we try to hide any brokenness, or do our best not to think of our past. Even recent or current disappointments come, and we seem to want to run away from them. Shame tends to seep in, or there’s an embarrassment that  we don’t want to deal with.

Am I the only one? ……..

Brokenness is real. And at some point, it happens to all of us.  Life fiercely comes at us, order is turned to chaos or our hearts are torn in two because of an unwanted, uninvited disappointment. This my friends, can lead into a state of brokenness.

Recently, over the last few years, this has been all to familiar to me. Brokenness has hit me in a new but hard way! I can’t explain the emptiness my heart has felt as I’ve been trying to pick the fragments up. Amazingly, God has nudged me to look at these things in a different way. I have been encouraged to look at the hurt, brokenness and disappointment as a way of God refining me and making me into the person and child of God He continues to mold.

I’ve been encouraged to look at it as a process and opportunity. An opportunity to allow Him to move – as I trust and seek Him in the situation.

A few months ago, a good friend shared this amazing quote……

It instantly stood out to me like lightening!

‘He REPAIRS us with gold’………. wow!

I have been looking at myself  like a broken object – cracked, shattered and scratched up…. all, if you look at in the wrong way will look ….. broken.

But……..

I was encouraged to look at all the cracks in my life or any hurt that I have, as a way of God restoring me and refining me to gold. To look at it in a way where I’m in a place that I can run to Him – the one who is a healer of all wounds, and a restorer of all damage. He’s working through those tough times, and the trials so that He can make me better and show His beauty through me.

This isn’t just a word for me ……. this is a word for you!

We all go through tough trials and hard circumstances that we feel we can’t handle, or we would rather ignore and forget. For some, these trials might last a week, or for others, they may drag on for multiple years.

But God wants us to lean on Him so that He can stripe us with gold, and use these times to make us more beautiful.

These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold–though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honour on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.  1 Pet 1:7

I love that I have assurance that even through hard and broken times, I know that God is working  – we may not see it all the time, but He is faithful! And He works all things out for our good Rom 8:28

Whether we are in Japan, or in any other part of this world, let’s believe that if we have suffered damage or may have an unpleasant history, that God is helping us and covering us with gold to make us more strong and beautiful!

We are NOT called to live broken or stay broken, but we called to lean on the one who heals and repairs you.

 

 

What A Year!

What an incredible year of homeschool this has been. Yup!…… that’s my t-shirt, and it describes my morning perfectly (wink).

Five years in, and I still get butterflies and anxious thoughts about the upcoming school year. Such a comfort to know that a peace that surpasses all understanding comes over me each year as I continue this journey of homeschooling our children.

I’ve had a few moments where I simply take a deep breath in, think about ALL that we have learned and accomplished, and I have been filled with tears. The year has been full of ups and downs, good days and bad days, success and failure …….. but, we did it!

One of the greatest joys and encouragements comes from working with, and seeing a child learn to read! Just as much, is when someone finally gets their math questions, or figures out how to spell certain words. THIS, makes my heart happy!

It happened again this past year. We work hard and we work together. This picture here shows one of our kids not only reading, but reading a chapter book to his little brother!

It’s times like this that remind me of WHY I’m doing what I’m doing! The huge tug that God put in my heart years ago,  was for a reason and so I keep envisioning the ‘end in mind’.

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I thought we’d fill you in on what we’ve been doing over here at our little homeschool neck of the woods, as well as give you a glimpse into our next homeschool season.

I have to say, I absolutely learn something new everyday. Probably, by the time I feel like I’ve got this down pat, and  under control,  I will be graduating my kids!….. But until then, we will work on this together and continue to learn and grow as a team!

So here we go …….

Last year we dove into our monthly unit studies! They are a big hit over here.  We went through Canadian Geography, World Geography, Government, Health and Nutrition, A study on Japan and Ireland, Oceans, butterflies, migration and a baking unit.

We of course work on our main core subjects daily

~ Math (Math-U-See – Love this program)

~ Language Arts (writing,and grammar)

~ Bible/ Virtues

~ Science

~ Spelling and Vocabulary

~ Handwriting

We went on multiple field trips with our homeschool group, read MANY books, and threw in a few adventures here and there. It’s definitely not boring over here. And each  year that goes by has SO many great memories .

After a lot of planning this summer, we are ready to tackle another year!

So many goodies to get into soon ……. We have a study on Russia coming up, human anatomy, electricity and magnetism, engineering, maps, birds and so much more!

Our room is ready……. but most of all, I pray that their hearts are ready to learn, and my heart is ready to patiently teach them and give them all that they need.

Schedules for each child.

Fun decor that the kids helped make.

The school room!

First day of school gift bags full of their supplies.

There is so much to look forward to, and so much to be thankful for on this journey!  I pray that no matter what stage you are in, whether homeschooling, driving your little’s to school or staying at home with your babies ……. that you have an amazing week full of new memories!