Comfort in the Hardships

I like ease and comfort.  I don't relish difficulty and burdens.  I think most would agree with me.  However, I find it very interesting as I read in Jeremiah 42, they God specifically instructed His people to stay put in the land that was filled with hardship and turmoil.  God's people had just been through the destruction of Jerusalem and I'm sure they were looking for a place of peace and quiet to live out their lives.  But God said I want you to stay right where you are at.  If they obeyed, He would protect them and they would prosper and be safe.  But that didn't make any sense to them, so they chose instead to flee to Egypt; to a land they thought would provide them comfort and safety.  They packed their belongs and made the trek to "ease and comfort".  When they arrived they began incorporating the beliefs and customs of the local people and turned from the One True God and began worshipping idols.  Because they disobeyed the command of God to stay put in the land of turmoil, they themselves experienced turmoil in the land of "safety" and many lost their lives as a result of their disobedience.

I am reminded that the safest place for me is smack dab in the center of God's will!  I have said it before and you can read about my journey on the sidebar, but I was down right scared to enroll my kids in the public school.  Both my husband and I spent our educational career in a private Christian school from kindergarten through college.  I wrongly assumed the public schools were all evil and kids who came out of them could not/would not walk with God.  I was VERY wrong and God has shown me the error in my thinking time and time again.

I am not pro public education over homeschooling or private Christian education.... each choice is an individual one for each family to make.  I have always said I take my kids schooling a year at a time.  But year after year, God has clearly shown me that public education is the right choice for our family. 

So if your struggling today because something isn't going exactly right in your child's school or maybe a teacher is making their year difficult, take comfort in knowing that the safest place for you and your kids is right center in the middle of God's will even if that center is wrought with hardship and pain.

Hebrews 13:5b says,

“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”