Sarah Anne I Am

  God amazes me. Almost without fail, in the moments when I begin to feel that my efforts are of no consequence or that someone else could easily fill my place, He reminds me that He has given me a position of influence in the lives of those I love for a reason.    It is not senseless; it is with good reason that He has allowed me to be a shoulder to cry on and someone to run to for solace, direction, and unwavering love. I cannot provide any of those things- especially unwavering love- outside of Him. But with Him working in me and through me, I can be an arrow pointing ever upward for people He places in my life for very specific reasons.   It’s incredible, really.

A few months ago I found an alcove in a church and hid beneath a side table, laying down and cradling my head in my arms, hoping no one would find me there. I didn’t cry- I’d been forcing the tears back for too long, and now they refused to fall. So I just lay there, alone except for the only One that I didn’t mind being with me in that moment.   I found myself laying in the middle of an empty living room of an empty house tonight, feeling just the same as I had a few months ago- tears hid themselves, emotions had run around inside my head so many times that they had exhausted themselves into apathy. And I found myself alone, except of course for my Father.   In those moments God rarely gives me profound insight. He doesn’t give me any clear answers to the muddled assortment of questions I have. It’s simply as though He holds me for a while, and comforts me. He sits with me and we are quiet together.   2 Corinthians 3-4 says, “ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

20 THINGS I CAN TELL YOU ABOUT HOMESCHOOLING…based on personal experience. 1. Sometimes I DID stay in my pajamas all day. And yes, it was awesome. 2. My grasp of basic algebra is probably about that of a 3rd grader. Being home schooled did not automatically make me a genius, but it did give me opportunities to learn on a broader scale. 3. Almost every person I have ever talked to has asked me one of the two versions of this question upon learning that I was home schooled: “How do you make friends?” or “Do you have any friends?”   Throughout high school it grew increasingly more tempting to look at them very earnestly and answer in a tone of desperation, “No, I don’t…I’ve…I’ve never had a friend before. Will you- maybe, if you feel like it- be my friend?” I never did, but I still think about it. 4. When asked how I got any exercise without a PE class every day, I would answer that dancing with toddlers has proven to be very good exercise. 5. In 18 years I spent more time writing and pai