Today's post is a profile of a Mom Heart group member. Do you know how your members' lives are changed by your diligence? This is Jackie's experience being called by God to parent in a new way and how her group encourages her.Let me start off by explaining that my experience with Mom Heart and Sally Clarkson is tied tightly into my family’s walk into homeschooling. This post is about our personal journey, not about what we feel is right for every family. God will make His will clear to you when you are open to hearing his voice in all areas of your life, not just school choices. For me, I was resistant to and ignorant of biblical parenting and He used school to get my attention.
Jackie's family a couple years ago (photo credit: Barb Bergeson)
I first learned of Sally when a friend gave me her book about homeschooling , Educating the WholeHearted Child. My son had been struggling in school for years. There were tears every night. I slowly began to try and understand his day, asking him questions and gathering information about what he was experiencing. I was a working, business-owning, executive boss-type lady managing 35 people and running my business with no time to spend figuring out my son’s struggles. After one particularly difficult morning drop off, God whispered to me, “Go back and get him and never make him go there again.” I drove back, swooped him up, and placed him back in the car. I told him that we would figure it out until the end of the year when I would sell my business and then we would homeschool. What a drastic change for our family.
Jackie with most of her sweet family
It was then that I began closely reading Educating the WholeHearted Child. My son and I would read it aloud together - we decided it would be much easier than we had ever imagined based on the way that Sally and Clay described things. So simple. So much common sense. I realized there was no one better to look over my child and educate him than me. God gave him to me. He asked me to protect him, teach him, and look after him every day.
You shall teach them [the Scriptures] diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. Deut. 6:7
My entire worldview of education and parenthood changed. I realized how I had fallen into a secular view of my child and my relationship with him, placing priority on my business and failing to see my child’s needs.I started attending a Mom Heart group and received so much insight, support, and connection with what is available for moms and kids. Along with my Bible, it is my lifeline to staying on track. I have met some of my best friends. We have play dates, co-ops and mom outings. Most importantly, we continue to read Sally’s books that stretch me as a person, help me to grow in ways I never knew I could, and change the very person I was into a mom and wife I love being!It is so difficult to do this life of motherhood on your own – at the very least it would lack a lot of fun! Get in a group like Mom Heart! Get connected - God calls us to be in company with other like-minded people. The devil lurks and prowls when we are alone, telling us we cannot do this.
Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8
He tells us that we are not equipped to do this work of mothering and the world will soon chime in and tell us we are strange to invest so much of ourselves in our children. None of this can we allow ourselves to believe. This group encourages me when the world’s voice and the devil’s voice call to me. They walk me out of it, support me, and keep me going. In this group I have also learned how to be a better mom and a more attentive wife. I find support in walking with other moms who get burnt out and struggle like I did. It lifts me up so that I can be a positive, joyful, and loving servant to my family. This is what I am called to do!
Jackie and her son
Are you looking for a local Mom Heart group? Join our Facebook community to connect with local women. Or maybe you are feeling God's call to start a group. Start with this post to get going! May the Lord bless you as you minister to women around you!