By Rae Lynn DeAngelis
I’m learning that being a devoted follower of Jesus means I will be in the minority more and more. I’m not going to lie; sometimes that’s really hard. However, I find that the closer I grow to Jesus, the further I drift away from the world.
One of the more prominent times that I experienced being in the minority was when my husband and I decided to homeschool our kids.
When we left the public school system, a lot of people thought we were crazy. People had all kinds of reasons why they thought we shouldn’t homeschool… you’re not a teacher, your kids won’t be socialized enough, they won’t get a quality education, etc.
Believe me. I didn’t need more reasons to be insecure about homeschooling. I was already questioning whether we were doing the right thing. I didn’t even have a college degree. How was I supposed to educate our children?
God doesn’t call the qualified. He qualifies the called.
After much prayer, research, and preparation, we finally took the plunge and began homeschooling. The kids loved it, and so did I.
Unfortunately, we didn’t quite fit-in with the homeschool community. Most families were extremely conservative. That’s not a bad thing. It just wasn’t where we were at the time.
We tried hard to get connected with other homeschool families, but with each experience I came away feeling like we didn’t measure up. We didn’t fit-in with the homeschoolers, but we were no longer connected to the public school community either. We felt like outcasts.
Being in the minority can be a desolate place. I knew God had called our family to homeschool, but I struggled at times with feelings of loneliness and insecurity. Many times I prayed to God, asking Him if we really doing the right thing. Time and again, He reassured me we were.
Hindsight is 20/20. Looking back I can see how God used those years of homeschooling to grow each one of us. We became a close knit family who learned more and more about the faithfulness and character of God.
I learned that, through my weakness God is strong. I learned that it doesn’t matter what people think, only what God thinks. I learned that God’s ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. I learned that when you obediently follow God’s call on your life, when you deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him, the Lord is able to do immeasurably more than all we can think or even imagine.
If you feel like you’re standing alone after God called you to step out for Him, don’t give up. One day you will look back and see how God used this uncomfortable time of seclusion to bring about tremendous growth.
Standing in the minority with God? There is no better place to be!
“Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” (Joshua 3:5)
“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
