If my high school graduating class had an award for “The Most Likely NOT to Succeed,” for many years I believed I would have received it. Sadly, my family reinforced that belief.
| I felt God calling me to become a missionary, but my parents scoffed when I told them I wanted to go to college. “What makes you think you’re college material?” they said. They refused to provide any financial support. Wheaton College, my first choice school, did not accept me, but I kept applying other places. Finally, a Bible college in Georgia accepted me. I had been dating a sailor I met at the USO, but when I thought he was ready to “pop the question,” he broke up with me instead. I was heartbroken, but I clung to a tiny shred of hope. I told the Lord I would go to college unless he brought Paul back into my life. He did! Choosing to marry Paul 58 years ago was the best decision I’ve ever made except for my decision to follow Christ. For many years the call to full-time Christian ministry was forgotten as I focused on raising three children. When I was asked to assume a leadership role in my church, I was stunned. Who, me? Didn’t they know I wasn’t qualified? Even after I was regularly selling manuscripts to Christian periodicals and my first two books were published, I still struggled with feeling inferior and inadequate because I lacked a college education. I felt ashamed that I was just a high school graduate. I never did go to college, but in the spring of 1999 my son graduated from college, my daughter graduated from medical school, and I received an honorary Litt.D. Even better than the Litt.D. was how the Lord had set me free years earlier from the shame I had carried far too long for not having a college degree. (That’s another story!) I still need to be on guard against the evil one’s accusations that I’m not smart enough – that my failure to go to college limits what I’m able to do. But as someone once told me, “I’ve been homeschooled by the Father, and only special kids are homeschooled.” On those days when I feel overwhelmed and vulnerable, Father brings to mind Scriptures like the one below. |
| Whose voice do you listen to? Have you cut the tapes of hurtful things people said about you in the past? What Scriptures have you buried in your heart that encourage you to not give up? |
Click here if you missed my mini-zoom workshop last night on the blueprint for our writing found in Habakkuk 2:2. At 16 minutes I encountered glitches. But keep watching and listening. Father is able to use all things to teach us more about Him. I think you’ll be encouraged to press on when you encounter obstacles and need to reach out to others for help.
Write His Answer 
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