The Difference Three More Feet Can Make

R. U. Darby, one of the most successful insurance salesmen of the last century, learned the value of endurance the hard way. As a young man he went west to hit it big during Colorado’s gold rush. He bought a claim and started preliminary digging. In a short amount of time, he hit gold. The local smelter soon confirmed his suspicions that he had hit a major gold vein.

He quietly and quickly went back to the east coast to gain financial backing to buy the necessary equipment to mine the gold en masse. The digging resumed and soon a cart full of gold emerged. They were sure that fortune was on the horizon. It was during their second load, however, that something went amiss. For no apparent reason, the vein they were working simply stopped. They dug some more, but it was as if it had simply vanished. Disheartened, they sold their equipment and the claim for pennies on the dollar to a local junkman and went back home to Maryland.

The junkman thought there was still hope, so he hired a mining expert who hypothesized that a fault line had caused the vein to shift. Digging was resumed and shortly thereafter they hit one of the biggest gold strikes in Colorado’s history. Ironically, the vein started a mere three feet from where Darby had given up. Three feet!

Upon hearing this news, Darby said he was determined to never give up again. This mentality led him to be one of a handful of insurance salesmen who sold over a million dollars of life insurance annually.

As Christian homeschoolers, our hope of victory is not in our own human ability to endure in spite of all odds. Instead, it is grounded on the unshakeable hope that God is enthroned upon high and gives us abundant grace to accomplish whatever He calls us to do. This doesn’t mean our journey is free from conflict or difficulty. In fact, because we know there is an enemy sworn to the destruction of God’s people, we anticipate quite the opposite! Nevertheless, we trust that God will grant us the means to victory. Our main responsibility is to cry out to Him for grace to run the race to its end, and that is what this month’s focus on prayer and fasting is about – endurance.

Please join us on February 12^th or on another day that works best for you. It doesn’t matter whether it is one meal or all three meals; the purpose is to seek the face of Christ for the homeschooling community here in Illinois and the Midwest.

1. Pray that homeschooling parents will not grow weary in doing what God has called them to do.

• And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. – Galatians 6:9 (NKJV)
• He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. – 1 Thessalonians 5:24 (NKJV)

2. Pray that as we endure we will do so with joy and cheerfulness, knowing that God has ordained every season of our lives.

• Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you. – Deuteronomy 28:47, 48 (NKJV)
• So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. – 2 Corinthians 9:7 (NKJV)
• (As a personal note, I believe this attitude is very important for us to be praying about; many homeschooling parents seem to not enjoy the journey they are on and our children feed off of us.)

3. Pray that homeschoolers will realize their ability to endure the homeschooling journey does not come from them. Instead, it is a grace from Jesus Christ and we are therefore to trust in Him.

• Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. – Psalms 20:7 (NKJV)
• But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. – Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV)
• It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. – Psalms 118:8 (NKJV)

4. Pray that as we go through seasons of endurance we seek to learn the lessons that Christ has for us or for our children.

• And patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady. – Romans 5:4 (TLB)
• Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. – Isaiah 43:19 (ESV)

5. Pray that we parents will know how to teach a proper perspective of what it means to endure to our children.

• We are in deep trouble for bringing you God’s comfort and salvation. But in our trouble God has comforted us – and this, too, to help you: to show you from our personal experience how God will tenderly comfort you when you undergo these same sufferings. He will give you the strength to endure. – 2 Corinthians 1:6,7 (TLB)
• And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. – Luke 18:1 (ESV)

6. Pray that we will come to see endurance as a friend that moves the heart of God.

• For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. – Hebrews 3:14 (NKJV)
• Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. – Luke 18:4,5 (NKJV)
• Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. – Philippians 3:12 (NKJV)

7. Pray that God would grant us gracious fruit that reflects our willingness to endure whatever it takes to see our children raised up in God-honoring homes.

• You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. – John 15:16 (NKJV)
• And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. – Joshua 24:15 (NKJV)

8. Pray that the longer we endure, the greater our confidence in Christ will become.

• In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and His children will have a place of refuge. – Proverbs 14:26 (NKJV)
• Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. – Hebrews 10:35 (NKJV)