God is Great and God is Good

As children, many of us were taught the following prayer:

“God is great; God is good. Let us thank Him for this food. By His hands we all are fed.
Give us, Lord, this daily bread. Amen.”

God is indeed great and good. He is both able (great) and willing (good) to meet all the various needs we have in raising our children to His glory. While each of us puts his best foot forward, it is by God’s grace alone that we can have genuine success.

Since 2013, ICHE has dedicated one day a month to prayer and fasting before God on behalf of homeschooling here in Illinois, the Midwest, and the nation as a whole. It is our way of acknowledging the fact that we can do nothing without His grace and provision (John 15:5). We have prayed for everything from legislative matters to strength for weary parents to financial needs for those living on a one income salary. We believe that every good and perfect gift comes from God, and we want His blessing and favor on all that we do. Various requests are posted to the overall ICHE community as well as some private requests to a group of those homeschooling families who make an annual pledge to join us each month for this special day. My debt of gratitude to them is indescribable. I consider them the Special Forces of ICHE.

Homeschooling parents and grandparents are encouraged to print off these requests and pray for them throughout the month. Some have shared they are unable to fast due to physical conditions but still join in praying throughout the month. Praise God! Others tape them next to the kitchen sink to pray over them throughout the day. Some use them as part of their family devotional time, praying for one or two each day. Parents have shared how this exercise has enabled them to engage their children on homeschooling matters and perspectives, giving especially their older children a greater understanding of the challenges and importance of homeschooling.

Over the course of the last couple of years, we have incorporated a new tradition of making December an appropriate month of feasting and praise for all the prayers that God has answered throughout the year for both ICHE and individual families. Instead of fasting on December 8th, we encourage the ICHE family to have a holiday evening feast, sharing with our children all the ways God has graced homeschooling households in 2020. Our children need to see us celebrating the greatness and goodness of our God. Furthermore, we must not be like the ten lepers who were healed but only one came back to give praise to the Lord (Luke 17:11-19). He has been faithful to us even when we have been unfaithful to Him.

We therefore want to praise God for answered prayer in 2020. The following list is not exhaustive, but it does put us in the frame of mind to acknowledge His many kindnesses. You may want to ask your children to bring 2-3 praises from their own perspectives of how God has blessed them in 2020. This could be a wonderful memory for your family during the holidays.

1. God’s direction in making difficult choices to adjust during the Covid situation, and the fact that homeschoolers suffered very little in the quality and quantity of their education.
   
2. God’s financial provision throughout the year to individual households as well as providing ICHE with the necessary funds to offer the virtual conference for free.
   
   We were able to minister to conference attendees as far east as New Jersey and as far west as Hawaii with the message of home discipleship. We also had attendees from Canada, South Africa, and Poland.
   
   We were able to transition from an in-person conference to a virtual conference almost seamlessly due to decisions that had been unknowingly made six months prior.
3. God’s provision of many more opportunities to minister to new homeschoolers either face-to-face or through a virtual format.
   
4. God is sovereign even in using Covid to raise homeschooling interest overall this year.
   
5. God has protected us politically. Since our legislators met very little in 2020, we had no new adverse homeschooling legislation to fight against and so saved considerable time, energy, and resources to that end.
   
6. God’s continued grace to individual homeschooling families. Fathers taking the responsibility to read the Word of God to His children and mothers who sacrifice a second income to invest in something eternal . . . her children!
   
7. We praise God for the increased awareness of homeschooling accomplishments being based not only on academic success but in our children knowing God in a fuller way.
   
8. While some families have faced challenges, they have found God’s grace to be more than sufficient, and He is always about sanctifying us by increasingly molding us into His image.

2021 is already shaping up to be an interesting year. We continue to wade through the election process. With all the new homeschoolers, concerns are being raised that attempts of increased legislation will possibly occur. We will still be dealing with fallout from Covid. It is because of these reasons that we hope to have our largest group yet fasting and praying with us in 2021. Please pray about whether you should take part. If you should choose to do so, please send Kirk an email at ksmith@iche.org so he can include you on a special email loop. We say we believe prayer is the answer; here is an opportunity to demonstrate that.

Thanks to all for your prayers in 2020. Let us end the year triumphantly celebrating God’s greatness and goodness to the homeschooling community.