To the Readers I Left Hanging...

A couple of posts back I mentioned that my life was getting busier and I promised to do a post on why. Here goes...

After graduating from high school this past spring, I really struggled with what to do next. I had already purposed to spend my young adult years at home with my family. Still there was that question that I had to answer, "What am I going to study?" The world puts a lot of emphasis on furthering your education, going off to school so that you can have the "college experience", becoming independent of your parents, and seeking your path in life. I won't even try to pretend that I didn't feel that pressure or even give in to it at times. It was a constant struggle for a few months. I began basing my choices regarding my education on what I thought others would approve of and what would "look good", rather than what God was calling me to do. I took the SAT last December and when my scores came back I sent them in to a local college that had a great online program. I was accepted and was scheduled to begin my classes in the fall.

Well, I had done it. I was accepted to a good school and I would be pursuing a respectable degree. I felt confident that even though I would not be getting that "college experience", that well-meaning people so badly wanted me to have, but my choices would be accepted by most. I have always struggled with worrying about pleasing others and wanting them to approve of my choices. My parents had been 100% for me furthering my education online, but they kept cautioning me to base my decisions on what I felt the Lord leading me to do.

My mom encouraged me to talk to a lady in our church that I have looked up to during my teen years. This lady was home educated as well and is now a busy mother of three precious little ones. One Sunday afternoon I sat with her and asked her questions about the choices she made during her single years at home with her family. She too had struggled with desiring to please others and she really hit hard on not focusing on trying to fit the world's mold. She very bluntly told me that my determination to please man was SIN! It was a hard truth to accept but deep down I knew she was right. God used her to help me "see" what HE had been trying to tell me all along.

I went to my Dad one evening and told him that I didn't have a peace about the route I was going. I was very surprised to hear that he too was starting to think that maybe God had something else in store.

After much prayer and consideration, I am now enrolled in another online college and I am studying to become a Master Herbalist! I absolutely love what I am studying and I am excited to see where the Lord leads me next!

M.E.

*More beach pictures to come later. :o)