{Out of the Blue} Truth throughout

My girl and a classmate on their school's "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"-themed Christmas float.

I'm the daughter of a retired public school principal and a retired public school teacher, both of whom continue to work with school districts in various ways. My grandma worked for a public school board of education. The two years I had my aunt for junior and senior high school English class, I didn't know how to address her. My print journalism bachelor's degree is from a public university. One of my newspaper jobs had me covering two K-12 school districts, a public university and a private college.

I'm a product of public education who understands Kentucky's strange education jargon. And, you know, I think I turned out fine. So, of course, I debated with my husband for years about a schooling decision for our family before we even had to make one.

I was determined to send my kids to public school. I justified with academic, social and spiritual reasons. But, really, I just wanted to do what was comfortable. This wasn't the first time I was convinced I was right without giving God a chance to speak to my heart.

Kristen at Chasing Blue Skies has a weekly link-up on surprises. This week's prompt is: 

What is an unexpected adventure the Lord dropped in your lap or asked you to take? 


God spoke to my heart during Cate's second year at a local Christian preschool, where they prayed before lunch, talked about people in the Bible, learned scripture verses, sang songs that spoke truth, celebrated Jesus' birth at Christmas, and talked about the resurrection at Easter.

I realized when I sent my girl to public kindergarten, that truth was going to get watered down. We live in a community with two high-performing public school districts. My girl was on the verge of reading, is as social as they come, and wanted to go to kindergarten. She was made for school and I had no doubt she'd do fine wherever she was.

But I didn't want her to do fine. I wanted her to thrive. I wanted her learning to be based on a foundation of what is eternally important.

So I started looking into a nearby, private school that uses a classical, Christian curriculum. I didn't really know much about it, and I'm certainly still learning, but the more I talked with the principal there, the more I realized she was verbalizing the philosophy I held in my heart but hadn't put into words yet. God is the creator of everything. He gives us our minds, our skills and our talents. He's the creator of this world. His truth is portrayed in art and music and literature. His story is told throughout history. All of this is the foundation of the math, reading, writing, geography, and science lessons. Truth is woven throughout. 

We registered Cate for kindergarten at New Covenant Christian Academy before her 4-year-old preschool year was finished. I haven't regretted our decision once. I shouldn't have argued with my husband all those years. I shouldn't have been so prideful in my decision without really even consulting God. Yes, I'm the daughter of public school employees here on this earth, but I've been adopted into God's family.

My best friends here homeschool or send their kids to public school, but God has reaffirmed more than once we made the right decision for us. I wasn't sure what my public education family would think, but they seem to trust Cate is in good hands to learn.

I volunteer there each Friday morning. I've been on a couple field trips and help by taking pictures to submit to the local newspaper. I've become friends with the principal, who is such an encourager. And more recently I was asked to be on the school board.

I assumed Ben would go two more years to the preschool we've loved and then on to kindergarten at New Covenant. But, yet again, God has prompted me to change my mind. He's registered for preschool next year at his sister's school.

This isn't the first time God's led me somewhere I never expected to be. I'm sure it won't be the last. But, you know, He knows what He's doing. And my family is better off because I'm not really in charge anyway.
________
I'm linking up today as part of the "Out of the Blue" series at Chasing Blue Skies. Want more? Subscribe to get "Insights" in your inbox. Like 152 Insights on Facebook. Or follow me on Twitter.