In God Speaks, Parts 1, I began the story of how God worked in me and in my family to help us know that homeschooling was His will for my boys. The story continued in God Speaks, Part 2, when God told us we needed to STOP homeschooling! Throughout all of this, God spoke to us from multiple angles, using multiple messages from multiple sources, including sermons, other people, Bible study topics, and His Word. He then gave us confirmation through circumstances, by opening and closing doors, and by giving us peace of mind.

But as I would soon learn, I was only getting part of the picture.

Once God had finally convinced me that it was time to stop homeschooling, my husband and I began researching local Christian high schools. There were several viable options, and we set about to pray for God’s guidance.

Were we in for a surprise!

God dealt with me first. He placed a general uneasiness in my heart. I couldn’t believe what I was feeling, and when I asked Him for guidance, memories of my own experience in Christian schools came back to mind. Though I had a positive Christian school experience, I couldn’t help recalling the bad influences in those schools and how many of my friends had fallen into their traps. Then, out of the blue, a friend who had kids in Christian school began telling me about all the bad influences her kids were being exposed to.

When I began to seek God’s further direction, He began giving me curious messages. Every time I picked up my Bible, the message was about “something different”, something very “pagan”, something that I would never have considered on my own. Then He began speaking to me about witnessing to the unsaved. There was only one thing that matched up to the messages I was receiving: Public school!

This took a few days for me to digest, but once I was able to contemplate the idea without getting upset, God began reassuring me through His Word that He had a special place carved out for my boys in the public school system, that they would do mighty things for Him there.

I was finally convinced, but the rest of the family wasn’t.

When my husband suggested that the entire family pray about the situation, God dealt with my younger son first. He told him, again through His Word, that an “unexpected” change was on the way, that he would be among those “who didn’t know the Lord”. Next He told my older son that he was to be a “light in a dark place”.

God was confirming the message He had given to me!

God spoke to my husband in a different way. In a very vivid dream, he saw our older son sitting in an Extended French classroom of a local public high school, being taught by a specific teacher. Not only was God confirming public school, but He was also telling us which school and which program!

It all sounded pretty convincing, but we are human. We asked the boys to pray about it once again, and the next day, my older son, who was blessed with a very mathematical brain, came downstairs very excited: “God gave me the answer!”

We were immediately interested. “How so?”

“God told me to let my Bible fall open. So I did. It opened to Ps. 100!”

By the look of excitement on his face, I knew that he thought we should be as excited as he was, but my husband and I just looked at each other in dismay. “And?” I prompted.

“And that was it!”

“Aren’t you going to tell us what’s in Ps. 100?” I pushed.

His face fell. “Uh . . . I don’t really know. I didn’t read it!”

“But,” I sputtered, “if you don’t know what’s in Ps. 100, how do you know what God was trying to tell you?”

“But that WAS it, mom!” He said. “The answer was that I opened it to Ps 100!”

From my husband’s expression, it was evident that he wasn’t following this conversation any better than I was.

“Mom, remember Centennial High?”

I nodded slowly. This was the name of the local high school that my husband had seen in his dream.

He was excited now. “Mom, the Latin prefix for 100 ‘cent’! 100th year is a ‘centennial’! And 100 in French is also ‘cent’!”

Finally we understood. God spoke to my mathematical son through an avenue that only he would understand, and by giving him Ps. 100, God was specifically telling him that that he should join the Extended French program at Centennial High!

Friends, God uses many different ways to speak to us, and most of them are ways that only you, yourself, will understand. Whenever you are faced with a decision, tune in to your heart. Ask yourself the following questions: ” What is God specifically telling me through His Word? Through others? Through Bible Study? Through Pastors? ” Do I have peace about this? ” What have the “open/closed” doors shown me? ” Have there been any miracles involved? ” What impression is God putting on my heart? ” How is He shaping my thinking? These things will all come together to point in a general direction, but if you’re still not convinced, ask God for confirmation. Ask others to pray about it, too. The results are guaranteed! “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us–whatever we ask–we know that we have what we asked of him.” (1 John 5:14,15)

My boys are currently beginning their second years in the Extended French program of the Public School system. My oldest is at Centennial, and my youngest will join him there at the end of this school year. They are both doing very fabulously well. And why not? When you let God guide, you can’t go wrong!

Lyn Chaffart

(To access the entire “God Speaks” devotional series, please click here.“