Thursday, August 14, 2008

George Muller...what an example!

This year I have chosen to use "Drawn Into the Heart of Reading" for Matt's literature. I had never heard of the program, but read some reviews and really felt this was the program God was directing me to use. At the CHAP Conference I prayed the entire time to find the right program for him. It was literally a last hour find....and I have to say that I am pleased beyond measure!

The program allows you to use any book of your choosing from one of the nine genres. I decided to start off with Biography as that seemed to be the one he would probably dislike the most! I also chose the book, a biography of George Muller. Matt has enjoyed stories about George Muller since he was in preschool - a long time! I thought it would be good to get to know this man a little better. Today I was shown a glimpse as to why God lead me to this program. On first glance of the title, I believed that the program was to get kids to enjoy different types of reading and draw them into the enjoyment of literature. Now I realize it is also to be used to work on the child's heart. Today's lesson was to go over four character traits: responsibility, diligence, initiative, and cautiousness. We had to come up with examples of our own lives for each area. I have to say he had a difficult time coming up with something for a couple of them. It opened his eyes and heart a crack as to what kind of character he is developing. We had a good discussion about how we can work on this aspect of his life. The other lesson we did (he was a couple of days behind), focused on coming up with questions to ask of George Muller. I could tell the past few days that something about this book has been bothering Matt. Today, after much discussion, I discovered what it was. One of the questions Matt came up with was "Why did you have to sell all your stuff?". 'Things' are important to Matt, it is an issue we have been working on for a while. I feel God is working on this issue as well. Matt was almost to the point of tears as he struggled with the fact that God sometimes calls us to do difficult things - like give up our stuff. It was good to see the struggle going on within his heart. I was beginning to get a bit concerned as the past few days have been difficult with Matt. His heart has seemed to be hardening instead of softening towards God. But God is faithful and I need to keep praying and keep listening. Please pray for Matt, that he would allow this work to take place in his heart and allow it to soften towards the things of God instead of focusing on himself.

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