My Testimony

I'd like to take a minute to share my testimony.

I repented of my sin, and asked Jesus Christ to forgive me, and live in my heart, as a 10 year old girl. That is, hands down, the BEST decision I have ever made in my life. Better then the decision to marry, better than the decision to have children, better than the decision to homeschool said children. The BEST. I knew the morning I got saved that I wasn't. God used a Godly Sunday School teacher, who prayed weekly in class - and most likely, daily at home - for the children in her class. I could never thank that Sunday School teacher enough, for it was in Sunday School that morning that the Lord began to work on my heart.

After church was over that morning, after having sat through the entire sermon knowing God was working on my heart, I made a beeline for our Pastor, who showed me that without Jesus Christ, and his forgiveness of my sins, I could never make it to Heaven on my own.

I will always look back on that day and know that the Lord changed me. I remember very clearly thinking, "I need to be a good girl now, and I know I am different" - God will always speak to someone right at the level we are at.

As I grew, though, something very common happens. Unfortunately, I decided not to draw close to the Lord, and by the time I was in high school, I made most of my decisions off of what I wanted to do. I still went to church every Sunday and Wednesday, still basically did right - never got in trouble with the law, never smoked or drank or did drugs. I felt like I was 'OK'. Wow, was I ever wrong! It's so easy to assume that we are okay because we are doing everything right on the outside, when the sin lies so deep in our hearts.

Right before I got married, in December of 2002, God really started working on my heart, showing me I needed to seek Him. Over the next year, God worked in my heart in ways that I never could have imagined, and he continues to do that to this day. This christian walk is not easy - God didn't promise it would be easy. 

In fact, He said in John 16:33 - "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world". 1 John 4:4 says, "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world". I rest in these promises, because they keep me going when I start to get discouraged with the fight to do right. 

I'd like to end this short testimony - short because, if I tried to tell you all the things God has done for me, I wouldn't have enough room on this blog! - I'd like to quote a pastor and friend that said once, "If we die and find out that everything we have believed is wrong, I still wouldn't change one minute of it". That's the testimony I hope to keep, by God's grace, and hope to convey through any said or done on this blog.

- Amy

My Mission

There is a purpose for this blog. I LOVE to write, although most often find myself thinking up ideas....for homeschooling my children! Not personal writing! I have always enjoyed writing, however, and I believe that God gives people a gift for writing, for a purpose. I don't think I am extremely gifted, but simply have the gift of loving to write - there is a difference, and although I can't begin to understand it, I know there are people out there who do not enjoy writing, so it must come from the Lord.

I already have had an enjoyable experience blogging over at No Greater Honor, which I plan to continue, but that is geared toward homeschooling. When I began to blog under that name, I wasn't sure where I would go with it, and that's ultimately where it has ended up. If you want to know more about our life of teaching our children in the home, I would love for you to check it out there! However, I want to write for the Lord. He gave me this joy, and I would like to use it to turn people's hearts toward Him. He also gave me 'God's Highest Calling For A Christian Lady' - the experience of being a wife, mother, and keeper at home.  This is something that, in today's world, is highly overlooked. I know there are many blogs out there, it seems, that praise being a keeper at home, but truly, they are just a drop in the bucket. I would really love to be a blessing and encouragement to other wives and mothers, and an honor to my God most of all. 

So with A Higher Calling, I would love to share little bits and pieces of my life as a wife and mother, not because I am something special, but because I serve a God who is EVERYTHING special. Maybe by sharing some things that go on here from time to time, and how God uses them to make me a better wife and mother, it will not only help remind me of what I am striving to be - that Proverbs 31 woman - but also be a help to someone along the way. I am NOT, however, out to preach to you. It is possible that from time to time, I may share some of my own personal convictions and standards (I know - that scary 's' word that abides in a christian's life - it's not as bad as you think!) I will not, however, tell you what you should be doing. That, too, is not my place - I will openly be glad to share why I have made some of the decisions I have made, and why I train my children the way I do. It is your decision, and between you and the Lord, what you do in your home and life, though. I am NOT out to tell a man how to run his home, and if the day ever comes that I find myself even trying, I hope anyone who reads this will let me know. That will be the end of this blog! God has not given me the place to do so, and I will not try to pick that up. My prayer is simply to be a blessing to other women, walking some of the same roads that I am walking in life. I hope that if you are reading this, you find help, encouragement, a friend, and that you can see that through the ups and downs of life, God is still good, ALL THE TIME!

 Titus 2: 3-5  The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children. To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

Meet The Family

Welcome to A Higher Calling!

I'd like to introduce you to the family!

 My best friend, who I have the honor and privilege of calling my husband! He is also a wonderful Daddy - not perfect - but just right for our family! On top of all that, he is also a dedicated member of the United States Air Force (both prior Active Duty, and now Full Time Air National Guard).

The face behind the blog - here I am! A dedicated wife and mommy to five, God has surely blessed me and given me more than enough to fill my days (and very often, more time of my nights than I would like to give up!)

Last, but definitely not least, here is the mission field I have been called to - these precious faces!

From left to right, we have Miss Priss, Bug, Hoss, Buddy Boy, and Little Mama. Their pseudonyms reflect their personality, the role they have taken on in our family, and some are truly what they go by often at home.

In this picture, you see them oldest to youngest, starting by the stairs, or opposite starting from front to back. Buddy Boy is in the front, with Bug behind him, Miss Priss in the middle, then Hoss and all backed up by Little Mama.

We are a military family, a homeschool family, and most of all - God's family. My desire is to raise children who love to learn, learn early to put God's desires for us before our own desires, and therefore make our desires, God's. I look forward to you learning more about our family - the real ins and outs - through this blog!