To be candid, there have been times in the last eleven years I've been tempted to quit homeschooling. Years of financial difficulty made me wonder if my children needed my earning power more than my teaching. Times of self-doubt caused me to ask if I was the best person for the job. Plain old weariness made me want to take a break.

In these struggles, I keep going for primarily two reasons. First, I believe God asked me to homeschool and He's not told me to change courses. Second, I have a husband who believes in homeschooling even though there have been times it would have taken pressure off him if I'd gone back to work.

Last spring, I once again questioned my decision to homeschool. It wasn't that I quit believing in the benefits, I was just going through a hard time. On an especially difficult day, the Lord led me to Sharon.* After hearing her story of homeschooling through the most difficult of circumstances, my faith was strengthened and my faltering commitment was re-established.

Sharon told me her story as we sat at the pool, watching our sons take swimming lessons. She'd chosen to sit in a corner away from the hubbub of voices and I felt drawn to her ready smile and steady, honest eyes. I sat next to her and our conversation quickly cut past surface chatter. Soon I found myself sharing my struggle with her.

Little did I know that the biggest lesson learned that day would not be about my boys and their swimming ability, but would have everything to do with learning to float in the arms of God. I thought I'd taken the plunge and chosen a faith walk when I chose to homeschool against difficult odds, but Sharon's story showed me what dependence on God really looks like.

When Sharon married, she didn't plan to be abused, cheated on, and abandoned by her husband. But after having five children and surviving her husband's numerous affairs, that's where she found herself--recovering from abuse and determined to take care of her children in the strength of the Lord.

After all her family had suffered, Sharon felt the most important thing she could give to her children was her faith and her time. She determined to find a way to stay home with them. Four of her five children had learning disabilities and Sharon believed they needed more attention than the schools could provide. When God pressed upon her heart to homeschool, she said yes, despite a myriad of difficulties.

I listened with rapt attention as Sharon told how, inspired by the Proverbs 31 woman who "made belts for the tradesmen," she opened a sewing business so she could work from home. "In those early years, I made forty cents an hour," she said.

"Our rent was $800. After I paid the rent, I'd have thirty cents left. For the first three years, we got most of our food from the church's food bank, then the Lord told me to quit going to the food bank and to depend only upon Him for our needs. Somehow the food was always miraculously provided."

But the hardest part for Sharon wasn't the struggle to pay the bills, manage her five children without the help of a spouse, or teach her kids with academic challenges; it was the censure she received from others.