3rd Culture Living

(Stewardship 16) Conclusion

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” Hebrews 12:1

I do realize that I can go on with the list of resources for a much longer time, thinking about all the books, websites, and news articles, etc., that have been helpful. I started out as a journal entry, but apparently there is more on my heart and mind to offload. Thank you for joining this faith journey with us. Through all the sorting and reflecting, what matters is that the point is already clear to us: we are “surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” and the Lord is faithful! Now is the time for us to continue to “run with endurance”. We still have a ton to learn, … and unlearn. We have already faced several unexpected major life challenges since we bought the property and know there are more to come. We still have fears, uncertainties, inadequacies, but He will go before us and with us! Where we are weak, we are strong in Him. He has provided abundantly! Wherever He leads us, we are to worship Him and proclaim His Name wholeheartedly. What we do, we do it for His glory! Lord, help us to do so! Amen!

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

What are you called to step out in faith to do what God has prepared you to do?

Here are links to all 16 posts in the “Stewardship” journal from Elyse’s Journal written around 3/25/2023.
1. Seeking His will to take back the stewardship of the land (Rob’s Introduction)
2. I. “Who”: Rescued from the System
3. II. “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Shake-up 1: Work System
4. “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Shake-up 2a: Medical System
5. “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Shake-up 2b: Birth System
6. “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Chain of Spirit-led decisions
7. “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Shake-up 3: Education
8. “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Aliens and Strangers in the world
9. “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Freedom
10. Simple, Abundant Living as a family wherever you are
11. Called to the Land
12. III. Land – “Inheritance”
13. Land – “Inheritance” (continued)
14. IV. How (resources)
15. Resources
16. Conclusion

(Stewardship 15) Resources

Homesteaders of America (HOA)

Just like when we started homeschooling, we attended homeschool conferences and we see conferences are good places to start and gain a big picture of a new field. It was not long after the COVID time, many other conferences were canceled or rescheduled, but the HOA conference went on rain or shine.

The speakers are not all faith-leaders though, and you will need to sort out the information afterwards. What I like to do is to look up the speakers beforehand, check out their books, YouTube channels, websites, etc.. and do more research afterwards.

Check out local homestead gatherings will be a great way to get started and informed.

Joe Salatin and PolyFace Farm

I can’t go very far without mentioning Joe Salatin, as a strong leader both in faith and God-centered homesteading. We first met him from HOA, and didn’t realize that very soon his name would become frequently used in our daily conversations. On HOA’s podcast page, there is one from Joe worth listening if you are considering homesteading:
E13: Why Homesteading? A Candid Chat About the Homestead Tsunami

It’s important to know our whys before we make a commitment into anything, homesteading included.

We also had the opportunity to visit PloyFace Farm and wrote a blog post about our visit.

Joe is an inspirational speaker and writer.

A good book to start is :The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs (The audiobook, read by Joe, is also available)

This book will make you think and be prepared to stay open-minded.

Farmageddon Documentary:

My husband and I rarely have time to sit down to watch a movie as we navigate busy homeschool life. Sometimes, we may have a family movie time as a treat, but to watch a movie with just the two of us seems like a luxury of the use of time. Even when we do, we rarely finish a movie at one sitting. That being all said, this documentary is an exception. God has put this movie on our heart in His perfect timing to prepare us to count the cost as we follow Him. We are encouraged to know we still desire to homestead after watching this movie. Our highest calling is to follow His lead through thick and thin. We have seen the potential blessings of homesteading, such as good food, quiet living, etc., but it is a relief to know our heart is not for pursuing the comfort of life but to follow the truth.

In His providential leading, we were able to meet the courageous and faithful raw milk farmer featured in the documentary at a Christian camp, very soon after we watched the movie! Rhyming notes for his talk on Raw milk (Scroll all the way down) are available on our blog.

Back to Eden Documentary.

If you are interested in organic gardening/homesteading and have not watched this film yet, watch it! You will be blessed. A biography about him is the popular book Growing Food God’s Way!

AbundaCulture

“Abundacultre is an integrated system that allows a child of God, in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, to access God’s abundance in providing energy, housing, clean water, good food, and sanitary living conditions for himself and to share with others.”

I was pretty excited early on in our journey in seeking God’s will in homesteading when their website showed right in front of me! Lord willing, we would like to visit and learn how they build the off-grid houses.

Some instructions for building small off-grid houses, and AbundaCulture Training Manual are available on the website.

Jared Dodd-Dodd Family Ministry

We met Jared at the same homeschool family camp where we met the former raw milk farmer. Even though Jared didn’t directly influence us in the direction of homesteading, their faith-filled lifestyle and teaching have been very inspiriational. Since it was our first time to attend the family camp, Jared has graciously gifted us his book The Essentials: 16 qualities that will set your child up success. We are so blessed by his focused mind and truthful teaching. As we faced all the ups and downs in our property searching, my husband kept quoting Jared’s call to the fathers to protect, provide and lead. We have confidence that our Heavenly Father will ultimately protect, provide and lead our loved ones as we seek His kingdom and righteousness first.

Gather & Grow

Go to their Resources page, and sign up for their newsletters if you are serious about the family economy. You will not be disappointed. Rory has authored the book Durable Trades to look at the family economy from a practical and historical point of view. We are very much encouraged by a real life example of one former urban family, now transitioned to a more traditional way of the whole family working together. Reading their newsletters has inspired us to continue ours to encourage others who might be called on the same path. Their newsletters also include announcements of events they are hosting or speaking at, and guest writers, which broaden the views and opportunities for like-minded networking. We found out about Jared Dodd from one of their newsletters.

Generations Radio

I have more to say about Generations for homeschool resources, but for now I just want to mention its Christ-centered radio program. Knowing history and current events with a Christian perspective is crucial as we make decisions for the family in seeking His will. Homesteading is just one expression or application of our Christian worldviews for our family for this time of history. In other words, homesteading is a means not an end for home discipleship. Knowing our whys can help us anchor ourselves no matter whether we are in the city or in the country.

By this point, you probably have noticed the rabbit trail can lead us from one thing to the other. Seek, we will find. He is always faithful!

We heard about Durable Trades from Generations radio. Another recent episode discussed whether this is the time for your family to move. Just one more to mention on Christian living is Every Family is in Ministry. Of course, there are a variety of topics for the radio program and the related links are listed to give you a glimpse into faith-based family ministry or possible move as a follow-up decision.

Education for Success

We first heard about this ministry from the Teach Them Diligently homeschool convention. Rhea’s euthusiam in what she does to help families build home businesses has ignited the entrepreneurial spirit inside of me. As a homeschool mom, I know something about renewing and reforming ways we do and can do home education needs to happen. Even though we have not used their purchased service or resources yet, I am grateful for all the new ideas and possibilities I can continue to explore and research afterwards.

One Cow Revolution

Shawn and Beth Dougherty believe the dairy cow is the original solar battery and they have authored The Independent Farmstead.They write and teach on the topic of small-scale intensive grass-based farming and sustainable food production. The Healing Land has a 6-part series of their teaching on reviving the independent farmstead. They live only less than 2 hours away from where our city house is in Ohio now. I wish we knew about them earlier to make plans to pay a visit to their farm. Gratefully, they have made many resources available online through their websites.

Redeeming the Dirt

When the Lord led me to this ministry, I felt like a huge faith booster and couldn’t wait to watch the teaching videos together with my husband. They shut down their successful farm business after 13 seasons in order to focus on serving the body of Christ involved in agriculture. Knowing other fellow believers made bold faithful choices to follow God’s lead for the same calling is inspiring for us to continue to follow God’s lead. A friend of ours just gifted us Born-Again Dirt: Farming to the Glory of God by Noah Sander knowing we are heading into homesteading. We are thrilled!

School of Traditional Skills

I am blown away by how every good source of homestead information can all come together here! It’s fun to see those names I have just learned not too long ago appear again and again at this school. What a confirmation for the research God has allowed me to work on! The price is reasonable for all the expertise, teachings and training. They also host free zoom classes on a variety of homesteading skills. It is worth your time to take a look even just to get some names for further reading and learning, especially if you are just starting out as a new homesteader. Josh and Carolyn, this wonderful faith-filled couple hosts another site with blog posts and podcasts, called Homestead Family and YouTube channel here.

Living Traditions

Recommended by our friends knowing we are moving to MO. We are very much inspired by their story and can’t wait to check it out when we move down there.

Farmstead Meatsmith

First learned about this resource from School of Traditional Skills . Definitely one of a kind butcher. The way he processes meat is a form of art! I am not surprised to find out he was an English major, with deep thinking and rich vabulary. He will not just teach you the traditional skills you need to harvest and process meat, but he will ignite your spirit to live an abundant life for God. On a side note, their family recently moved from Washington state to Oklahoma, which is encouraging to hear as we made our recent move. I agree with the way they see freedom as more of a claim of our responsibility.

The Kinnard Homestead

We are called to look into homesteading out of faith not out of experience. Faith is the #1 reason for all we do. Thankfully, the Lord has timly led us to this family and their faithful farm story. Faith is the foundation for their farm, which is another confirmation and encouragment for God’s calling for us.

Millsap Farm

Aww, Millsap! We had no idea a farm so far away on the website can become so close (less than 20 minutes away close) and intimate within such a short time! Only our sovereign God can arrange such events in His wonderful and mysterious ways. We are attracted by their faith, hard work, love for the neighbors for God’s glory. Meeting the Millsap family in person trumped hours of research online. We are very much looking forward to growing our faith together with this family! They have modeled what true hospitality is to us and made our vision come alive in welcoming people from all walks into their lives.

Shepherds Bridge Farm

I was trying to find their website to include the link. When their facebook page opened up, my heart was instantly warmed up by their smiling faces. This incredible faith-filled couple has been our mentors, vision casters, inspirational real life examples. God is amazing to allow us to meet in His perfect timing, perfect way. We are so grateful to have a mission-minded host to allow families to stay and learn. Their sacrificial giving and contributions to the community for God’s glory made our vague dreams become real goals. They host different family-friendly events to educate and encourage new and seasoned homesteaders. Recently, they have hosted a whole day event for Joe Salatin’s teaching on “Foundations on Resilient Food System”. If you are in the northeast Ohio area, make it a destination point to meet this couple soon, you will be encouraged in your homesteading adventure. We were actually looking at properties near them for a while, but God has different plans for us, and we are learning to let go and trust Him.

WWOOF; Workaway

We started out as urban homesteaders with no experience or background in farming. These two sites give us opportunities to check out other farms, especially local farms. We found Shepherds Bridge Farm from Workaway and checked out several local farms from WWOOF. The challenge is to sift through all the farms when we desire to bring children along. You will need discernment in making those choices. Some farms can claim to be “Christians” but if you read their description more closely, you will see huge differences in doctrines. WWOOF has some practical filters to make decisions a little easier. We found Millsap Farm from WWOOF but back then we thought it was too far away for us to visit but maybe in the future. We certainly didn’t expect the “future” to be so soon!

On the other hand, we also see these two sites can be potential tools for the future. Not only can they bring some farm hands, but also we can have the opportunity to serve other visitors to our homestead for God’s glory. We have received a lot of grace visiting different farms and are looking forward to passing on the grace.

Here are links to all 16 posts in the “Stewardship” journal from Elyse’s Journal written around 3/25/2023. (The link will not work until the post is posted.)
1. Seeking His will to take back the stewardship of the land (Rob’s Introduction)
2. I. “Who”: Rescued from the System
3. II. “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Shake-up 1: Work System
4. “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Shake-up 2a: Medical System
5. “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Shake-up 2b: Birth System
6. “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Chain of Spirit-led decisions
7. “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Shake-up 3: Education
8. “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Aliens and Strangers in the world
9. “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Freedom
10. Simple, Abundant Living as a family wherever you are
11. Called to the Land
12. III. Land – “Inheritance”
13. Land – “Inheritance” (continued)
14. IV. How (resources)
15. Resources
16. Conclusion

(Stewardship 14) IV. How (resources)

First and foremost I know without a doubt our starting point and ongoing guidance is from His living Word. This is true for our homesteading adventure, and also true for all other major and minor decisions in life. His truth penetrates every corner of our mind and soul to set us free, to cleanse us, to make us more like Him. His word is living and active for our practical living for His glory. He nudges our hearts from our daily reading and weekly sermons and various Bible studies. His consistent leading gives peace and strength to continue the pursuit of God-sufficient (rather than “Self-sufficient”) homesteading.

After our second son was born, we were blessed and challenged with a fixer-upper adventure. In the midst of the chaos, along with God leading His people out of Egypt (we did the Life of Moses study through BSF), God made the heaven-bound vision more clear to us. We started writing to reflect and record 3rd Culture Living as a family. His leading, teaching, rebuking, and corrections are consistent but usually gentle. However, God does give specific callings to specific people at specific times to test and stretch our faith. When we are stretched, we are out of our comfort zone and become needy and helpless. As much as I would rather be in charge, I have learned to embrace my weaknesses as He lovingly exposes it for my good. I know where I am weak, I am strong in Him and His light shines through this broken vessel for His glory!

Over thirteen years ago, the Lord used Abraham’s example to faithfully follow God’s call (Genesis 12:1–9) to an unknown place, to challenge us to leave China, everything familiar there, and come to America. Once again, the same verses caught our attention to continue to follow Him. We have sensed His call to go to an unknown place and need to wait patiently for His will to unfold in His timing. After many twists and turns over a span of almost three years, we are excited, at this point, to see His direction more clearly. Lord willing, we are going to move our family to Missouri soon.

The past few years of intentional seeking, preparations, waiting, and acting has reminded me a lot of the time when we were seeking God’s guidance for our marriage. From a seed of faith to a reality takes time, trials, confirmations and then deeper faith in our good and gracious Father above. He is the one to give and the one to take away. He sanctifies our hearts and motives as our hearts are stirred by all the changes, gains, losses due to His calling. Following Him step by step and allowing Him to be the Lord, we are learning to do what is right in front of us faithfully and joyfully, no matter what the outcome is like. We know our all-knowing, all-loving Father has our best interest in mind, so we have nothing to lose or fear as we follow Him. All is good in His sovereign plans, even when we lost several bidding wars, were informed about one seller being sent to the hospital after we signed, and another faced an unclean title after the final contracts were signed!

We had doubts and asked honest questions. Shouldn’t things go more smoothly as we follow God’s will? The world may teach that. Our security is never promised here and now. Jesus prepared his disciples before his departure from this world that, “…in this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) Our trouble is nothing compared to the early Christians in Jesus’ time, but the principles of being prepared for the hard times to come are still true as we continue to pick up our own cross daily to follow Him.

Looking back, we have seen many blessings waiting on Him. Since we didn’t have a buyers agent while looking at many houses, we were kind of acting like our own agent, doing our own house inspections. Each “no” has been instrumental to help us clarify our “yes”es! As we learn and put what we learn into practice, we have a growing interest in real estate investments, something again that would not have crossed our minds if we got the house we wanted early on. The Lord is so gentle and gracious to take us one step at a time as we are treading through new territories as He leads.

He has not called us to go and make disciples alone, though there may be times of temptations to go solo or feel alone. As we continue to seek the Truth, the Truth will be found for His will to be done. At the beginning, I knew no one in our Christian circle with a family economy mindset. The search was hard and slow. A lot of homesteading materials available were provided by earth-centric or new age support groups. Even though their information is pratical, I can’t isolate our homestead pursuit from our philosophies in life. I asked the Lord to lead us to God-fearing homestead leaders as His truth covers all areas in our lives. He is as always faithful, even when we are faithless. I am overwhelmed by His goodness through His abundant provisions of so many wonderful resources. I wish I could name them all but decided to only select a few most impactful ones to our family. I want to record them here for future references and to give thanks for God’s specific provisions. If you can find encouragement for your homestead journey, my joy will surely be multiplied.

The list will be in the next post…

(Stewardship 13) III. Land – “Inheritance” (continued)

For years, I was very satisfied and content with the spiritual blessings of this promised inheritance because of Jesus’ death and resurrection. But life is not about simple contentment but obedience. As the homeschool years keep rolling, our desire to exercise our stewardship through taking care of the land, animals, and all creatures on land has been increasing. We are but dust. What if we are closer to our roots and His creation? How will that change our lives? What if the blessings to the Israelites in terms of the promised land can be applied to us in a tangible way as well? What if God has wonderful things to teach us through His creations? The Spirit keeps nudging our hearts to pay attention to our roots and substance: dust or land.

Personal land or properties are taken seriously during Bible times and even today in many parts of the world. More detailed instructions in land dealings are recorded in the Bible. Lands are blessings for generations. Even before sin entered the world, “the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). Working in the garden was a man’s first job. Our calling to be back to the land also started from the man of our house. My husband’s holy ambition to work with his hands, each one in the family, has inspired me to explore this unbelievable option.

Just like homeschooling, my husband led the way. Out of a desire to be submissive in the Lord, I did my own research about the option to homeschool both biblically and practically, and saw the promises and blessings of this holy calling. I can’t say it is all a smooth transition, but I will not trade anything for the privilege of homeschooling. All good things are worth fighting for! What a blessing to have a visionary and humble leader of the house! Even though we have our fair share of disagreement, miscommunications, or even heated discussions (okay, to be honest, some discussions were so heated to the point of arguments), our relationship has become deeper and more authentic as we knit our lives so closely together. The Lord knows what we need when He matched us together across the globe.

At this point, homesteading is simply an overflow of our lifestyle, home education, home business and ministry. It is not so much a brand new direction, even though it might look like a new move. The land with its many inherent blessings plays a beautiful key role to tie many things we are doing, desire to learn, and many possibilities together. For many centuries, personal land has been a place to produce, to build, to farm, to gather, to give birth, to have weddings or funerals and so much more. In other words, lands served people abundantly. It is not until the recent industrial world, people have become indebted and enslaved to property (not even much land). Many people are serving the property with their day jobs, not to mention house maintainance, mowing, high taxes, etc..

What if you are debt-free to do what you are truly called to do? What if you can reduce the cost of living so you don’t have to work long hours? What if you have time-freedom to enjoy the work like the first man, Adam, in the garden? Are you looking to move to the country to avoid something or to embrace something better? How are you preparing your homesteading mindset and lifestyle where you are? Do you have particular callings or ministiries to stay in the city? If so, how often is your physical presence required? What city conveniences would be hard to let go? Do you meet with like-minded friends where you are to continue learning and growing? Do you have family and parents’ support and blessings if you are called to the country?

If those brain-storming questions have stirred up something in your Spirit to take some actions, pray and read His Word with a humble heart and continue to seek His guidance. Again, stay open-minded for His speaking and leading. Changes are hard. Don’t force the change but allow the Father to take your hand to the unknown places. Don’t worry about your loved ones or what others may say. God will take care of your loved ones as you seek His Kingdom and His righteousness first. Just like homeschooling takes the parental team, homesteading takes a family team. Part of waiting on His timing is waiting for His preparations for everyone in the family involved.

You don’t need to have a perfect marriage or super obedient children to work as a team. Each family has its own issues and challenges. Homesteading will definitely bring a family closer if you strive to do the work together. Even the preparation stage has provided us ample opportunities to dream, discuss, disagree, design together. We continue to learn to love and forgive each other each day.

May the Lord grant us greater faith to be faithful stewards with our little and trust our good Master will entrust us with more for His glory in His way and perfect timing.

(Stewardship 12) III. Land – “Inheritance”

What is inheritance? Something received after a previous owner or ancestor dies. We receive inheritance usually after someone’s death. Does God die? Can God die? If God is God, how can He die?

God is spirit, all-present, always living, self-existing. God does not have a body like we do. However, this doesn’t mean God cannot withhold or give up His control for His Holy purposes, such as saving a wretch like you and me. God the Father loves us so much, that He is willing to send His one and only Son, Jesus, to this world. Jesus, God the Son, perfectly and willingly obeyed the Father, gave up His place in Heaven with the Father, to die for our sins. But God has overcome death and rose again!! Jesus now is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him (1 Peter 3:22).

This is why each year Christians around the world celebrate Jesus’ Resurrection. “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. …And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” ( 1 Corinthians 15: 14, 17-19)

Jesus died and rose again so we who trust and fear Him can inherit the promise land above in Heaven. I believe in Jesus not for the inheritance of the land. I believe because He has called me to His Kingdom. As His child, I can inherit His promised land. Most importantly, as His child, I can be in His presece, with Him forever! The inheritance is totally His mercy and blessings. I have no part in taking any credit in possessing this land. This unmerited favor upon me is overwhleming.

The promised inheritance is free but costly. If right now someone offers you a nice property with a nice house on it for free, are you willing to own it? The price is paid in full, no mortgage, no down payment, no agency fees, no repair needed, no inspection needed, all perfect conditions you can imagine with the nicest furniture and appliances included. Will you be interested to check out who this generous giver is? Or will you simply write it off as a scam? Yes, all those offers are too good to be true in our world. We should exercise discernment to be suspicious of those “nice” offers.

But this offer is not simply a nice offer, it is a sure promise for those who fear the one true living God! Are you willing to leave everything behind and come? You can bring your whole family if they are willing to believe this offer and follow. If you don’t know the Giver, no matter how good and real the offer is, you may still hesitate. Until one day, you have received a letter explaining your blood relationship to the owner, how much He has provided and loved you. You are told your brother is coming to bring you home. When you see your brother, you realize right away you are from the same family! What a happy reunion! You learned about more stories of your childhood before you were lost, your real name, your real father.

I guess my point is not to tell you a dramatic story, but to say the inheritance for those who believe Jesus is Lord is real! Jesus is the real deal! Jesus and His presence makes Heaven a joy-filled place. But how about right now before we are united with our Lord in Heaven? God never forsakes us or leaves us. We, as we repent our sins, have the Holy Spirit living in us to guide us to His truth in our remaining days on earth.

Jesus’ disciple, Peter, a former fisherman, but when filled with the Spirit, he boldly proclaimed, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2: 28-39)

The blessing of this heavenly inheritance is generational! Are you called to receive Jesus and His forgiveness?

(Stewardship 11) Called to the Land

God’s will is clear to call us to be close to His land, but we still need faith to wait upon Him. It is by many back-and-forth discussions, prayers, reflections, His will has become clearer and clearer. He shapes our vision by His well-designed “blocks” to direct our steps when we continue to do our due dillgience. Our efforts don’t necessarily guarantee His revealed will, but our willingness to follow Him at whatever cost pleases our Father in Heaven. He pushes us to let go of our control and earthly attachments to keep our eyes on Him. This process can look very different for different callings. However, through all the ups and downs, waiting and more waiting, we learn to trust God, His goodness and faithfulness. It is clearly God’s will to train us to always rejoice in Him, pray without ceasing, and to give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

We ask questions to continue to search deeper for His will. You may have a totally different set of questions in seeking His will. For us, we have always mostly worked from home and don’t see the loss of a part-time job as something to push us to give up the higher priority to have a home-based work or ministry. We desire to serve together as a family. As we home educate, we don’t want to isolate our children from the world but to reach the world along with them. It is tempting to follow what we knew before and find a job to ease the transtion. Rather, by faith we see this job loss crisis as a great opportunity to push us to do something we already are called to do but lacking the kick of motivation. As a matter of fact, the word for “crisis” in Chinese, “危机”, literally means “crisis” and “opportunity”.

What if we can trust God’s provision with full-time ministry? What if we can grow and raise our food? What if we can produce not only our food but also have extra to share with others so we can continue to produce more? What if we can preserve food the old-fashioned ways so we are more prepared for a time of need? What if we can continue the flexibility to work from home with the Internet and land? What if the property tax is lower so the cost of living is lower? What if our children are not simply mouths to feed but hands to help to multiply the meaningful work? What if we can have a family business and be self-employed? What if we can keep our simple minimum-waste lifestyle, so we can give away more money if the Lord gives us more? What if we can work with other like-minded people, have familial relationships and do life together for His glory? What if we can learn more truths and be set more free living off the city grid?

From reading and researching, we are excited to discover more and more real-life examples for those “what-if’s” to become reality. This sustainable way of living is totally doable! It is an exciting and scary discovery. I am excited about the reality but nervous about another leap of faith. Knowing is one thing but to make deliberate changes is another. Just like homeschool, we had no prior experience or knowledge. I grew up in the center of the city of China and my husband is a greenhand in gardening. God knows our fears and insecurities. With each house-purchase contract signing, we surrendered a little bit more to the Lord. With each failed bid, contract, we gained more peace and strength. We have regained our strength to continue the run of faith without growing weary. Knowing that we are in His will gives us the greatest peace in this search, find, wait, surrender and continue the faithful work. The result does not matter to us much now as we are secure and anchored in His good will.

In the meantime, we have been learning and growing with the resources we have been given. As a homeschool family, there is truly no failed attempt. :-) Each process is a learning opportunity, including the house and property searching! Thankfully, our Heavenly Father is so generous and gracious to us, and we always reap more than we sow. Our recent urban homestead activities included Tower Garden, backyard gardening, sourdough bread-making, daily food prep from scratch, composting, Kombucha-making, soap-making, herb dehydration, seed-harvesting & saving, and much more! (See more resources.) More importantly, we are excited to build friendships and make connections with like-minded friends by hosting or attending Healthy Living Connection events, family farm day, etc.. It is much more fun to learn and grow together with friends!

Not only He has prepared us in the process of seeking and waiting, he has also prepared people in our lives for a change to come. Even though we can’t overlook some attractive points for homesteading purposes in considering Missouri (like lower property tax, longer growing season and more homeschool freedom, etc.,), when God first put Missouri as a destination for us, the almost 12 hours driving distance kept us away from pursuing further for a while. We wanted to start where we are unless the Lord clearly calls elsewhere!

Just a side note: I have just renewed my Ohio drivers’ license for 8 years and joked about next time when I renew my license my boys could be driving! However, after all the arrangements of a series of events, we see His provision in allowing us to finally seriously consider the calling to move to MO with parents’ and friends’ blessings. I will need to renew my driver’s license in MO again before my boys are driving. Life is full of curveballs because it is not scripted. Saying goodbyes is never easy for me, especially when I am in my mid-life stage. I can’t even say our moving across the ocean helps me make another big move. Each goodbye is personal and emotional. The comfort and confidence for me to go is His sovereignty and goodness. He knows all the pains and tears. Costly obedience brings Him glory and does us good. He is trustworthy!

However I am trying to make sense of everything going on around us, I can never fully comprehend His good plans and preparations. I am thankful for what we have learned and excited for what is ahead of us, because I know God will go before us and with us. His plans are higher than my plans, and his thoughts higher than my thoughts. Just because I like to reason and plan, He never owes me a reason, a schedule or an answer. Many times, we simply need to follow even when we don’t understand or can’t explain everything plainly to others. That’s okay! The sun will still rise tomorrow. His mercies are new each morning. His love and faithfulness endures forever. His sovereign plans always reign, despite all human plans for or against His will.

All in all, what are the important questions to ask when faced with numerous decisions in life? Do you fear the Lord? Do you trust His leading, pushing, opening or closing doors for our good? How is life different now looking back one or two decades ago? How do you prepare the next generations under your care for the hard days to come? How has one Spirit-led decision led you to another? How are people in your life being impacted due to your faithful obedience? Praise Him for His mighty works in you and through you! Praise Him for what is yet to come! Wait expectantly for His provision in His perfect timing and perfect way!

He will instruct! If you fear the Lord, you have nothing to fear!

(Stewardship 10) Simple, Abundant Living as a family wherever you are

Even though we live in the city, we are constantly learning to practice simple abundant living as much as we can. By faith and His providential care, we bought our current fixer-upper house (Ohio) with no debt, which gives us flexibility to now go. For a family of five (about to be six), before my husband’s teaching job ended, we had been living on one part-time income for over ten years. Even though we have explored other streams of income, our major source of income was still from hubby’s part-time teaching job. By God’s grace, we have some margin to explore and seek His way of provisions in other ways for the past year. Yes, this means we were able to live out of savings and other small streams of income for almost a year at this point. We didn’t plan to go on this long but looking back we see God’s gentle push for us to continue to seek His righteousness and think outside of the box. Our prayers have become more sincere and intense to seek His will to be done! Isn’t the process more eternally valuable than simply an answered prayer? The Lord knows what we need to strengthen our faith in His care.

As products of consumerism, we had felt the need and temptation to find work to put food on the table. Month after month, doubts can come and confuse our vision. Our savings account is going lower and lower as we shop for basic needs. The pressure is real but not scary. We are confronted with real choices to make. Should we go out of the home and find work after all those years believing and following His lead in ministries as a family? Yes, if that is what a family needs to live. This is probably the only choice many families have to make. There is a time to do something we don’t enjoy as life needs that to happen. But if at all possible we want to plan for how to have meaningful work as a family and avoid just working for the money. I pray we don’t have to go through life desperate enough to just simply grab a job. Just like we don’t want to grab junk food when in a hurry. With some planning and prep, we still can have yummy homemade food with a low cost. A lot of people don’t have the luxury of thinking for themselves and seeking God’s will. Life is simply a survival game.

But Jesus has come to give life, life to the full. We are not to simply survive but to thrive in Him no matter the circumstances. Feeding and taking care of our own family is a God-given responsibility. It will be a sacrifice for a season if needed for at least one parent to leave their children to work. This is especially true when God gives specific callings to certain work. If a parent needs to go for a mission for a time, those who left behind can still pray for the one sent and serve as one team. Serving the Lord as a family certainly does not require all members to be physically present at all times. Even when we are called for one project or ministry as a family team, different members are free to exercise their individual gifts for the well-being of the whole team.

However, just like the overuse of medical care, the default for one or even both parents to go out to work to bring food on the table is happening too quickly. How much food and clothes do we acturally need? What kind of food or clothes? Can we cut down on restaurant meals, or other treats? Can we DIY paid services, like fixing appliances or having a haircut at home? Do our children have to sign up for many programs to keep up with their peers? How do we budget our vacation? If leaving home to work is a necessity, how many hours away? For how long? If we seek the Truth, we need to seek the Truth in all aspects in our lives, not just to get the right Sunday school answers. God cares about our hearts to serve and follow Him as we exercise our free will to follow Him.

So the real question about work is do we make a living around our work, or do we make life to labor in love in serving others by following His lead? A job is supposed to be a holy calling, not simply a money-generator. Another word for “job” is vocation. Sadly, many people nowadays can’t wait for a vacation from their vocation. God has designed work to be a holy worship for His glory as we exercise the gifts He has given. Is your job dehumanizing? Or another way to put it, is your job replaceable by a robot? If so, watch out if you plan to stay at this job long. God has given us creativity to plan, think, will and act. We are to fear the Lord in all we do with our whole heart not to numb our souls.

In seeking His provision and calling for our family, our standard is to consider the work we will enjoy doing even if we are not paid. Even though, in hindsight, I see the past year as an unplanned God-given Sabbatical year spiritually, we never stopped serving or working. It takes faith and discipline to stay pure in our thoughts and deeds. We don’t work simply to get paid. We can lose our soul if we simply work for the money. Don’t get me wrong, it is rewarding and sustainable to be paid for honest hard work. In our case, we enjoyed different roles of volunteering positions as He called. God has provided every need abundantly even without a major income. We attempted to work with a low paid university language program. Even though they wanted us to come, due to outside issues the plan fell through. Through this our hearts are at a better place to know we have the freedom to choose work with lower pay. We chose to consider the university job due to its countryside location, and being closer to where our existing network is. We started with things we know but realized homesteading is still a higher calling. We are delighted by His clear leading and redirecting as we let go of our human plans.

(Stewardship 9) “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Freedom

These days, as a family, we are called to exercise more freedom to take charge of our food, health, work and life choices in general. If we don’t exercise the freedom our forefathers fought for, we will lose those freedoms one after another. Freedom comes along with choices and responsibilities. Not only are we called to be advocates for freedom in Christ, we are to train the next generation to fight for the hard-earned freedom. Many times, we say we want freedom but we don’t really want to think. More and more choices are becoming automatic for conveniences. Where is the hope for this ongoing life dilemma between flesh and spirit? The answer is only in the intervention of the Holy Spirit, for those who trust and believe Jesus is Lord.

From our home education experience, I am exposed to American and world history with Jesus as the writer and focus. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. But God…! Compared to what I have experienced in China or people in history, America still offers MUCH more freedom and opportunities for those who are seeking. Christians in the States are still not frequently confronted with the bold choice to follow God or men, though that situation is changing rapidly here as well. What does a free life with Godly boundaries look like? I don’t know exactly what it is like for you. As a Christian, we are under the law of grace and love, because Jesus Christ has fulfilled what the law requires and what we can’t accomplish by following the laws. We are to love the Lord our God whole-heartedly and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

In this freedom adventure with Jesus, life choices can look different over time from the majority. For us now, the resilient and sustainble way of living in a community is another new territory of blessings and challenges we continue to discover. I have strongly sensed the battle between my own flesh and spirit, which is a good process for His sancitification of my soul. I continue to lean on my Lord for His guidance and strength as we tread on the new adventure with Him. He is all about setting us free, in molding us to be more like Him. The process can take some work, but it is all good and glorious.

(Stewardship 8) “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Aliens and Strangers in the world

I am leaving out TONS of details here to give a quick overview of how He has instructed us from one step to the other. This review of His work has helped me to see His preparation for the next new assignment. Each decision by itself seems strange enough in the world. My past journal states we are becoming one of those weird people but we feel completely normal about being weird now. So I will not be offended if you think we are strange but just stay open-minded to continue the truth-seeking. As Jesus’ disciple, we are called to be set apart.

As an immigrant due to cross-cultural marriage, I had no desire to immigrate to America. Life in China was purposeful and fruitful. After much wrestling, my heart is at peace with the Lord’s plan for us to remain in the U.S.. He has shown me so many times of His faithfulness as we trust Him. However, I always wondered what the Lord’s plan was for me to be used for the Chinese being overseas. I am grateful that He has timely provided different Chinese connections through the local Chinese church, Chinese story time at different libraries and Asian markets, etc.. For the past couple of years, the Lord has miraculously allowed me to share the Gospel freely through short wave radio to Chinese audiences. I am humbled and privileged to be a part of this radio ministry, something I never thought I would be qualified to do. Once again, I am blown away by His way as we trust and obey Him. I am thankful for the freedom to proclaim the truth without compromise and pray for His will to be done in using those radio programs.

(Stewardship 7) “Fear the Lord” and “He will instruct”: Shake-up 3: Education

As the children grow, the next real life challenge is to train them in the way they should go. In their most formable years, I simply don’t see myself with the capability to sort through 5-day-week public school indoctrination and peer influence. Year after year, the cumulative effects from outside influence and secular education would be too much work for me and my family to filter through for holy living. I am not saying public school should be banned altogether or homeschooling is for everyone. However, we are living in this free country with options, so I do appeal that public education should not be the default choice for Christian parents. Like any choice in life, we need to seek the Lord and counsel from respected fellow believers to raise the next generation prayerfully for His glory. Most importantly, the husband and wife need to be both actively involved for home discipleship, whatever education choice we make. Passing our faith on to the next generation is our high calling as Jesus-followers.

That being said, I am not implying in any way that home education is easy. On the contrary, teaching my own children has turned out to be the most challenging and rewarding experience I have ever had in life. I feel inadequate (understatement) to educate my own children. He equips those He calls. Where I am weak, I am strong in Him as I depend on the Lord daily to train my boys. The calling to home education goes deeper into my soul. More importantly, it is not just me. The Lord led me to the path of home education through my husband’s initiation, provision and strong support. I can’t imagine doing home education on my own. I admire moms who have done home education mostly alone by God’s grace. However, if at all possible, home education is more rooted and authentic when both parents are on board. (“Why home education, why do we continue to home educate”… This is written, but not yet posted. This link will be updated after posting)

I made many mistakes unlearning and relearning what Christian home education is supposed to be like. I still don’t know all the answers, but I know I can surrender my unknowns to the One Who knows all the answers. In fact, I constantly feel I am only scratching the surface of the heart education God has designed for us from His Word and His World. I need greater faith to follow Him one step at a time. What works for one family may not work for another. What works for one season may not work for another. What works with one child may not work for another child. I have to stay sensitive to His lead and my child’s needs, not what others are thinking or doing, or what I am feeling.

The older my boys get, the more urgent I feel the need for them to exercise what they have learned in the real world. After all, we are homeschooling and we don’t simply need to repeat school at home. Home is first of all home! I am breaking free from the old educational system slowly but steadily. Both my husband and I were in the public education system for a long time, so it takes us a while to unlearn and to find new freedom and natural rhythm in life. Yet, he is faithful and patient in His leading and instruction.

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