Eyes of Faith. They actually see things other eyes don’t.

Imagine you’ve just walked up a flight of stairs and you’re now standing at the doorway of a large guest room. You look around and see a bed, beautifully made-up with red satin sheets overlaid with a plush, rich comforter and topped with 2 throw pillows. Beside the bed is a rustic, hand-crafted nightstand with an antique lamp on top.  An oriental rug covers the floor and fancy curtains adorn the window. In the corner sets a small, round table with two chairs, and a mirror hangs above. It’s a beautiful room.

So beautiful you want your best friend to see it too. You call her upstairs and excitedly show off the room to her. Her expression baffles you. She looks confused and even a touch mad. You ask her if she likes the room. “What do you think of the lamp, the bedspread, the table?” you ask.

“What bed?” she replies. “I see no bed, no lamp, no table!”

“What?” you reply. “Then what do you see?”

“I see an old, wooden, dusty chair beside an open window,” she says. “The hardwood floor is bare except for that chair.”

How can two people, looking at the same room see two completely different scenes? One of them has eyes of faith.

Faith is defined in the Bible of being sure of what we hoped for and certain of what we do not see. In other words, eyes of faith see a room differently than someone without faith.

Today, I’m excited to share with you a story of someone who looked at her “room” through eyes of faith, when to another, it might have looked empty except for a lone, dusty chair.

Orpha Horst and her four boys joined our Classical Conversations (CC) community last year. They loved it and looked forward to returning this year.

Through the summer, however, personal finances grew slim. Orpha kept thinking they would scrape up enough and it would be fine. The thought of not attending made her heart turn cold.

“I knew we would make a way,” she said. “I thought to myself, surely God won’t take away something as good as CC.

Finally the time had come. Our director, Melissa sent out an email reminding everyone tuition was due Monday morning. The bare facts hit Orpha that Friday night. The money just wasn’t there. It looked like they wouldn’t be able to attend CC after all.

She and her husband committed to pray through-out the weekend. They asked God to provide something by Monday morning. Orpha asked Melissa if there were any tutor positions available and unfortunately that door was also closed. All the positions were filled.

The weekend went by. As Monday inched closer, the tears fell and her heart was burdened at the silence of the Lord. But, somehow, Orpha got to the place where she felt a rest that God would show up one way or another. He would make His will known.

Monday morning came without a miraculous envelope in the mail or mysterious wire transfer into their account. Early that morning, Orpha typed out an email to Melissa stating they would not attend CC this year. Melissa quickly responded and said she would continue to pray.

“We dropped it,” Orpha said. “I felt a sadness, but rest. God gave me a peace that He had a reason for it.”

God knew how important CC was it to her. Through His silence, Orpha learned something. She learned that CC almost became an idol to her. Something she valued more than God Himself.

“God showed me through this that homeschooling is not about a support group. It’s about dependence on Him,” said Orpha.

A month later, Orpha stopped by Melissa’s house to drop off some bread she had made. She met Melissa’s daughter Vivian at the door and told her to give the loaf to her mom. Backing out the driveway, Orpha heard Vivian yell, “Wait! My mom wants you to come in!”

Orpha hesitated, replying, “No, I didn’t mean to intrude. I just wanted to drop off the bread.”

She parked the van anyway and started toward the house. Melissa met her in the doorway with some remarkable news.

“I was going to call you today. We have a family that was new to CC and due to circumstances, needed to back out. They wondered if there was anyone they could transfer the money to?”

Both Melissa and Orpha cried.

After talking the events over with her husband, Orpha said “Yes” to the invitation. It was the open door they had prayed for.

Orpha said she was in shock for two days.

“We’re going back to CC,” she kept reminding herself. And she’s been praising the Lord ever since!

The best part? The family who couldn’t make it had three children enrolled in foundations and two in Essentials, so it was a perfect fit!

Eyes of faith. They believe in things not yet visible to the naked eye.

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