From The Heart Articles

September, 2008 By Jody Capehart

For 12 years, I published a newsletter called "The Capehart Connection". One of the columns was "From the Heart". It provided a chronology of my heart's reflections as my children were growing up and the Lord brought me through new seasons of starting schools, writing books, traveling and speaking with my children in tow. We had adventures and many became quite precarious such as speaking in San Francisco during the big earthquake.

The book Once Upon a Time is the very transparent story of my testimony and early years with one of my first schools, meeting and marrying Paul, and the start of our family life. While publishers have asked for the sequel, for now, I am going to share much of the journey in this column.

Cherishing and Challenging Your Children is the book that reflects my heart as a parent. While watching the Olympics, I was touched and blessed to see the relationships that many of our star athletes have with their parents. I hope to see articles and books coming out on the subject because it spoke volumes. The power of a parent in a child’s life - investing time, encouraging, nurturing and praying for them cannot be over-stated. It is this presence and power of a parent that makes all the difference in the world. Millions of people saw it first-hand and it warmed our hearts. It was a billboard for the power of positive parenting! My heart is blessed to see all four candidates in the presidential election with strong families. Our new "mother of 5" with her Down Syndrome baby inspires and encourages parents to make the right choice.

Now I am enjoying the season of grandchildren! Don’t worry; I will try to not be too obnoxious. I try to carry only 400 pictures at a time and so when you have a few hours….just kidding… All the clichés are true! They are delightful in every way, including the fact that they go back home with their parents. My hat goes off to grandparents who for whatever reason end up raising their grandchildren. You deserve many special prayers. We have Timothy James Capehart and Keagan Michael Harold Carnathan. We have three more on the way! Our oldest son and his wife are adopting two beautiful children from Ethiopia and our youngest daughter is expecting her second child. It’s a happy time for Paul and me.

We just celebrated Paul’s 60's birthday and had a big party at our home with family, friends from the symphony and church. Mine is coming up but I don’t want a party. I want to go on tour with him when the symphony travels to Europe. Now that is a real gift.

For now, I’m pushing the rewind button to 40 years ago when I started my first school. It was just a little school in my basement apartment to earn income while I was going to college. As my best friend came down the stairs to see my little school of seven children, she began to cry as she choked out these words, "I sense destiny here." I kidded her for being a little melodramatic but have reflected upon her prophetic words many times over the years.

One day a little, gnarled old lady came up to me, said, "You are the Johnny Appleseed for schools", and hobbled away before I could respond with anything halfway intelligent. It’s a good thing I had people with me or I would’ve later thought I had imagined the whole thing. I have often pondered on these two events over the years. What do You want me to do, Lord?

One night when I couldn’t sleep and I was quietly playing the piano, I sensed God speaking to my heart, "I want you to start a school." Thinking I was sleep deprived and perhaps not hearing it right, I decided to do my laundry. It was 3:00 a.m., and it seemed like a good idea at the time to avoid waiting in lines at the Laundromat. There was a man in there who began asking me questions. Thinking he was trying to hit on me, I curtly responded, "I don’t have time to talk, I’m trying to start a new school." Frankly, it had never crossed my mind that I would until that very moment. He actually took me seriously, and to make a long story short, became the person who financed my first school. No one was more surprised than I. Now, doesn’t GOD have a strange sense of humor?

Thus, my journey into the world of education began. God continues to teach me lessons day by day. I have learned to trust totally in Him. The Bible says, "We walk by faith and not by sight." (2 Cor. 5:7) May I encourage you to take a step of faith this week. Trust God for something that you cannot see. Take a baby step in faith. I believe you will be amazed at what GOD will do. Keep reminding yourself, "We walk by faith and not by sight." I would love to hear from you about what GOD did for you.