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When I Lay My Isaac Down
“Isaac” Study Guide Just Released
21 Feb
Posted by Carol
Yesterday I opened my e-mail and read cries for help from twelve different people who never expected to have a family crisis that involved the incarceration of a loved one, a child addicted to drugs, a spouse who betrayed them, or the diagnosis of a debilitating disease. All of the notes had one common denominator. How can I survive what’s happened and cling to unshakable faith in the middle of unthinkable circumstances?
In 2004 NavPress released my book on our journey with our son titled, When I Lay My Isaac Down. Now over 126,000 readers have purchased that book for themselves or for someone they know who is living in a new kind of normal. NavPress later released a DVD curriculum study, but many people requested a study guide, so they could more easily use the material in small group studies. That study guide has just been released and can be ordered on my web site, along with the DVD series.
The book outlines eight life-changing principles that help people to embrace unshakable faith when their lives have turned out differently from their dream. Those principles include:
- The Power of Unthinkable Circumstances
- The Power of Relinquishment
- The Power of Heartache
- The Power of Community
- The Power of Hope
- The Power of Faith
- The Power of Joy
- The Power of Speaking Up
Gene and I have discovered that when God seems the most absent, He is the most present. Each person’s “Isaac experience” will look different, but the challenge is for us to do what Abraham did. We need to relinquish the person, event, or situation to our God who sees the end from the beginning and trust that everything that happens to us can be a platform upon which we proclaim to the world that His is still good and He is still trustworthy.
How do we survive each day? How do we simply, “Do the next thing?” What will our response to God be when challenges come into our lives that make no sense at all? Will we curl up in the embryo position and try to escape life, or will we embrace our faith and move in the direction of hope, purpose, and even joy in the face of our difficulties?
Each part of the study guide has two parts: The first is for individual reflection and journaling, for you to process your thoughts, questions, prayers, and responses. The second part is for you to go through with a small group who is reading the book and/or viewing the DVD teaching segments. It is best if each member of the group has a copy of the book and the study guide, but the participant’s guide can be used alone with the DVD series if your time is limited and you need a less in-depth study.
It’s my prayer that God will use this study guide to comfort you, challenge you, and bring you closer to Him. Remember what Eric Liddell once said: “Circumstances may appear to wreck our lives and God’s plans, but God is not helpless among the ruins.”
Question: What is the most challenging experience you are facing right now and what have you learned about your faith in this situation?
Comments
2012
My son is one year in to a seven year sentence. He has taken my husband and I into places we never thought we'd go. But...you go where your child is. The enemy is not flesh and blood, it is spiritual warfare. We refuse to abandon him to the enemy...love your kids where they are. Especially if it's behind razor wire.
My friend and I are going to start 2012 with the study guide. We have different lives, but have found a comraderie in Bible study and accountability. We're scared to death of this study, but know God has some amazing things to teach us.
A friend shared about your book with me
I am so going this week picking up this book. I am a mother of a 27 year old son who was sentenced 2.5 years ago and is serving (2) 10 year sentences to be served together for sexually abusing his sister. Their biological father had sexually abused her as well years earlier. My daughter has forgiven our son, as have both myself and his adoptive father. We love him very much and he has given his life over to the Lord and even teaching others in prison. As a mother I could never no matter what he may have done stopped loving him or turned my back on him. I am here for him and he knows this. But it doesn't make it easier and I know that our journey won't be over even after he gets out of prison. Why? Because he is a Sex Offender and will become a Registered Sex Offender for the rest of his life. I am and will be the Mother of a Sex Offender forever. It has been hard living with this and many times I have wanted to end it all give it all up. But God has always brought me back to where I can focus and I get through the next day. I know how difficult it is living this situation in our life as a Christian, I can't imagine how anyone could go through what we do and not have Christ on their side.
Laying my Isaac Down
When God required me to lay my Isaac down, it was 20+ years before He revealed to me just what He had in the thicket as the replacement for my Isaac. When I became a Christian as a young female military officer in 1979 at the top of my game, being fast tracked to promotions leading to a very promising and prestigious career as a female military officer, I sensed God directing me out of the military. I assumed He would guide me into continued success, notoriety, and achievement in the civilian world. Interestingly enough, that was not to be the case. The next 20+ years of my Christian walk was living a very mediocre life, with very modest success in the business world and ministry to other women. My heart was to live an extra ordinary life for Christ, but no matter how much I tried, life remained seemingly modest and uninspiring. No matter how much I prayed, trusted, and lived according to Godly principles my life was anything but the abundantly life Jesus talked about in John 10. I did not understand and was deeply disappointed with God. Many years I struggled with anger and resentment thinking that I lived up to my part of the bargain, but He did not live up to His part. Why would He have put such big desires in my heart and then not help to bring them to fruition. As I continued to study the Scriptures, I began to see how I was using success, prestige and accomplishment to define myself and to feel good about myself and God wanted me to lay that down completely. HIs replacement in the thicket has been the knowledge that He alone is enough for me to feel good and worth while as His creation bearer of His image and purchased with the precious blood of His Son. It is enough for me to be His Child and to be transformed into the Image of Christ, ruling with Him for all eternity. In today's world, my life is still very ordinary and often I struggle with envy and jealousy of other women who seem to have a greater impact than myself. But, I more quickly reject that lie, repent of my sin and accept that I have what is God's best for me. Reading Laying my Isaac Down along with Carol Kent's two other books, A New Kind of Normal and Between a Rock and a Grace Place has continued to help me know that God is willing to do whatever it takes to help us stay with His plan for our life and who He wants us to be. Living what is now my life as a mother of 2 teenage boys, a wife and a daughter of aging parents has opened my heart to all the issues of motherhood, the challenges of being a faithful and supportive wife and the privilege of caring for aging parents. The women I can influence is so much greater that if I had remained in the military and pursued that career. This life is not what I expected, wanted or desired, but it is what God has for me, continues to have for me and after 20+ years is finally griping my heart in such a way that I can even say it is better than what I had before. Thank you for your brutal honesty, your faithful journey and your steadfast spirit. I too face the enemy and shout, you will not have victory over my heart and life. I will remain thankful and joyful for the life God has chosen for me to the end so that I can say, God willing, I fought the good fight, I finished the race and I kept the faith.
Isaac
I received an email this morning reagrding you coming to Washington state for a women's conference. As I googled your name to read up on who you are, I saw the title "When I Lay My Isaac Down".
Our son Isaac passed away 2 1/2 years ago-August 20, 2008, I was 6 months pregnant with him. He was stillborn. Isaac was a miracle baby, 10 years younger than our youngest son, we thought conceiving was never possible again. We have 2 boys, now ages 12 & 15 and we all continue to struggle with the daily giving it over to God. We pastor here in Washington so I feel like even more eyes are on me to get this thing right & taken care of... but it is hard. Nothing makes sense. As I read the above description I tear up hoping that it will bring some strength to me. I am going to have to order this, I need it. Thanks for your transparency.
God Bless!
Susie