By Sophonia Owens
I am a single parent of two. My children lost their father at an early age. My son went through an emotional change for a while, and I knew he needed a school that could provide him with one-on-one time and spiritual guidance. Public [school] wasn’t the answer, and because I was working a minimum-wage job while attending college, private school wasn’t affordable.
I was blessed to receive a scholarship for my son that enabled him to attend Cornerstone Christian School in Fairview Heights, Illinois.
Losing his father caused him to become very sad and angry, but with both church members and his school staff members praying for us, he has made a tremendous change.
He has become a very happy person who believes in himself. He knows God loves him and that he is blessed. Now I patiently wait for my daughter to receive the same opportunity as my son received.
By Palecia Lambert-Wooten
Hello, my name is Palecia Lambert-Wooten, and I am a disabled, single, 29-year-old parent of three. My children and I relocated here [Washington Park, Illinois] from Dallas, Texas, during the summer of 2001. In my search for a Christian school, God led me to Cornerstone Christian School in Fairview Heights, Illinois. It is very important to me for my children to attend a school such as this.
It is important that the educators in my children’s lives are teaching them to walk according to the way God teaches us. Looking back to my school days, I recall receiving some encouragement from teachers who shared both education and God’s way. There is one teacher in particular, Mr. Jewitt Conner, who always said, “In all that you do, make the right decision.” For so many reasons, I try to live by that even now.
Sending my children [to Cornerstone Christian School] requires a huge sacrifice; for instance, we do not have adequate transportation, and things do not balance financially.
Yet, my children are learning about God’s way and how that affects the way we are to live our lives, not only at school, but at home and at church also. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it,” and I see the foundation for this being laid on a daily basis.
I am aware that God has given me favor, both in the school and in the outside world. My children know and are being reinforced daily that with God as head of their lives, all things are possible, that as the saying goes, The sky really is the limit.
The Meantime Volume 1 Number 2