Many a times I am left with the thought, am I doing enough as a woman? Am I doing according to what the Bible commands me to? Am I just using a few verses in the Bible as an excuse for not working? Am I taking the Bible out of context and using it to be lazy compared to my contemporaries who are working 8-10 hours a day plus taking care of home and children? As they, (my contemporaries) climb the ladder of success I see my self, a homemaker, and think to myself has God called me to only take care of the home? Am I to just take care of kids and nothing else? What will be the reaction of my child when she knows that all her friends’ parents are well qualified working people when her mother is a homemaker? Will I be able to explain to her or will I be left with self-pity? Do I know my purpose, my calling? Am I convinced of being a homemaker?
When such thoughts boggled me, I sat down to think of what God really wants from me. He wants me to obey and follow is command.
Suitable Helper:
I am made to be a “Suitable Helper” for my husband.
Genesis 2:18 “The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
My husband pastor’s a church. We deal with people. We share in their joys, weep with them in their struggles and enjoy God’s love with them. So our home is open to all at anytime. This mean that I need to keep the house clean and welcoming at all times, be ready to serve the people who come (some weary, some jubilant). I need to be hospitable and also have some decent cooking skills to make it welcoming for people.
Bearing children:
God commanded mankind to procreate.
Genesis 9:7 “As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”
That means that I need to bear children. So automatically that makes me a mother and I need to protect and nurture the young ones.
Teaching Children:
The Bible in the book of Deuteronomy commands us to teach our children the bible.
Deuteronomy 11:19 “Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”
Teaching young women:
Titus 2:3-5 “3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God”
So I need to follow them and teach them so that they do not malign the word of God. I also need to learn the word so that I can teach both my children that God has entrusted to me and the young women under our care.
Now let me see, that makes me a wife (suitable helper), a mother(to my child/children), a teacher(to my children and the young women). My schedule is jam-packed.
Still I wonder why I want what the world wants? I should not even be comparing myself with the world. Sometimes I let my imagination take me on a ride just to see where I would be and if I would then be satisfied with who I am. What if I went to work, earned 50K a month, came back and took care of family just like the others? Working from 8:00AM- 7:00PM would leave me with only a few hours at hand. I would not have enough time to serve the church. Yes, I would have a lot of money at hand to spend at my will, I would probably be doing quite well in the ladder of success but I will not have the joy of seeing my child and enjoying her grow. Energy wise I will be drained. I can’t serve my husband rightly, will hardly see my child so forget teaching her the word. With all this and more where will I find time to train the younger women if I don’t even have the time to meet with them and share life with them? I would be an excellent achiever according to the world but would have failed all almost all of God’s calling for me. That brings me back to square 1, to where I already am. I thank God for helping me make these choices though it is not the norm of the world today.
Women, be encouraged for the calling that God has called you to, is much higher and greater than what your mind can comprehend. When the pressures of the world make you want to do something and achieve great heights like your contemporaries in this world, take heart and remember that, this calling that God has called you to is so vast and fulfilling than you can ever imagine.
Single moms take heart, God has special grace for you to do the jobs of both the man and the woman.
