Life has varied stages, and I've lived through several by now. But there was a time when it seemed as though I would be forever stuck in one never-ending repetition of diaper-changing, laundry, dish-washing, nose-blowing.....you get the picture.
My mother-in-law would tell me to enjoy those days because they'd be over faster than I knew it, and would look back on them as the best years of my life! She was right!
Being a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM) was something I always wanted to be, don't get me wrong! After having worked outside the home our first year of marriage, before we had kids, I was sooo happy I could stay home with our children and do all the fun things involved in homemaking and child-rearing.
But, to be honest with you, I also struggled with wondering if I was doing enough for the L-rd. Sure, I was a pastor's wife and taught Sunday School, went on visitation, helped in the nursing home ministry. But I often felt that I really wasn't doing anything "great" for the L-rd!
It didn't help when I heard of other women who would go out on the streets passing out tracts, or doing one-on-one evangelizing with their husbands, when day after day, I'd just be staying home. Guilt swept over me. Did you know that the enemy can plague us with false guilt? I tell you, he can.
Are you a SAHM who is struggling with some of these thoughts? Do you find yourself getting frutrated, feeling that you are not doing anything for the L-rd because you remain at home with your children?
I'm sure you have been told that rearing children for the L-rd is, in itself, a very great and noble calling and ministry, and one not to be diminished in any way. And this is so true!! Being the best mother you can be; keeping a happy home; caring for your family----are all part of a very high calling of being a wife and mother. The value is immeasurable! And, if you are faithfully serving as a wife and mother, you are freeing your husband to do what it is that the L-rd has called him to do, whether he be a firefighter, a plumber, a physician, an electrician, a pastor, or whatever.
Did you know that G-d values what you do? He places great value....as much as those who are out on the front-lines serving Him in other, more obvious capacities! Does that surprise you? Let me give you some Scriptures to consider:
In I Samuel 30, we are told that while David and his men were away fighting the Philistines, the Amalekites had attacked the holdings of David's men and family at Ziklag, carrying off the women and children and all their possessions, then burning the place. When David and his 600 men arrived back home, they found Ziklag burned and plundered, and everyone gone, including David's two wives. After David enquired of the L-rd and found out who had done this, he and his men pursued hard after the Amalekites.
David's men were already tired and worn from the previous battle. In fact, 200 of his men were so spent, that when they arrived at the brook, they could go no farther, so they remained behind. The other 400 went with David and overcame the Amalekites after a hard-fought night and day battle. David and his men rescued all their people and belongings, losing nothing and acquiring much spoil.
When spoil was won in a battle, it was the custom that those who fought divided the spoil among themselves. However, there were some wicked men in David's troop, who, upon rejoining the 200 men who remained behind, did not want to share in the spoil with them.
David rebuked them, saying (vs. 24), "....but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike."
Verse 25 goes on to say, "And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day."
If you are a SAHM, tarrying by the stuff, keeping the home and nurturing your children, you are worthy to divide the spoils and reap the rewards of those who go out to battle with the Word in the world.
Do not allow the enemy to make you feel less of a servant of G-d because you keep the home fires burning.
David wrote in Psalm 68:12---"Kings of armies did flee apace: and she that tarried at home divided the spoil."
5 comments:
I don't understand why this writer, would leave out letters in God, Lord etc... I have seen sites where those words were offensive. (I will not go back to those sites). However, this was intended for a Christian audience, why would it be offensive? I do not mean to be rude, I would just like to understand.
I was wondering the same thing? Beth, why do you post that way?
Typically, on Jewish sites, they often remove the vowels in names like God, Lord, etc. Their justification for this is that they do not want to "use the Lord's name in vain." However, if someone is speaking the truth about God or to God, it is not in vain to use His name - He did not command us NOT to use His name, but not to use it in a wrong manner. For the record, saying G-D or L-rd in an innapropriate way (as a substitute for God or Lord) is just as much using His name in vain...
One thing that bugs me about Beth's prior posts here (and I am assuming and hoping she is doing it unintentionally) is that she does not do the same with the names of the Son of God, such as Jesus, Christ, etc. If she was convicted that this was the proper way to not use God's name in a wrong manner, why is she not doing the same with the names Jesus and Christ, etc.? Does she not believe He is God? If she does believe He is God, then she should be using His name in the same manner.
But again, God NEVER tells us not to use His name - in fact, He identifies Himself by His name as the true God, and we are to use those names in witnessing to others - but tells us not to use them in vain (ie. in a worthless, unworthy, profane manner).
Beth, I am assuming you just never thought this issue out in relation to the Son, and that this is not a deliberate attempt to downgrade His deity in any way - however, when you reply to this and these other comments, it would probably set all our minds at ease if you tell us exactly where you stand on the deity of Christ.
P.S. I was not going to address this issue - but seeing as others have brought it up, I decided it was time to speak my thoughts out on it as well.
I have no problem asking her publically as long as it is in a kind way - because her posts omitting the letters of the names of God are public. I hope she does respond.
I imagine the answer about the Jewish sites is probably the answer I was looking for. This was something I did not know, so I am glad I asked. If this is the reason, I can respect this, God has laid it on my heart, that anytime I write or type a pronoun referring to Him, that it be capitalized. Grammatically this is not necessary, but if I don't do it, it is sin, because He told me to. This is just a personal conviction between me and God, as I am sure Beth leaving out the letters is with her.
I just did not understand. Thank you to Jerry for answering my question. You can't learn if you don't ask.
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