Revisiting Mary & Martha ...

I was browsing through my blogroll this evening and I noticed that girltalk just published a post called 'A Martha Moment,' and I quickly thought back to my post a few weeks ago about Atheistic Enterprising. I was encouraged to read that I'm not alone in this issue and that there's hope to rise out of a mere Martha-like serving mentality and into a Mary-like devotion to Jesus.

If you're interested in this, I would encourage you to follow girltalk this week. I'm sure that Carolyn Mahaney has a wealth of information to share.

A Mother's Job Description

I had the chance to read a page and a half of Womanly Dominion this morning, pretty good for a Saturday, and I'm encouraged by the words that I read that remind me of my job description as a mom.

Homemaking motherhood is no refuge for the inept woman who can't cut it in the real world. Rather, stay-at-home mothering is the ultimate profession for the elite of her gender.

Her skill set must be highly diversified. She's no mere babysitting caretaker. She realizes she's raising thoroughbreds for the kingdom, and so she studies and reads and prepares meals with the inspiration of a dietitian and a nutritionist. Her health care duties summon her often to rise to the level of nurse or physician. Domestic engineer is a suitable title for her who exercises dominion over her household headquarters by subduing swarming details into workable order. She is an economist in keeping the budget, holding the purse strings as the accountant, and acting as the purchasing agent for the family corporation, averting bankruptcy and maintaining solvency. She's a psychologist in analyzing the peculiarities of each temperament, tracing the development of each child, and bringing the apt word as a counselor in every situation. She's a personal trainer and disciplinarian as she cultivates obedience and self-control in her natively wild herd. She's a teacher and professor in instructing her students in reading, spelling, grammar, mathematics, history, science, and art. This is exceptionally and overwhelmingly true of a homeschooling mother. She's a pastor and theologian as she educates her children in the lofty themes of morality, spirituality, and eternity.

 Wow, what a job we mothers are called to! I don't think there's any job in the workforce that would call us to wear this many hats ... but while at the same time has such a high calling -- "raising thoroughbreds for the kingdom." What an amazing blessing!

Chanski continues by saying:

A mother is handling things of a far greater magnitude. She's handling never-dying souls. She's daily conducting heart surgery on eternal spirits whose forever destinies are influenced most profoundly by the hands that rock their cradles, wipe their noses, spank their fannies, open their Bibles, prepare their after-school snacks, and turn off their bedroom lights. Those motherly hands are molding characters which will become men and women who will turn the world upside down either for good or for evil. Now that's a job that counts.

Trusting in the Lord ... even in the tough times

This past year and a half has been one of the most difficult seasons of my life. I was pregnant. We had to sell a house. I had a baby. We adjusted to life with a baby. We moved into "temporary housing." We made a choice as a family that I would quite a job that I loved to stay home and raise our son full time. We had to adjust our budget to reflect one salary. I've had to find my "place" as a stay-at-home mom. We're renovating a house, about to move in a month, and now other life changes are on the horizon. If I were to imagine that this last year and half would have been like this even two years ago, I would have been incredibly fearful. But the beauty of it all is that God has only given us what we could handle, and He has taught us to trust in his provision along the way. I am incredibly grateful for this past year and a half, and I'm amazed to see how God has blessed us through what seemed to be "tough" at the time! And in reality, I can't imagine what my life would be like without going through this and experiencing God's joy each step of the way (sometimes in hindsight).

In a very prophetic sense, my father-in-law shared this devotional reading with us yesterday:

The education of our faith is incomplete if we have yet to learn that God's providence works through loss, that there is a ministry to us through failure and the fading of things, and that He gives the gift of emptiness. It is, in fact, the material insecurities of life that cause our lives to be spiritually established.

The dwindling brook at the Kerith Ravine, where Elijah sat deep in thought, is a true picture of each of our lives. 'Some time later the brook dried up' -- this is the history of our yesterdays, and a prophecy of our tomorrows.

One way or the other, we must all learn the difference between trusting in the gift and trusting in the Giver. The gift may last for a season, but the Giver is the only eternal love.

The Kerith Ravine was a difficult problem for Elijah until he arrived at Zarephath, and suddenly everything became clear as daylight to him. God's hard instructions are never His last words to us, for the woe, the waste, and the tears of life belong to its interlude, not its finale.

If the Lord had led Elijah directly to Zarephath, he would have missed something that helped to make him a wiser prophet and a better man -- living by faith at Kerith. And whenever our earthly stream or any other outer resource has dried up, it has been allowed so we may learn that our hope and help are in God, who made heaven and earth. F.B. Meyer

It is yet again that we must step out in faith. I wish that I did this with the "everydays" of my life, even though these type of decisions have come in bulk lately and seem to be more of our "everydays." I share this simply to encourage you ladies that when God asks us to step out in faith and to "endure" what seems to be a difficult time in our life, that it's God's provision and God's security that will ALWAYS be there for us -- not our own wisdom, strength or material possessions.  God calls us to rely on Him with everything that we are. The more that we're able to submit to His authority in our lives, regardless of the situation, we're going to find ourselves in a much better place -- the place where God has planned for us. The place where He promises to provide for us and make us prosper, regardless if that translates to our earthly understanding of it or not -- usually it doesn't.

Here's one more encouraging thought in relation to this from Womanly Dominion:

Panic attacks are a common affliction in stressful times. Sarah is a heroine worthy of imitation, for instead of fretting and surrendering, she managed to 'hope in God' and 'do what is right without being frightened by fear.'

We're introduced to Sarah immediately after God called her husband to uproot and move from the familiar hometown surroundings of Ur, across the howling Abrabian Desert, to set up house in the alien land of Canaan (Genesis 12:5). She subdued any fears she may have faced, and courageously went, humbly acquiescing to her husband's conscience convictions.

What a beautiful example of trusting the Lord in tough situations!

Rest & Renewal

After re-reading my post from yesterday, I feel that I need to offer some words of encouragement since the post was very long and heavy. The words in that post were from my heart and I believe they were truth from the Lord, but they were still heavy, and for those of you that are just getting started on this road toward biblical womanhood, they could seem rather daunting. (Heck, I wrote it and as I thought about submission as I was interacting with my husband last night, I felt overwhelmed too.) However, I was reading Colossians 1 this morning and I feel like Paul's words to the Colossians are great words of encouragement and rest and renewal for us women as we wrestle with growing pains. Let me share Colossians 1:9-13: with you:

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing much fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

A few points that really stand out to me here are:

1. "... fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding." As we long to be godly women who love Jesus with everything we've got and to use that love to love our husbands and children well, we have to believe that if we pray for it, God will indeed fill us with the knowledge of his will as we pursue His wisdom and gain understanding.
   
   
2. "... that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing much fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God;" When things get tough and we want to surrender to the ways of this world because that road seems easier, we have to remember that our lives should please Him and be worthy of Him (we can only do this with Jesus), and by pursuing godliness and surrendering daily, we'll bear much fruit as we grow in the knowledge of God.
   
   
3. "... being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience," The road to godly womanhood is not easy. God never promises that it would be. But if we pray to be strengthened "with all power according to his glorious might," and we pray for that endurance and patience ... we'll be able to keep moving forward. Endurance and patience seem like just the prescription we need to be able to surrender to the Lord daily and to be able to submit to our husbands for a lifetime, ... on our own, it's impossible!
   
   
4. "... joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." And at the end of the day, or the middle of the day, or at the beginning of the day ... we can JOYFULLY give thanks to the Lord, regardless of our circumstance because He alone has set us free from the bondage of sin through His Son Jesus. And again, even when things seem tough, we have to remember that Satan has no power over us because "he has [already] rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves," Halleluiah!!! I think we're going to find that as we do surrender our lives to Jesus and call others to come along with us, Satan is going to do anything in his power to distract us, and when that happens, we have to realize that spiritual warfare is real and denounce Satan and claim Jesus. He has ALREADY saved us from darkness, we just need to claim it and joyfully thank him for it!

I hope that you're as encouraged by these verses as I am, and I hope that this truth allows you to rest well in the arms of Jesus as he strengthens you and renews you for the task ahead!

Godly Womanhood is INTENSE!

Over the last few days, I feel like being the godly woman that the Lord calls me to be is way too intense for me to handle. Hourly surrendering my thoughts and emotions to the Lord to make them obedient to Christ (2 Cor. 10:5), being a good listener so that I can love my husband well, manage our household, and care for and train our 10-month-old. The days have been so long lately! I'm sure that if I looked at any of these responsibilities at another time, I would say, "What's the big deal?" But right now, everything seems heavy. And when I'm realistic about it, it's because I'm seeking the Lord on the "what" of my role -- what am I suppose to be doing as a godly woman? -- and not the "how" of my role too -- how do I manage all of these responsibilities in a healthy manner!

I posted a week or so ago about how God was using me in a practical way to help my husband, and in that post I said, "This also shows me that being a helper requires a lot of study and intimate time with the Lord." So, in actuality I'm prophetic (not really), but I knew the solution to my problem before it even happened. But I've been so busy knocking out punch-list items for our house renovation (to ease the burden from my husband), that I haven't taken time out to sit myself down at Jesus' feet and allow his strength to carry me.

Matthew 11:28-30 says this:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

And although this verse may seem straightforward, I need to be careful that I don't overlook Jesus' commands for me here. He says, "COME to me," not sit back and wait. He says, "TAKE my yoke upon you and LEARN from me," not wait for it to be given to me (by accepting Christ's grace, He has already given his yoke to me ... I just need to reach out and take it!), and he says learn from me ... that means I need to immerse myself in scripture and diligently pray. How else am I going to learn? If we look back at the life of a disciple in Jesus' day, their diligence and study was anything but casual! In fact, in Greek, the word disciple means an adherent of a particular teacher, and it was the task of a disciple to learn, study, and pass along the sayings and teachings of the master.

When I stop for a moment and realize the contrast between the life that God calls me to live and the life that society deems acceptable and even successful, I can very easily see why that life looks so appealing to women: Do what's best for you. Do whatever you need to do to succeed; it's you're right! Do what feels good ... and the list goes on. That road seems like the easier of the two to travel on. But when I read scripture and see the joy that God gives when we live the life that He has called us to, I see true beauty and fulfillment there, and I believe that it's worth the discipline to get there! We see examples of this in Sarah's life (1 Peter 3:1-6) and in the woman in Proverbs 31 (Proverbs 31:28-31).