Wanna know why I'm so passionate about helping women be "keepers at home" in the Biblical meaning of the word? It's because I haven't always been her.
Yes, it's true. I have been a working wife and mother. I am at home now, but I have not always been at home.
When we married, I had a job, and I worked for seven years until our oldest son was born. I left a position in a commercial mortgage office just two weeks prior to his birth. We couldn't afford our lifestyle after this significant loss of income, so my husband took a second full-time job to make up for the deficit.
Life was hard.
We had our daughter only 15 months later. My husband continued to work 90+ hours every week.
Life got harder.
My bright idea was to get a job so that we had the income we "needed" at that time, and so that he could work less. I had high hopes that life would be SO much easier this way!
But instead, life was the hardest it had ever been.
It was not hard because of the work I was doing. I actually loved the work I was doing!
It was hardest because we knew what we believed was God's will for our family--and, still, we made the opposite choice.
There is nothing more difficult than living the opposite of what I knew God wanted for me.
So why am I sharing this with you today? Because my post from earlier this week brought to my virtual doorstep so many saying, "You don't know what it's like to have to work." And "consider the working woman's viewpoint". But the truth is, I know firsthand what it is like.
No, my husband was not making me work. It was my idea, much like Hagar was Sarah's idea.
No, I was not a single mom, as many women are today. But my day looked exactly like yours, only with a husband beside me as I slept. He worked so much, and I worked so much, that my life was that of a single, working mom in nearly every way.
What I want you all to know is that I have no judgment against any woman who works outside of her home. I still must write about the truth as I have learned it--that God's desire for us to be "keepers at home", keeping post in our home, guarding our home--but there is no condemnation in my heart for you if you work or do not work. I've been on both sides.
I hope that no matter where you are in your life today, that you always seek to know God's BEST for you as a daughter of the King! You may have a long journey ahead to getting there, and that is okay. He does see your heart.
The important thing is that you want what He wants, and then trust Him to make a way.
Tomorrow, I will share with you the one "do-over" I would love to have, and why I would do that thing differently...
I agree with you on this. I worked outside our home because I wanted to for a while. All it did was make the whole family miserable. I love staying at home and am glad I got to see both sides of the fence....but home is the best place.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Amy Jo
For a man to work more hours to help his family is so rare these days. You married a good one.
ReplyDelete