Previously posted and worth sharing again:
"I could never spend all day with my kids."
This is quite possibly the most disturbing thing I've heard from parents when they find out we homeschool.
It also goes a long way in explaining our culture today. For a mother to say that she cannot bear the thought of spending time with her own children is cause for alarm and prayer.
As controversial and old-fashioned as it may sound, women were created to spend time with their children. We are given the privilege to be the strongest influence in the lives of our offspring. Mission minded motherhood is not weak or boring! Mission minded motherhood is active, challenging, and the eternal implications are enormous. Sadly, most shrug it off as a horrible burden instead of an assignment from God.
The majority of mothers relegate this privilege to a host of other people. Will the dozens of other people treat their position in our child's life with the same mission minded focus? I didn't want to stand before the Lord and answer why I gave up one of the most important roles a woman can have to someone who only saw it as a job.
"Stay at home mother" is a misnomer that causes many to make negative assumptions about what this life looks like. This life is freeing, and it is joy filled! I have been able to do more and experience more because I am not tied to an hourly position. My life has been one great adventure after another. I earn money from home doing various things. I am home only when I want to be home. If I desire to try something new, I am free to pursue that. My children are my joys!
God called me to this most important role before I had children. When I gave birth and let others know I would be staying at home, the response from everyone in my day to day life was mean-spirited and hurtful. It was such a hard phase of life! I had no idea how to respond. I was so excited about what God was showing me in my life, but I couldn't share it with anyone around me. I was also shocked they had such a derogatory view of their children and their motherhood. I felt dumb for not defending my position, but God handled it for me. Some of those haughty women who tore me down for readily obeying this call, also followed the same call after being heavily convicted. Some, He took out of my life.
Not long after, God sent me godly people to strengthen and encourage me in the way He wanted me to go. The pruning of family and friends was painful, but the new friendships formed back then have lasted and are still going strong today. The Christian women who shepherded me in my early motherhood will reap a reward for responding to the call to minister to younger mothers seeking the Lord's will for their lives. Their ministry was vital to so many, because in ministering to the women, they also influenced the lives of their husband and children. Powerful! Far reaching!
Dear Reader, I did not know of even one stay at home mother when I heard God's call on my life. All of the women in my day to day life were harsh and critical towards me and considered the path I had taken to be the wrong one. I felt so alone and questioned if I was truly hearing from the Lord. I sought Him harder, and He reassured me! So, despite their desire for me to follow the same path they chose, I kept going in the direction He set me.
Eventually, God humbled a number of those women, led them to be stay-at-home mothers, and gave them the same freedoms and joys. They criticized me heavily in the beginning, but they ended up doing exactly what I was doing. I was even in a position to help a few of them. Beauty from ashes! God is good! He is worthy of our praise!
God called me to this most important role before I had children. When I gave birth and let others know I would be staying at home, the response from everyone in my day to day life was mean-spirited and hurtful. It was such a hard phase of life! I had no idea how to respond. I was so excited about what God was showing me in my life, but I couldn't share it with anyone around me. I was also shocked they had such a derogatory view of their children and their motherhood. I felt dumb for not defending my position, but God handled it for me. Some of those haughty women who tore me down for readily obeying this call, also followed the same call after being heavily convicted. Some, He took out of my life.
Not long after, God sent me godly people to strengthen and encourage me in the way He wanted me to go. The pruning of family and friends was painful, but the new friendships formed back then have lasted and are still going strong today. The Christian women who shepherded me in my early motherhood will reap a reward for responding to the call to minister to younger mothers seeking the Lord's will for their lives. Their ministry was vital to so many, because in ministering to the women, they also influenced the lives of their husband and children. Powerful! Far reaching!
Dear Reader, I did not know of even one stay at home mother when I heard God's call on my life. All of the women in my day to day life were harsh and critical towards me and considered the path I had taken to be the wrong one. I felt so alone and questioned if I was truly hearing from the Lord. I sought Him harder, and He reassured me! So, despite their desire for me to follow the same path they chose, I kept going in the direction He set me.
Eventually, God humbled a number of those women, led them to be stay-at-home mothers, and gave them the same freedoms and joys. They criticized me heavily in the beginning, but they ended up doing exactly what I was doing. I was even in a position to help a few of them. Beauty from ashes! God is good! He is worthy of our praise!
"I believe that if Moms understood how strategic their roles were in the battle for the hearts and minds of the next generation, they would grow in excitement about this great job God created them to fulfill."
- Sally Clarkson
