The Mission Field of the Home

Have you ever heard a woman express that she felt like she had never done anything important or with real value?  She hasn't changed the world with a high powered career or helped the multitudes turn to Christ in some mission in a foreign country.   Her house and yard will not stay perfect like the Cleaver's and her children are not always little angels.  The closest she got this year to volunteering at an outreach was donating clothes to Goodwill and giving a little extra money to the local Women's Shelter.  She had every intention of attending that Pro-Life Rally but as usual one of the kids got sick as she was about to walk out the door. 

She feels like the mundane tasks in her life like washing clothes, cooking dinner, reading lessons, bedtime stories, and building tents in the living room have no eternal value. I know that this is simply a lie from the enemy to keep Christian women defeated.  Satan knows if seeds of discontentment in what God originally created us to do are planted, we lose our joy, our purpose, and our effectiveness for the Kingdom of God.

I have been this woman, and not just once, several times over the course of the last 13 years.  As I was cleaning up yet ANOTHER spilled drink, or loading another load of dirty clothes that came out of nowhere, (These clothes look like the ones I just folded and told one of the girls to go put away, but they are in the hamper, so surely these are dirty right?!?) and kissing one more boo-boo that miraculously healed as I placed that Dora Band-Aid on it, I would be longing to be one of those women who "really" made a difference in the world like Mother Theresa, Darlene Zschech,  or Beth Moore.  Anyone could be a wife and mother, but not every body could reach the world for Christ!  Turn your television on for two minutes and you feel it weighing down on you.  The world is screaming for women to be liberated and make something of themselves. (I will save my thoughts on Feminism for another day!!!)

Does any of this sound familiar?  Of course it does because the enemy does not have to be very smart, he just has to know what works.  The truth is that EVERYDAY wives and mothers have an opportunity to make a huge impact for the Kingdom of God in a mission called the home.  It goes against what the culture tells us.  It definitely is not popular with the feminists!  Sometimes the trenches of raising a family can be a lonely place but Oh the taste of sweet victory when you start seeing Godly character in your children!  The joy of knowing that your husband truly is your best friend and that serving him is a great joy in your life, not a curse as the world would have you think.  What greater mission field than telling your children, those you love most,

"Be ye followers of me, even as I also am a follower of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1"

If you have struggled with this, I would encourage to do what the Lord has shown me to do.  I got a journal (which can be just a spiral notebook) and made different categories that I needed encouragement or a statement of purpose for, and began writing scripture I found for each one.  In my journal I have sections such as homeschooling (Deut.6:4-9; Jer. 10:2; Prov.23:26), children (Ps.127:1-3; Matt.18:5; Prov.22:6), being a Godly wife (Prov. 12:4; Prov.31:10-31; Titus 2:3-5;
1 Peter 3), how to achieve multi-generational faithfulness (Ps.78:4, 7-8), sufficiency in scripture
(2 Tim. 3:16-17; Ps.119:1,9), modesty (1 Tim 2:9-10; 1 Pet.3:3-4; 1 Cor. 6:19-20) and then more personal things I have dealt with like anxiety, death, unforgiveness and so on.  It is an easy go to when I am discouraged or find that I have started feeling discontentment in my role as wife and mother.

"Her children rise up and call her blessed: Her husband also, and he praises her.  Proverbs 31:26"

There are many ways our children can call us blessed without saying it in these Biblical terms and many ways for our husbands to praise us for our efforts.  A "Thank You" for dinner is a child calling you blessed.  Your husband making that extra effort to put his clothes in the hamper and not beside it is him thanking you for your effort.  Find it in the little things, they are there.  I guarantee you the world has nothing to offer women that will ever compare to those moments of blessing and praise from your family.  So with that, I am off to change the world right now.......one math lesson at a time!!!!!