Walking the Path in 2015—Part Three

 

Last week, I wrote about the specific areas that I was going to work on for 2015.  My hope through this short series was just to show you my way of trying to be intentional in my life.  God has His plans for my life, and I know that I usually uncover them as I walk with Him.  However, that does not mean that I can’t have a plan for my life to help me follow what He wants.  And I am always ready for all of my plans to go out the window, if He so chooses to change my course.  Actually, by not thinking that these plans are set in stone and coming back many times throughout the year to re-evaluate, I make sure that I am first seeking what He wants and then setting my goals to do what He wants in my life.

And that brings me to my last category, which is health.  For me, this is a big one.  As Mark loves to say, I “play disorder bingo where no one is the winner.”  For years, I have been trying to find ways to either eliminate or improve health issues.  This has been hard, since most medications make me much sicker than the actual disorder.  I have been left to find natural ways or just deal.  I choose to try to improve my health.

Walking the Path in 2015—Part Two

Last week, I shared with you how 2014 went.  Part of what helps me to decide what I want to work towards for the next year is to see how God has worked in my life in the past year.  Then from there I try to make goals that will guide how I want to live the next year.  These goals are flexible and I revisit them several times throughout the year.  They always change from the beginning of the year to the end as God guides me on my path.

My goals really fall into four categories each year: God, husband, home, and health.  Could I come up with more things?  Yes, but these are really the four areas that I want to be intentional about.  I will go over each one of the areas, and then tell you one or two of the many goals I have set for each to give you an idea.  If you would like to do this too, your categories and subsequent goals will obviously look different, but this should give you a general idea how to set goals that will work with how God works and changes your life.

Our Response to the World

Over the past several weeks, we have looked how world views affect our internal struggles and also how people may view and respond to us as stay at home wives.  Now we get to our response to the world.  Our goals in our responses are to give God the glory and to be able to share our faith.  Every person that we are in contact with will need a unique response, but I just wanted to go over some common areas that most SAHWs face.

Unsacred Marriage

 

I won’t even go into statistics in this post, because everyone can quote divorce rates, people living together before marriage, and unwed mothers.  I understand why most secularists don’t see the point of marriage, even I wouldn’t if I wasn’t a Christian.  I also understand why marriage is turning into a free-for-all; what does it matter if you take God out of marriage?

And this leads us to the last of societies views that we have to battle, or that might be something that you personally have to deal with before you quit your job.  This is not a post directed at convincing you to get married or who should get married, etc., but to defend Christian marriages to Christians.  Many view marriage as something that you can get out of through a divorce if it doesn’t work out.  Let me tell you, if you go into marriage already believing it might or probably will fail, it will.  Ever hear of self-fulfilling prophesies?  What effort would you put into your marriage if you think it might fail?

Trust in your husband and more importantly God

 

Last week, we talked about how women can try to prove that they are superior to men.  We examined a passage is Genesis that talked about our role and how we are equal creations of His that have different roles.  One of the reasons for this was because men have, and continue to do so, abused their role of leader.  So women have been viewed as a lesser creature.

A major issue you might encounter on your way to becoming a SAHW is the fact that once you quit working, your husband will be the sole breadwinner in the family.  And that can be scary for many reasons.

Better Than Men

 

I don’t think I need to even try to convince you that women in general nowadays feel like they need to prove that they are better than men.  It seems like men throughout history and in the Bible have been seen by both secularists and many ignorant Christians as chauvinistic pigs that try to put down women and make them the inferior sex.

I won’t argue that throughout history and even today many men act like this.  They believe they are better and that women are just there to serve them.  They have perverted their position that God gave men of looking out for and caring for women, and have used it as power over women.  How this must grieve God’s heart to see one of His creation treating another so abominably.

1950's Housewife

 

When most people hear the word “housewife,” they automatically think of the 1950’s.  June Cleaver.  The perfect housewife, with the perfect home, perfect marriage, and while mischievous, ultimately good children.  The housewife that cleans in a beautiful dress, pearls, and heels.

Personally, for me, as an “I Love Lucy” fan, I think of Lucy Ricardo as a housewife.  A very different view than the Cleaver mentality.  Lucy is not the perfect housewife, but usually is messy or late or spends too much money.  Her home is not always immaculate, although many times looks pretty good.  Her marriage, while presumably stable, has its own issues.  She constantly tries to get around what her husband says and more than a few times lies to him, although not always very convincingly.

Stay at Home Wife in 2014

I believe that I am worth the same as a man.  I believe that I can do most things that men can do, sometimes better, sometimes worse.  I believe that I should be able to live by the same rules according to government standards that men live by.  I should be able to work if I want and make the same amount of money for the same amount of effort and skill.  I deserve to be heard in the political realm and be able to vote on what is happening in our country if I so choose to do so.

I, however, do not believe that I need to assert myself over men.  I am dismayed by what has happened to the “men” of our society.  Man-babies that refuse to get married, while looking for the next conquest in the bed, all the while watching sophomoric, bathroom humor movies.  Am I talking about collage age men?  Nope.  Those 30-somethings out there.