I know you all have noticed; our country is really in the tank right now. Debt is skyrocketing in the government and in our own homes. Our family has been trying to get out of debt's stranglehold for quite some time and we are being thwarted at every turn. I am sure I am not alone!
We are unfortunately in a financial climate where many husbands do not have high paying jobs, or even a job at all! Many jobs no longer offer health insurance benefits, or affordable benefits for a family. We are also living in a time where many families need two incomes to even survive.
This makes it hard on us women, doesn't it? As Christians, many of us have been told that our place is to be keepers of our homes, good wives and mothers to our children, and to fulfill the mandate of Titus 2. There are women wracked with guilt who read this blog daily because they have had to put their kids in school instead of continuing to home school them. Other women have given up ministries and service to others because their husbands have lost their jobs and unemployment does not cover the bills, so they have had to go to work.
We sometimes feel as though we have lost our way. I know women who are mourning the loss of all they hold precious and dear at the sacrifices they have had to make. Loaded with guilt for "abandoning" their families for a paycheck they wonder how they can be a godly wife and mother.
I want to encourage you today. First, you must know that I am one of you. I have put my ministry service to others in the back seat of my life right now. I work job that is nearly full time and the ministry work I do comes after that. That is not to blow my own horn by any means, I do what I do by grace alone.
My heart frequently fights with my knowledge of Scripture and my theology and I confess there are times I am so confused by the actions of the Lord in our lives that I can say nothing. I desire my life to be yielded to Him, for His use and His glory.
This demands that I am spiritually growing and feasting on the Word- another challenge in the midst of daily life! I do not glean my wisdom from Dr Phil or Oprah, but from men and woman who are godly influences in my life who also base their lives on the Word of God.
He is where we must find the strength to carry on each day, not in our husbands or in each other. I think we are so often let down because we have expectations of others that should only be brought to God. We make people our gods and we worship them, forget they are fallible human beings and cannot meet our every need as only He can.
Second, in spite of your problems and heartache, you can still laugh at the future. You are secure in Christ. You can trust God because He is sovereign over all the universe and nothing that is happening to you right now is outside of His sovereign will for you and your family. Somehow, whatever comes your way- good or bad- will be for your good and God's glory.
Whew! But that is so very tough to believe right now, isn't it? This is where your faith comes in, dear reading friends. Faith, faith, faith, and trust that God is in charge of all of our lives. Is He building a tremendous harvest of faith in your heart. He is going to demonstrate to you that He is trustworthy and true to Himself.
Pray for yourselves, and pray for me that we might all be the beneficiaries of such steadfast faith and trust in the midst of the most trying circumstances of our days.