- home schooled 7 of her 8 children at once
- bakes her own bread
- cooks her meals from scratch
- makes her own soap
- sewed and knit clothes for her kids (matching outfits on Easter and for family photos were the worst)
- painted oil paintings
- milked a cow
- showed rabbits
- makes home made birthday/Christmas gifts
- probably more things I can't remember
Her friends would always ask, "Where does your mother find the time?"
First of all, she didn't do all of these things at the same time. When most of her kids were really small, my parents only had one car, so had no choice but to stay home all day. As we got older, her older children were able to help her mind the little ones. It was just a natural family dynamic for a large family.
Next, mom wasn't a bad housekeeper, but she wasn't super picky either. The floor got vacuumed, but nothing ever got dusted. The table was cleared (when we weren't eating, crafting, or doing school work), but there were always cluttered countertops, microwave, and fridge. Those things weren't priority over our education, health, or frugality (if it was cheaper for her to make it, she would spend the time to do it).
As we got older, mom would drive us to and from work (sometimes 4 kids to 4 different jobs at different times of the day).
Where did she find the time? She sacrificed it. She laid down the things that most women would choose to do with their lives - going out frequently with friends, shopping for herself, going to the movies, getting a 9-5 job, working out at the gym, getting her hair done at the salon, etc. Instead she stayed home and was a selfless servant to her family because she considered it a higher calling to serve them.
Titus 2:3-5 - Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.
When I was younger, my mother first fell in line with that of a younger woman. She stayed and worked in her home, tending to her family. I watched as she learned to be submissive to my father, and how the Lord taught her self-control and purity. Now mom is an older woman. All but one of her children are adults; two of them are married with children and one is about to become married. She is the wife of my father who is now an elder in our church. Her Christian responsibilities are now changing to that of teaching the younger women of the church. But she still stays home.
The sad part about the state of the Church today is that the older women, after raising their families, go back out to work. Mostly because they think they aren't needed at home. They also don't think the church has need of them with all of these young hip women who have careers and who know what they want out of life. Young women, we don't let the older women know they are needed. Instead we are looking for groups of women from our own age demographic and who lead the same lifestyles so our children can play together and we can gossip...I mean have bible studies.
Ok, maybe that was a bit harsh. What's wrong with having Christian friends our own age with children for our own to play with? Nothing. Only, we just don't seem to value the wisdom that an older woman in the faith can offer, and we may not like what they have to teach us, but when we do this we dishonor them. We should be honoring these women.
Dear women of God,
If it is at all possible, stay home. The Word teaches that young women should work at home. Not to go out and work. This is a worldly mentality that has been taught and excepted as a result of feminism.
Feminism teaches that women are strong and independent. Women are strong (so strong), but they are not independent. The woman was created to be a companion to man; a helper. She was created for him, and not him for her (Genesis 2:18, 22; 1 Corinthians 11:9).
Our husband is our purpose. We were created to help him fulfill his goals, and his dreams. This may mean that we will be required to lay our goals and dreams down at the feet of the Lord. The Lord may require us to let them go altogether. It is hard to swallow that, but we are strong. Remember? This isn't to say that God will make your life miserable. If He does require you to give up your dreams, then He will cause you to embrace, not resent, those of your husbands...if you are willing to submit.
The Word also teaches that the husband is the head if the home and therefore, if he asks you to go to work, then you should submit. If he asks you to go and work, then he takes the responsibility of your being away from home on himself. I'm not saying it is sinful to do this. I am only saying it is the man's responsibility and his choice for you.
If we are unmarried, we are under the authority of our fathers. He will be accountable to the Lord for our actions and behaviors. If our father is dead, then our authority is our mother and our church pastor/elders. Widows fall under the church authority category, and divorced women should go back to their fathers.
Love, your sister,
Nicki
