I often get asked the question, "What do you do?" Or, "What keeps you busy?"
My given response usually consists of the words "home and/or "family". And as you can imagine, it doesn't exactly come off as the most respected response. Especially for a 19 year girl. And an unmarried one at that.
Being 19 years old now, 2 years out of high school, no college experience, and having no outside-the-home-job(aside from babysitting), people often wonder just what it is that I do.
Well, my response is, I serve my family in my home.
Now, here's where the questions and funny looks start pouring in. Maybe even a big stand still of silence occurs. But, funny looks and all, I proudly say, "I'm at home, serving my family".
I believe God's greatest calling for a women is in the home. Married or not, there is serving to be done in the home.
The world abandons the home. The world abandons the family. God doesn't.
And I haven't.
The world calls girls to leave. To go. To go off to college, to get a job, to move forward. To let go. To find their own way. And maybe even God has called you to do this.
But God has called me elsewhere. God has called me to stay. To stay and serve. To serve right where I am, in my home...for the family He has so richly blessed me with.
I've been given the opportunity to leave. To go to college, to get a job, to go off and do as the rest of the world does.
But God has called me. And I have chosen.
I have chosen to not take the "normal" or "expected" way. I have chosen God's way for me.
For years it's been a struggle. The questions, the thinking, the praying, the wondering what it is that I'm supposed to do. I've watched others move forward. Go off, get married, go to school, get a full time job, become missionaries.
Yet, God has called me to stay. To stay right where I am...yet, move forward in a tremendous way.
I'm not gonna lie, I've struggled. I've struggled with the thought of watching others move forward while I stay. I question God. His purpose, His plan... And the truth is, in that questioning I miss out on the blessings laid behind the purpose.
I no longer struggle. Now, don't get me wrong, I struggle! But I no longer struggle with where God has me. I no longer struggle with questions.
I see the beauty of staying. I see the beauty of serving. I see the beauty of the home. I see the beauty of the family. I see the beauty of God...and the beauty in His ways and His plans.
I spend my days serving my family in whatever way that it need be. Cooking, cleaning, laundry, holding a child, cleaning up a mess, finding shoes. Ya know, all that tedious, repetitive stuff.
But guess what, it's more than that. It's getting a sad, broken child to laugh. It's spending time with my siblings and teaching each other life lessons. It's giving hugs and kisses to God's precious children. It's taking a walk and giving them that much needed bonding time. It's kissing an ow-wee and wiping tears from a hurting heart. It's opening a hand to a fallen child. It's opening an ear and shutting my mouth to a wounded, aching soul. It's delighting in my parents and finding ways to help their lives be easier. It's so much more.
I struggle. I fail. I'm far from being the servant God as called me to be. But by letting go of the questions and setting aside the world's way of things, setting aside even my wants and desires, God has shown me the joy of doing such a thing.
I know it's not possible for all girls or even all women to find themselves with the opportunity to stay in the home, but for those of you who do have the opportunity to do so, seize it! Delight in it! Take advantage of it. Use it.
And those of you discouraged by being at home, don't be! Ask God to give you a new perspective.
Don't let the rest of the world question you in where you are. Seize what God has for you. Whether it's serving in the home, or at work, or in another country, don't miss out on what God has for you.
Just as Paul told Archippus in Colossians 4:17, we too are called by God to carry out the ministry, the task, the plan He has for us.
Colossians 4:17
And say to Archippus, "Be sure to carry out the ministry the Lord gave you."
If I let questions capture my thoughts, I'd miss out on family bonding and life-long memories. I'd miss out on becoming a better sister and daughter. I'd miss out on preparing myself to be a wife and mother. I'd miss out on learning to be a homemaker and housekeeper. I'd miss out on the lessons, the training, the changing, and the disciplining of God. I'd even miss the beauty of His glory being done in my life.
Although, my own desire would be to one day be married myself and serve my own family in my own home, I'm not anxious. I'm satisfied. God has His way and His way for me right now is to be serving in the home He has me in. I won't let myself be robbed of that joy, thinking of what could be. I delight in His way, His plan, His home for me.
So, funny looks and all, I proudly say, I'm at home, serving my family.
