* Who am I? I’m ONLY a stay-at-home mom.
* I feel useless in ministry because my kids consume my time.
* I'm so disconnected from the world
* My prayer time is limited with all the motherhood work I’m doing.
* I feel like I have to go back to work because we REALLY need the extra money.
Well momma, I have a word for you. You are NOT just a stay-at-home mom. You have an extremely high value in God’s sight! You set the spiritual tone in your home; you are responsible for teaching your children spiritual truths among many other things you teach your children; you are responsible for physically and spiritually protecting your family; and you have the kind of spirit that easily connects with God’s Spirit. The prayers for your family have so much value! I’ll explain more.
One day, I had a tough day and I really desired to drop everything so I could spend time with the Lord. Because of my motherhood responsibilities, I had no time for one-on-one time with my Heavenly Father. In the midst of my discouragement, I heard God speak to me during my motherhood duties. He said, “But I am here raising them with you.”
Isn’t that incredible?! The God who made the heavens and the earth, put the stars in their places, formed me while in my mother’s womb, and adopted me into his kingdom desires to raise my children WITH me!! We tend to forget God is also a Father. He KNOWS how to raise children; he’s got plenty of experience, ya know?
The Lord revealed more motherhood truths to me! To get to those motherhood truths, we have to look at a basic truth. God’s desire for mankind is to restore us to PRE-FALL maturity. This means, he desires to heal us, restore us, redeem us, save us, and reconcile us unto himself to have the same relationship than he did with Adam and Eve before they disobeyed. So what is God restoring us to exactly? To know more details, we look at Genesis 2 to discover what God’s desire for man and woman before they disobeyed God.
Verse 15 shows us “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” This was Adam’s worship, to work and take care of the Garden of Eden. In verse 17, God commands Adam to NOT eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Interestingly enough, soon after God tells Adam to NOT eat from the tree, he says in verse 18, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
Look at the word “helper.” Is this a physical helper to aid Adam’s efforts to work and care for the Garden? NOPE! The Hebrew word for “helper” is the same Hebrew word in the Psalms when David says, “The Lord is my HELPER.” Interesting!! Do you think God knew Adam would disobey, and desired to create a spiritual helper? If so, this means YOU as a wife and a mom is the SPIRUTAL HELPER of the family, and a SUITABLE one at that. Do you see your value yet? There’s more!!!!
While Adam’s worship was to work and care for the Garden, Eve’s worship was raising and teaching their children as well as being the spiritual helper of the family. So being a stay-at-home mom IS an act of worship!!! As you parent and teach your children in the ways of the Lord, you are also preparing your children for a more devoted walk with the Lord! How awesome is that!!!!
If you are a single mother, your value does not diminish here whatsoever! Your willingness to teach your children in the way they should go is still an act of worship. It’s the love we have for God that Father that motivates us to see our role in his kingdom with high value. Since the Lord sees your heart, he knows your motives. If your motives are pure to raise your children in His ways, he’ll take care of your needs.
If you are a male reading this post, your value in God’s kingdom is not diminished here either. Your acts of worship are just as valuable as a woman’s. There’s so much to add for a dad’s value to the family. Since the intention of this blog post is to encourage stay-at-home moms, I hope you’ll receive insight into how to encourage the women around you.
If you would like to read about more of your value in God’s kingdom, check out these books. Both are written by Rabbi Shalom Arush. Although these books are Jewish in nature, the author does a GREAT job expressing God’s design for men and women. Christians and non-Christians alike will benefit from these books. (Note: The books are gender specific for good reason. Do not read the book of the opposite gender. Doing this will prevent expectations and judgment of the opposite gender.)
So be encouraged, stay-at-home mom and strong woman of faith! The Lord sees how you care for your children. He sees your struggles, he sees your tears, he sees your motives to devote your children to Him, so he’ll raise your children with you as you walk in his ways and teach your children to also walk in his ways! You are BLESSED to have the God of creation in your home with you!
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