Coming Home Series - I

A dear friend asked me to journal about my thoughts on the steps that my hubby and I took to take the leap of faith of bringing me home from my full time (out of the home) job, to become a Stay At Home Mom (SAHM).

Just for the record I don't like to say, "I don't work". SAHMs do work full time (and beyond). Its just done inside the home as opposed to outside. There are some SAHMs that manage to juggle a part-time job or a job that they can do within the home as well. Another blog entry for another day... just wanted to clarify. The next time you ask a Mom about working, ask "do you work outside (or, inside) the home?"

Continuing... As with any decision I make, whether big or small, I took my petitions first and foremost to the Lord in prayer.

1)      Pray and seek the Lord for guidance.

If the Lord has placed a burden on a Mother’s heart to be home full-time with her children, He’s not going to place the desire within your heart without providing the means for it to happen.  I looked up the word “burden” in the dictionary and its described as, “something that is carried” (that was a simple definition. Do you ever wonder where do they find the people who write up definitions for words?). Its also described as, “something oppressive or worrisome”. Whenever God has burdened my heart to do something I just can’t stop thinking about it. When I wake up, its on my mind. When I go to sleep at night, my thoughts will return to it. When God is burdening your heart for something the flame for it doesn’t burn out. It keeps coming back.

I used to confuse being burdened for something that God was leading me to do with my own selfish desires, so when I started to become burdened to leave work and come home full-time I prayed intently that if any part of this voyage home was being motivated by any prideful, selfish desires, I asked that God would remove the desire all together. We can become convinced that God is leading us to do something, only to realize that we’re seeking the praise of man in the end or seeking to gain some external reward as a result of it all.

Pray, pray, pray. When you think you’ve prayed enough, you’ve just begun to pray when God is driving you to make a sacrifice for Him. As you pray, God will not just make Himself known to you in a manner that He is with you, but He will also unfold to you the steps to take in this leap of faith. Little by little, day by day, from one prayer to the next it will become clear.

During this time of my life as I prayed, I received some very good advice as I sought Godly advice from loved ones as we embarked on this voyage. One piece of advice was that God knows His sheep and His sheep hears His voice. When His sheep hear His voice, they follow Him. When you’re being burdened to do the Lord’ Work, you will come to the place of understanding and ultimately being convinced if the desire is genuine and truly coming from God. You will come to the place where no one can talk you out of what you’ve been convinced to do because as the Lord’s sheep He will not lead you astray.

I also recall a message by John MacArthur concerning how to discern God’s Will for your life and there was something that he said that has stood out in my mind as I think back to the time when I stood at the crossroad of forging ahead with leaving work or staying the course of the “comfortable life” of working (by comfortable life, I'm referring to the bells and whistles that come from a dual income situation. I do realize there are stressors as well  when there is more money, but there are many sacrifices to be made when going from two incomes to one. More on that later in this series).

He summarized that if as Christians we are striving to glorify God in all that we do, then the choices that we have as Christians regarding the areas of life that the Bible does not give clearly defined answers on (i.e., what college do we attend, whom do we marry, public or private school for our kids, etc.), we are free to make our decisions based on what we believe is right.  As we ponder the options that we have within the realm of Christian liberties, and try to make a decision on what option(s) to choose many times the options that align with God’s will for our life are typically the more challenging to execute. That doesn’t mean that everything in the Christian life is all challenging and hard, but many paths that we take for God to be glorified are hilly and steep. If every road that God leads us on were flat, short, and quick, would we ever have the need to fall on our needs for help, leading us to seek God for help and ultimately grow more in a deeper relationship with him?

That’s what this first step in coming home is all about. It’s all about talking to One who gave you the desire to begin with and acknowledging that you can’t do it without Him.

I will also add the disclaimer here that not EVERY Christian mother has this burden, but many do. I found after "coming out" and leaving work, that many working mothers spoke openly with me about this burden tugging at their heart but for whatever reason they were not in the position to take steps of coming home.

I’m typically a plan-out-your-thoughts, make a list, highlight, outline, organize, and then type it up sort of person when I put something together. For this first blog series I’m going to wing it (I’m being adventurous). So, I haven’t fully gathered my thoughts on Part II, but until then you can pray!

Stay tuned…