Coming Home Series - III

By now, with all the praying and reading that you’ve been doing in God’s Word, your husband may have caught on to what you’re up to. I remember being burdened over the course of many years to leave work and come home to my children. Initially my desire was to just have more time with them at their school, so I considered going part-time. I also considered switching careers and becoming a teacher so that I could have summers off with kids.

Each time that I considered varying options, I would talk with my husband about what I was thinking.  As you pray and consider your plan of action, you will need to discuss your thoughts with your husband.

As a wife and mother, you are armed with prayer. Even for the wife that may have an unbelieving husband, God hears your prayers and has the power to move an unbelieving heart to hear you out and understand your desires. As you pray, God will guide you in the development of a plan for coming home. You will need to consider the support and leadership needed from your husband and your financial situation. In this blog entry, we’ll cover the support and leadership needed from your husband.

God has placed your husband within your marriage as the head of the household. As a believer in Christ, you just have to believe this in faith, no matter what you may think of your husband’s abilities or lack thereof. If you allow your abilities, gifts, and talents to create a sense of pride within your mind, this can inhibit your journey home as you will need your husband’s support and leadership as you relinquish yourself from the workplace into the home.

Most men sense the need to ensure that their family is taken care of financially and any conversation that deals with impacts to the family finances may be met with barriers with your husband. In some relationships, the wife executes the banking tasks that are required, but if the husband is serving in a leadership role he is well aware of what it takes to run the home from a financial perspective. Going into a conversation with your husband about quitting your job will be most effective if you’ve done your homework. From a Christian perspective, that includes having been in prayer, being armed with what God’s Word says regarding a Mother’s role and God’s expectation of her, and having a certain level of insight into your family’s financial situation.

A wife brings honor to her husband and to God when she respects him and listens to him. A God-fearing husband will have a desire to honor his wife by listening to her. It may take one, two, three, or countless conversations to reach a place of understanding between you and your husband as he comes to a place of understanding your heart’s desire. If you face opposition, end the discussion and return to your husband at a later date after praying. In time, as you pray over your husband’s heart God will do the work necessary to soften and bring him to a place where you can move forward in your journey. Never result to complaining, nagging, or griping about your desires. This will not get you any closer to your desires and may possibly prolong things. In time through continual prayer, as he hears you out and eventually has a desire to move forward, work with him to next assess your financial situation.