Hope for Homemaking

This past Christmas was BY FAR the best one yet with our little girls. Both of them seemed to really grasp and understand the Spirit of Christmas as well as the meaning. The month of December was filled with endless story time accounts of Jesus' birth, daily advent activities and scripture readings, cookies, cider, chai tea and just about anything and everything that makes the holiday season feel like... The holiday season.

But what really blessed my heart as a mother this year was watching my girls' imaginations embrace something very near and dear to my heart: homemaking. We decided that homemaking would be the "theme" of our Christmas presents this year for our daughters. We were extremely fortunate and found a gently used three piece kitchen set along with all the bells and whistles on Craigslist and also purchased their first "official" baby dolls and all of the fun accessories. I will never forget the looks on their faces when they came around the corner to discover the new imaginative world of play! Nothing warmed my heart more.

These gifts were intentional on my and my husband's part. We didn't just choose these items so that our kids could have more "stuff" or more things to keep them busy while we fulfill other obligations. In a lot of ways, these purchases were an act of faith and a display of hope. We hope our daughters will develop a love for homemaking. We hope they learn to value the art of making a home fun, safe and inviting. In a society where homemaking is not esteemed and is viewed as a secondary responsibility and a "lesser than" calling, we wish to inspire and empower them in that endeavor. No, homemakers will not be WHO they are nor be ALL that they do, but my prayer is that it will be something they love, value and cherish. Wives/mommies really are the heartbeat of the home life. I have faith that with each moment they spend making me pretend dinners and changing play diapers, their hearts will be shaped, molded and prepared to joyously assume the position of homemaker even in the face of its breakdown and demise. I have great hope for them. I have great hope for the art of homemaking. It may be lost in some respects, but all it takes are willing vessels and intentional esteeming of it to breath new life into the calling.  Revolutions and reformations of thought and practice where almost always birthed from the heart of one individual throughout history. Change doesn't always require an army of likeminded people. It can start with one mother, one daughter, one father, one son choosing to unashamedly recommit to the HOME. It takes one family choosing to view themselves as a potential powerful force in the world, just as God intended it to be.  It calls for one parental unit being resolute in its efforts to truly see their children as "arrows" and dedicating their lives to aiming them in the right direction before they let go and allow those children to reach their God-given targets.

So by faith and with great joy we are starting within our own home. By God's grace we will raise daughters (and Lord-willing, sons) who will allow God's Spirit to birth a passion and zeal for one of the very first communities ever established on earth: the family. 

Ah do I have hope. Great hope, indeed.

The Power of Believing God with Your Husband

To say that my and my husband's faith has been stretched over the last several months would be an understatement! We've had to really buckle down, stick together, pray together and trust God together. But several circumstances in our lives drove us to sheer desperation a few weeks ago. Without getting into too much personal detail, I will just say that we needed MIRACLES.  We needed God to come through in mighty and powerful ways.  After weeks of spending more time in prayer, receiving godly council and doing everything on our part to rectify the problems to no avail, we knew it was time to cry out even louder. We needed to bang on the door of heaven harder. We needed to press into new and unfamiliar realms and allow our faith to sail us out upon the waters, into the great unknown. So we started a fast.

To be honest, I hate fasting with a passion. It is by far my weakest spiritual discipline. So much so that I have trouble viewing fasting as a "pathway of grace" but rather see it as a "duty". When my husband approached me about doing it, I was less than thrilled but my inner being wanted so desperately to see God do the impossible, that I obliged. So we embarked upon a 10 day version of the Daniel fast. We were completely depleted from a physical, emotional and spiritual standpoint, but still had a small flame of faith, that by the power of the Holy Spirit, we were able to help fan in one another. We committed each day to more intentional and focused prayer and Bible study. As each day passed, we were living in the tension of steadily increasing faith and expectation along with the mounting pressure of deadlines. We both felt an unusual ability to hear from God clearly which was invigorating, exhilarating and frightening all at the same time, while still wrestling with the frustration of seemingly unanswered prayers. We were more real and raw with God and each other than we had been in some time. It's amazing how when you deprive your body of food to one degree or another, you realize just how "loud" it always is in your life.  Fasting turned the noise down enabling us to hear the still small voice of God.  We were two people invading heaven together...Two hearts holding on for one another when one of us felt like giving up... Two souls fighting to keep each other warm by the fire of our faith. Then, what our hearts had been anxiously anticipating for months, was answered in the span of less than 24 hours. We got a miracle! Heaven opened up and rained down. Of course the miracle was remarkable but more than anything, my husband and I tapped into a power source that we have failed to tap into more regularly as a married couple! I truly believe that the enemy of our souls shudders when a husband and a wife dare to believe God for the impossible. I believe he cringes when he sees us as a united force, bound by a holy covenant, standing on Jesus as our Rock. Don't allow the wind and the waves to blow you over, even if everything in your flesh literally, in every sense of the phrase, would rather be "gone with the wind" instead of braving the storm.

I don't know what you and your spouse may be believing Jesus for.  It could be healing in your marriage, a new baby, breakthrough in your finances, healing in your bodies, etc.  Or maybe you are simply in need of greater faith. Perhaps you and your husband have been in a season of doubt, unsure of who Jesus really is, what he has done and what he is calling you to.  I challenge you to believe! I'm convinced that there are few things on earth more lethal to the schemes of the enemy than a husband and a wife who boldly approach the Father, through the finished work of the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Remember that Jesus is FOR marriage. He is FOR unwavering faith. After all, he is the author and finisher of it. Our God specializes in the impossible! I dare you to believe God with your husband. I dare you to grab his hand and (respectfully) say, "Honey, we are going to approach the Throne together, even if we have to drag each other the whole way." Our King awaits us. Ready to listen, and resolved to manifest his satisfying presence wherein there is fullness of joy and pleasures forever more. He is ready to respond. Only believe.