Homemaking God's Way - Your Heart

Today we are beginning a series on homemaking, something very dear to my heart. Throughout my 18 years of homemaking, I've encountered many comments such as, "Oh, you are a homemaker. But do you have a real job?" As well as, "What can you possibly do at home all day?" Or my personal favorite, "You're home all day, you have time to do it." These comments no longer offend me because I know they come from a lack of knowledge.

In years gone by, homemaking was a beautiful thing. Today, people are offended by it. Homemaking is seen a worthless job, or not a job at all. Homemakers are fearful they are not living up to their full potential and outsiders think it's a waste of time.

Here is how I see homemaking: my ministry to my mission field. Homemaking is my calling from God. I am called to minister to and care for my family and my home.

It's not always easy. But as a pastor's wife, I can honestly tell you that ministry is rarely easy. But I have zero doubt in my mind that God called me to this.

Throughout this series, I want to give you hope and help you find joy in your homemaking. I want you to begin to see caring for your husband, children and home, as a ministry and find purpose. I want you to learn to be a homemaker, God's way.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart,

as working for the Lord, not for human masters.

Colossians 3:23

Today we will start with working on your own heart. Yes my friend, this is a very serious part of homemaking.

I love baseball. {My baseball team won the World Series!! Eek!!} Think about this, a baseball team knows how to play the game. They know the rules, they know the concepts, they know everything there is to know about baseball. They are also physically fit. Those guys work out daily and are strong. So they are fully capable and prepared to play a game of baseball. However, they still practice! They go into spring training for roughly 2 months before the season starts. Then the practice every day. It doesn't matter one bit that they know the game or are physically fit. It matters that they practice.

The same goes for us. We know how to take care of our home. We know how to be a wife and a mother. But we still need to spend time with God. It's our warm up time or practice time for the day. Just like in baseball, a play may happen that catches a player off guard or makes them change their play a little, but they are better equipped to deal with it because they practiced. When we spend time with God and reading His Word, we are better equipped when life throws us messy plays. and in homemaking, there are always messy plays!

Also like a baseball game, {are you tired of my baseball talk yet? I told ya I loved baseball!} even though the players know how to play, they still have coaches to direct them throughout the game. We need to continue our communication with God throughout the day. Have your quite time with God in the morning, then pause a few moments several times a day to continue talking to Him. End your day talking to Him again. I rarely say "amen" when I pray. Amen finishes a prayer, but I like to pray all day long.

The first step in finding joy in homemaking and in doing it God's way, is to work on your own heart and walk with God.

This week's action plan:

Commit to spending time with God every single day. Personally, I much prefer mornings. But if morning time just doesn't work for you, at the very least, pause and pray before you even get out of bed in the morning. Then find a time that works for you. Continue to talk to God throughout the day. Praise Him. Thank Him. Sing praises. Ask Him your requests.

Join me for the next several Mondays as we learn to do homemaking God's way!