Housewife: An Ancient Term?

I don’t claim to know it all or be some scholar in any area. I’m just a normal girl learning as I go along, but I will say, I pray for wisdom and knowledge, and these blogs are result of what God is teaching me daily. I ask you to take this journey with me as I answer the question what is so “bad” about being a housewife?

 A WIFE in all her splendor is a rare gem to be treasured (Proverbs 31). In Bible times, a man would search the world to find a wife of noble character. She was sought after and searched for and once she was found, she was treasured.

The world is saying women should be able to “do it all”. We should have jobs, raise kids, cook, clean, build a side business, run a ministry in the church, help our husbands AND look pretty in our pearls while doing it all. The Feminist movement fought painfully hard to give women rights, to take women out from under oppression and silence, to give women the opportunity to work outside the home. But apparently this “stay-at-home wife” thing is a growing trend and I’m not alone. It looks to the world that we housewives are spitting on the feminist movement, but here’s my view, a young Christian woman who hasn’t been married even a year yet.

I have struggled (oh boy have I struggled) with opinions from family, views from friends, expectations from the world of why I stay home and through it all, God has been teaching me what a PRECIOUS gift it is to BE A WIFE. The world says we women have to get our degree, establish our career THEN think about getting married THEN wait a few years to have kids. By the time we do all that, we’re almost 30 years old. The world sets a timeline but God’s heart on the timeline is very different. 

I am one woman trying to break that dumb timeline and I want to hear God’s heart on the matter.

I’m not home to be lazy or live off my husband’s money. I am proud of his hard work and dedication. We don’t need the second income to LIVE and I was laid off from my job so I am taking this time to discover God’s heart of what it means to be a housewife.

A housewife isn’t “bad” like the world thinks it is. In my opinion, it is a rare and precious GIFT to be a housewife. God created women to be the man’s HELPER and when we women are doing what we were meant to do, we find great JOY. I have definitely found GREAT JOY in being Sam’s helper.

I am learning the importance of respecting my husband. When he feels respected, he exudes this confidence and he feels affirmed for the good man he is. He can go face the world knowing he has a wife who adores him at home. We are establishing good habits at the start of our marriage. I’m learning to cook for the first time in my life and clean our home and make it welcoming for friends. I’m learning what the Bible teaches about submission. I know the word is scary to many people, but the word submit means to love sacrificially, to obey, to seek to understand, and don’t we all want to be understood?

“These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes, to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God.” Titus 2:4-5 (these references also teach husbands and slaves)

God doesn’t care if we’re building our bank account or if we’re successful in our career (although He does want us to do our best in any place we’re at), God cares MORE about our obedience and submission (Colossians 3 whole chapter). He cares MORE about us having a sacrificial heart.

I would rather build into my husband, nurture his character and well being, and build into our family than to build into my career. I would rather learn to LOVE SELFLESSLY and UNCONDITIONALLY than to say I have a successful career. For me to work would mean I get to shop more but that’s a pretty dumb reason to get another job. Sure, we could save the money I make for our children or their college fund, but when did we get so CONSUMED with saving money for college? For retirement? For our daughters wedding?

When did we stop being satisfied with simple joys of life and start being consumed with always needing more?

Being a wife brings me so much JOY. I am a more peaceful, relaxed woman, low-stress and so happy. (And I made a delicious Lemon Chicken meal last night that my husband says was the best meal yet!)

God always cares MORE about the heart and motive than He does about the fame and success.

And when Sam and I start having children, they won’t care if we’re saving money for their college, they will care more about us being home and enjoying the simple joys of life together. 

Ladies of beauty….. accessorize yourselves in the characteristics of a noble wife; wisdom and knowledge and tenderness and a heart of a servant. Be full of JOY in loving your husband and helping him and be eager to serve your husband. EMBRACE being a wife in the full meaning of the word.

“Instead, clothe yourselves with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. This is how holy women of old made themselves beautiful. They TRUSTED God and ACCEPTED authority of their husbands.” 1 Peter 3:4-5

If you’re NOT a wife yet (and hope to be) then pray for your husband, write him love letters in hopes that you will meet him one day. I wrote letters to Sam as I enjoyed my life separate from him and God’s timing was perfect.