A sweet young Lady in Waiting asked some very important questions. When I began telling her what the Lord has done in my life in answer to her questions, I realized this was a blog entry that had to be posted. If you want to answer these questions too, let me know. I would find your answers very interesting.
What dreams did you give up to be a stay at home mom?
None. I always wanted to be a wife and the mother to my children. I spent the first five years of my life out of high school doing mission work and waiting for God to bring me a husband. I had had a dream of becoming a medical missionary, but I laid that on the altar as I followed Jesus step-by-step.
After five years of working as a missionary, God called me to go back home and go back to school. I was anxious by then because He hadn't given me a husband yet, but His timing is best. (I had also grown up in a family with no father, so I had been trained that you should go to college to have something to fall back on in case you ever became a single parent). By this time, I decided that doing training as a nurse would be more practical than training as a doctor because of the time requirements (eleven years of school/residency versus 2-4 years as a nurse). I started back to school with this goal, but then I found out about physician assistants (PA's) and finished school as a PA in 4 1/2 years. While I was in school, God brought me my husband. I was 26 when we married. When I finished school, I started working as a PA full-time.
When I was 29, after a year of working as a PA, my first daughter was born. I still had a commitment to work for another year at this location in northeast Kansas, but it was terrible. I realized that my heart was to be home with my daughter. My husband stayed home with her and did a wonderful job, but I was very jealous! I began to pray that God would allow me to stay home with my children, and that my husband could support us. Nineteen months later I gave birth to my second daughter. By then I had finished my commitment in Kansas, and we had moved to Illinois, but I still had to work full-time while my husband stayed home with the girls. Anyway, when my second dd was 4, I found out I was pregnant with my 3rd dd. I cried out to God to make it possible for me to be home at least a year with my girls, so I could breastfeed without pumping, and homeschool both girls.
To make a long story short, by January of that year, my dh had a full-time job and I was able to cut back my hours to 1 1/2 days a week! I was thrilled! By April, I was able to bring my first dd home from a very unhappy private school experience to homeschool her. In July my third dd was born, and I began what I thought would be a year's maternity leave. The next fall I was able to homeschool both girls and be the stay-at-home Mom I longed to be. A year later, the Lord called us as a family into full-time mission work again (which had been another of my dreams all along). Last November we moved to where we currently live and work full-time for God.
I have no desire to go back and work full-time in the secular world, but God's dreams He placed in my heart have grown and come to pass. I am a full-time Mom to three lovely girls with a boy on the way; I homeschool my children; I am a medical missionary; and I live in the most beautiful place on earth serving the Creator of the world.
What was your first idea that you wanted to HS?
When my first dd was in private school (public schools in our area were overcrowded and never were an option for us), she was miserable. She hated school and cried everyday we drove her to school (Fortunately she only went to school 3 days a week). I decided that if we didn't listen to her and stand up for her needs, no one would. One month before school was out, we pulled her from school and I began homeschooling her. I knew I'd be able to stay home with her for a year to homeschool, while I was off for maternity leave with my youngest dd, but since then the Lord has made it possible for us to continue. Now I am in my 3rd year of homeschooling, and I hope never to turn back.
I hope this encourages someone whose dreams still linger in the future. Trust in God!
What a great entry. It was so nice to read true honesty and obedience to God's calling in your life. May you be richly blessed for such obedience.
I can't say if I ever had any major 'dreams' in my life. There are things that I would love to do - travel A LOT - go back to Bermuda . I may never be able to do these, but that's ok. I'm happy where God has me each day and trying to remember to cherish each one - since I"m not promised a next day - I shall choose to Live in this one joyfully and unto the Lord.
I just read your profile and see you are pregnant. Congradulations!! We have been trying to eat healthier too. I canged a lot with my last pregnancy. I was just under having gestational dibetes but was more than able to control it with healthier eating. Have you read the Maker's Diet? I haven't read it through yet but I have read parts of it and have a friends teaching a class on it.
You asked what I met by religious people? People who hold a belief system higher than salvation would be my answer. It's nice to have opinions ( I am VERY opinionated) but I am learning that God takes us just the way we are and we are all at different levels and to Not hang out with someone or devalue that person as a Christian is wrong. Did that make sense? We are listening to the Mike Pearl commentary's. They are excellant on this subject!! Wish everyone would listen to them.
Like my new avatar?
I loved reading your story ! The reason I didn't answer the 1st question is B/C I am the art student who didn't fullfill that part in my life YET. lol. I 1st always wanted to be a Mother and then I wanted to be a teacher, But now I get to do Both ! I do get to teach my children Art lessons and God is brewing up some leadings in my life with my art so.... stay tuned for the future. (0; Now it will be awhile to make these plans develop b/c I AM teaching and raising my kiddo's but it will come. The Lord has his plans and we need to just catch His wave and not to just go about it our way. ( meaning me and my art and how God is leading it and not to always do it the worlds way. (0: ) You were right it was me in Myrtle's post.lol.
In Him,
What dreams did you give up???
I didn't give up dreams so much as change my idea about what was ideal.
I always knew I wanted to have children, so I sought career paths that would allow for that. I went to college with the dream of becoming a teacher so I could have the same hours as my future children and have summers off with them.
When I got to the point in college where I realized I did not want to work for a system that was so flawed, I explored the oppirtunity of opening a daycare center. My mother and I opened our business in 1993 and I worked 11 hour days there. When my daughter was born in 1995, I was able to have her with me all day and work a second job to support us (I was a single mother) without much guilt.
When I married in 1999 and got pregnant with my son, I felt the call to be home, but financially we still needed the income, so I moved my daycare business home.....still working the second job.
About 3 years ago, I felt God asking me to give up the second job in the evenings. My daughter was in school now and so being gone in the evenings was really taking time away from her. It was a very difficult decision since I was always the primary breadwinner and I would have to rely on my husband (who hadn't been very reliable). It was total faith in God that allowed me to let go of my second business and just do home daycare. At this point, I changed my thinking. I decided that my daycare would be my mission field- not my JOB.
God has rewarded me in ways I could never imagine.
I have been able to service children who were unable to find placement other places and help out mothers in need, in ways that have blessed their lives. I have found it ultimately fulfilling, but still struggle on occasion when I am told I don't have a 'real job'- or that I need to find something that pays better (since often times I take less than my advertised rate if I believe the situation dictates it).
I love the gift of availability that God has blessed me with. I love being here for my children, and I love it that through God's faithfulness, I have been able to witness to His love and grace if we are obedient.
One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. To behold the beauty, the beauty of the Lord. To inquire in His temple, the temple of the Lord.
This is my everyday thoughts about being a mother to three little ladies (12, 10 and 5) and a three year old son. We serve God full-time, and I am a physician assistant. I have the most awesome husband in the world. I am trying to seek and serve God with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind and all my strength.
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