I was looking through old GirlTalk posts and found some great encouragement for this season of life. (I was actually looking for any clues as to the surprise they keep alluding to!! anyone have any ideas?? I'm thinking women's conference :) ) Last August, the ladies were discussing homemaking. Questions arose about single women and homemaking. The ladies gave some great Biblically-based insite as to what single women should do with our desires and instincts to be God-glorifying homemakers.
August 21, 2008
The Single Woman as Homemaker
Stephanie, a young single woman, wrote in with a question: ....
... do you have any encouragement for the single woman who desires to be a wife and mom, but...is not? ....
First of all remember that God has not forgotten you (Is. 44:21). He has ordained every single day of your singleness before one of them came to be (Ps. 139:16). You are not on hold or waiting in the wings of femininity. God has created you a woman and He has good works for you to walk in today (Eph 2:10) by expressing your femininity.
“Trust in the Lord, and do good” the Psalmist exhorts us. "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:3-4). Of course we know this is not a promise that He will bring you a husband. But we do know for sure that “no good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Ps. 84:11). If a husband is good for you, He will bring you a husband, in His good time. You don’t have a husband today because that is not good for you today. What you have today is better. It’s true even if it doesn’t feel like it. And it’s exciting!
But God wants you to delight in Him and in His good and perfect ways—which include a love for home and family. So don’t abandon your love for the home simply because you don’t have your own home yet. Your desires to be a helper, to nurture children, to care for a home are God-given and should be cultivated, not squashed. And you should continue to improve your skills in these areas, not put them on hold.
Listen to one single woman’s perspective:
“To be single is not to forego the traditional ‘womanly’ pursuits. Whether you live alone or with a husband and children, a house or apartment is still a home that requires “homemaking.” And marital status has nothing to do with the desire for warm, comfortable, aesthetically pleasing surroundings. God gave each of us a desire for beauty; it is part of our desire for him, who is loveliness incarnate. Why should a single woman reject that part of her image as a creature of God? . . . I am a better and more imaginative cook now than I was five years ago. I am free to experiment on myself and my friends. I have the time and the money to entertain people around the dinner table, something I might not want or be able to do if I cooked for a family three times a day every day” (Cheryl Forbes qtd. in Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood by John Piper and Wayne Grudem, xxvii).
...I pray you are encouraged to trust in God and inspired to make it your aim to be an even “better and more imaginative” homemaker next year than you are now.
The discussion was continued with the next day's post:
The Way Home
... As a single woman there are many questions you must wrestle with—How do I reconcile my desire to work in the home with the need to work a job to support myself? How do I prepare for my future when I don’t know what that future will be? What does it look like to love the home and display femininity in my life? What if I can’t afford a home of my own? and many more.
While I can’t answer all these questions, I want to encourage you that God is eager to give you clarity. As JI Packer reminds us: “If you ask, ‘Why is this or that happening?’ no light may come, for ‘the secret things belong to the Lord our God (Deuteronomy 29:29); but if you ask, ‘How am I to serve and glorify God here and now, where I am?’ there will always be an answer” (The Lord’s Prayer, p. 14).
Take time, in prayer, to ask God how you can glorify Him as a woman, and in the home, here and now. And make use of the wisdom he has provided through others such as a pastor or a godly Christian friend....
I've heard over the last few months about taking full advantage of the single season to glorify God. I pray thats my daily focus! It's been a blessing to have some great heart to hearts with sweet sisters in the same season of life. Its uplifting to know how similar our questions and struggles are. I hope this is as encouraging to my sisters as it has been to me :)
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