The Struggles of Being a Good Wife and Mom

I remember once hearing a sermon on how being a stay at home wife and mom is one of the leading career paths that leads into depression.  I can totally understand how this happens.   To do this job requires an individual to be a self motivator, as there is no one hovering over you making sure the job gets done and that it gets done correctly. 

I made this statement to say this.  The struggles of trying to be good wife; one who keeps the home tidy both inside and outside, who keeps up with the dishes and the laundry.  The one who when there is a random moment somewhere, can vacuum the house and mop the floors more than once every couple of weeks.  The one who insures the kids are taken care of in all areas including; physically, mentally, emotionally, and if you home school like we do, educationally so that your husband doesn't have to pick up the pieces that you forgot to do or didn't have time to do.  The one who stays up late with him even though you are totally exhausted and can't keep your eyes open any more, because they are the night owl of the family.  How to do all this and stay sane in the process is something I haven't figured out yet.  I don't know how to be the ideal Proverbs 31 wife for my husband. 

I know for me, I consider myself a strong help meet to him as I try to do everything around the house so he only has to worry about going to work and working his really long hours, but to be joyful and enthusiastic, and even loving sometimes is the hard part.  I began a Proverbs 31 Study just before our life took a whirlwind adventure and I got derailed from it due to this family crisis and I remember in the beginning of the study that the author had warned us to be wear, it would be a challenging study.  Little did I know how challenging she meant.  When you take on this study, it makes you examine some of the finer details in your life that you didn't  know existed.  This leads me back to my simple question of how to be that "Proverbs 31 wife" in a society that is so far from the values and principles that this scripture was founded upon.

I don't know how to stay up with my husband until late into the night so that I can keep him company whether I am awake or asleep, but still get up in the morning as the scripture says in verse 15:
                
             "She gets up while it is still dark; ..."

I can do the get up early as I am the early bird of our relationship, but I also require a lot of sleep.  To stay up late and get up early on a regular basis is just more than this body and mind can handle.   I find that when I go to bed and I'm able to sleep through the night, then I have the energy it takes to be a good wife and home school mom.  So here I am back at my same question, how?  How do I do all of this and remain patient, loving, helpful and joyful? 

Leaning on God is my only answer to it all.  I have to lean on God for it all.  He guides me and encourages me.  I may never be the ideal "Proverbs 31 Wife", but I won't stop trying.   As God molds us for perfection in one area of our life he is preparing the other areas too. He is our great refiner.  He keeps refining and refining and polishing and polishing until we have mastered what He wants us to learn.

 For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver.  Psalm. 66:10

God allows us to experience these hardships in our lives so that we will draw closer to Him. 

These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.                                                                                   1 Peter 1:7  

Through writing this I have been able to seek out my own answer to my above question.  I can't do "all" of this on my own strength.  I have to lean on God to provide the physical, mental, and emotional strength to be a great wife and mom.  I have to remember to constantly turn to Him when I am tired, weak, and frustrated, to give me the strength to keep moving forward. 

     I can do everything through him who gives me  strength.                                                                                                       Phil 4:13

I hope in writing this, you are able to find the strength and encouragement to move forward through the struggles of you own life.  It is a difficult journey to travel in this day and age where the lives we are living is consider "weird" or not "normal". We have to stand up together and know that we aren't walking through this journey alone.  We have God holding our hands and holding the map for us.  He is telling us how to do it all.  We have to remember to sit back and listen to what He is telling us.   We can do this, I can do this.  With God by my side I can be the wife and mom that He is molding me to be.