Prioritizing Priorities
A few days ago, during our late night "Walk & Talk", Mike asked if I can start helping him again with the online work that he has to do in our business. In the nature of our business which is Multi-Level Marketing, this online work isn't like a regular job. This online work means building our business organizations in different parts of the world through online communication and mentoring. I must admit that I really got excited at first. This kind of work is not new to me since I've done this in the past, and I have to say that I have put my heart so much into it that it became hard for me to give it up when the Lord called me to be a stay home wife. On the other hand, I also felt a bit anxious. I know the responsibilities and the stress that comes with it and I am not sure if I am ready to face them again. I also felt afraid that I might mess up again in handling my priorities like I did in the past.
In obedience to God's call, I've been a stay home wife for almost a year. I have enjoyed this season of growing in my relationship with God and in intentionally embracing my role as a wife. Many times, God assured me that I am in the exact place where He wants me to be, but I also know that part of my God-given role is to submit and to be a help mate to my husband. I know that this new (but old) responsibility that my husband is assigning to me is from the Lord as well. So after we talked, I prayed about it, poured out my heart to God and asked for His wisdom and guidance. Amazingly, God revealed His answers! These are the things that God impressed into my heart:
RENEW MY MIND [Romans 12:2]
- Set my mind in the right perspective as early as now! I'm doing this work in obedience to God that I must submit and be a help mate to my husband. Unlike before, I am NOT going to do this to feed my own ego -- NOT to prove myself to anyone, NOT to establish my own identity and NOT to prove to others that I am not "living in my husband's shadow". Because the truth is, THERE IS NO SUCH THING! My husband and I are ONE. Period. I am only doing this because Mike asked me to help him. Therefore, I shouldn't set my heart on it. I should stop whenever the Lord, through Mike tells me to stop regardless of how much time and effort I've put into it or how much I've accomplished.
SET MY PRIORITIES RIGHT
- God made it clear to me that His Will and Purpose for my life is to:
God also emphasized the specific ways on how I can put these prioritizing in action. Some of them I've already been doing, and some of them I need to intentionally put into action:
EARLY MORNING QUIET TIME WITH GOD
- In one the books that I've read, I learned that for every new responsibility, something must be given up in order to make a space for fruitfulness. In my case, it is giving up a few hours of sleep so I can spend time in nurturing my relationship with God through reading and studying God's Word (#SheReadsTruth has been a great blessing to me!) first thing in the morning, before I get caught up in the busyness of my day! The Full Armor of God is my protection against the fiery arrows of the enemy! When I don't spend time in the Word of God first thing in the morning, I allow myself to be vulnerable against the attacks of Satan! It's like engaging in a battle naked! It takes (extra) Grace for me to wake up early! It's been my weakness until now, and I continue to struggle from time to time, but I understand how vital this is that I ask God the night before to help me overcome my flesh and wake up early. This is the most important of all, because apart from Him, I'm going to surely mess up with everything else! This also helps me to make sure that NOTHING takes God's first place in my heart.
NOT SITTING IN THE COMPUTER UNTIL ALL MY CHORES ARE FINISHED
STOP DOING ANYTHING AT LEAST 3 HOURS BEFORE MIKE GETS HOME
- Next to God, Mike deserves the BEST of my time and energy. Outside our home, is like a battle field for him and he arrives exhausted with all the physical, mental, and emotional stress that he has to go through to fulfill his God-given role of being a provider. The last thing that I want is for him to come home to a wife who is even more worn out and burn out than him! I rest my hand from all the computer works (and journaling) so that I can prepare for his bed time massage. I also try to take at least 30-45mins nap just to feel refreshed. I make sure that he finds me in the living room as soon as he enters the door to welcome him with a warm smile, embrace, and a kiss. I want to make him feel that no matter what happened outside the home, no matter how stressful his life out there is, he has a wife that is ready to serve him and to pamper him. He often tells me how much he can't wait to come home everyday. Again, I can only be this kind of wife to him as long as I am connected to the VINE -- GOD, the only source of this kind of love. When my relationship with God is not okay, I am the total opposite of everything that I have described. It is only through total surrender to God and the power of the Holy Spirit that I can overcome my selfishness and become the wife that God wants me to be.
ALLOCATE MY DAYS AND MY TIME ACCORDING TO MY GOD-GIVEN PRIORITIES
- This is something that I have just learned and I am continuing to realize how important it is! The Bible says, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." To make sure that I am leading my heart to its rightful place, I have to be careful in where I am putting my time, talent, and energy. So with God's guidance, I have decided how much time and how many days I will allocate to this online work that Mike assigns to me:
I will only do this online work 2-3 hours a day every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (as long as Mike is not at home). The rest of my days will be spend with:
*SUNDAY - Sabbath Day. A day to Worship and Serve God.
*TUESDAY - "Tuesdate" spend the whole day with Mike, plan dates,or just do something fun together making sure that we put our marriage on top of our priorities.
*SATURDAY - Prepare and study my topic for my Sunday Small Group Session. This is also a day when I can explore my creativity! Blog, paint, journal, read books, play the guitar and sing, have online fellowship with friends, rest, etc... This way I'll never feel deprived of doing the things that I love!
I know that every woman's situation is different. Some have kids to take care of, some are committed to an 8 hour job. Whatever each and everyone's situation is, knowing and obeying God's will and purpose for us makes all the difference. I believe that it is the secret to living a full life.
In obedience to God's call, I've been a stay home wife for almost a year. I have enjoyed this season of growing in my relationship with God and in intentionally embracing my role as a wife. Many times, God assured me that I am in the exact place where He wants me to be, but I also know that part of my God-given role is to submit and to be a help mate to my husband. I know that this new (but old) responsibility that my husband is assigning to me is from the Lord as well. So after we talked, I prayed about it, poured out my heart to God and asked for His wisdom and guidance. Amazingly, God revealed His answers! These are the things that God impressed into my heart:
GOD'S WISDOM & DIRECTION IN MY NEW RESPONSIBILITY
- Set my mind in the right perspective as early as now! I'm doing this work in obedience to God that I must submit and be a help mate to my husband. Unlike before, I am NOT going to do this to feed my own ego -- NOT to prove myself to anyone, NOT to establish my own identity and NOT to prove to others that I am not "living in my husband's shadow". Because the truth is, THERE IS NO SUCH THING! My husband and I are ONE. Period. I am only doing this because Mike asked me to help him. Therefore, I shouldn't set my heart on it. I should stop whenever the Lord, through Mike tells me to stop regardless of how much time and effort I've put into it or how much I've accomplished.
SET MY PRIORITIES RIGHT
- God made it clear to me that His Will and Purpose for my life is to:
- Anything that I need to do outside these 5 bullets are just next in my priority list and should NEVER consume the Best of my time and energy. To help Mike through this online work is just "one of the other things" that I do. It should never be the center of my life, nor be counted as my greatest accomplishment compared to my relationship with God, loving and serving my husband, making my home a warm place to live in, and serving my biological and spiritual family.
God also emphasized the specific ways on how I can put these prioritizing in action. Some of them I've already been doing, and some of them I need to intentionally put into action:
EARLY MORNING QUIET TIME WITH GOD
- In one the books that I've read, I learned that for every new responsibility, something must be given up in order to make a space for fruitfulness. In my case, it is giving up a few hours of sleep so I can spend time in nurturing my relationship with God through reading and studying God's Word (#SheReadsTruth has been a great blessing to me!) first thing in the morning, before I get caught up in the busyness of my day! The Full Armor of God is my protection against the fiery arrows of the enemy! When I don't spend time in the Word of God first thing in the morning, I allow myself to be vulnerable against the attacks of Satan! It's like engaging in a battle naked! It takes (extra) Grace for me to wake up early! It's been my weakness until now, and I continue to struggle from time to time, but I understand how vital this is that I ask God the night before to help me overcome my flesh and wake up early. This is the most important of all, because apart from Him, I'm going to surely mess up with everything else! This also helps me to make sure that NOTHING takes God's first place in my heart.
NOT SITTING IN THE COMPUTER UNTIL ALL MY CHORES ARE FINISHED
- This helps me not to get caught up with the demands of my online work and neglect my household duties. It's easy to rationalize especially to tell my husband that "I am closing a sale or a big transaction", but then again, if I neglect ANY of my Top 5 Priority, whatever accomplishment(s) I had with my online work still counts as USELESS!
STOP DOING ANYTHING AT LEAST 3 HOURS BEFORE MIKE GETS HOME
- Next to God, Mike deserves the BEST of my time and energy. Outside our home, is like a battle field for him and he arrives exhausted with all the physical, mental, and emotional stress that he has to go through to fulfill his God-given role of being a provider. The last thing that I want is for him to come home to a wife who is even more worn out and burn out than him! I rest my hand from all the computer works (and journaling) so that I can prepare for his bed time massage. I also try to take at least 30-45mins nap just to feel refreshed. I make sure that he finds me in the living room as soon as he enters the door to welcome him with a warm smile, embrace, and a kiss. I want to make him feel that no matter what happened outside the home, no matter how stressful his life out there is, he has a wife that is ready to serve him and to pamper him. He often tells me how much he can't wait to come home everyday. Again, I can only be this kind of wife to him as long as I am connected to the VINE -- GOD, the only source of this kind of love. When my relationship with God is not okay, I am the total opposite of everything that I have described. It is only through total surrender to God and the power of the Holy Spirit that I can overcome my selfishness and become the wife that God wants me to be.
ALLOCATE MY DAYS AND MY TIME ACCORDING TO MY GOD-GIVEN PRIORITIES
- This is something that I have just learned and I am continuing to realize how important it is! The Bible says, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." To make sure that I am leading my heart to its rightful place, I have to be careful in where I am putting my time, talent, and energy. So with God's guidance, I have decided how much time and how many days I will allocate to this online work that Mike assigns to me:
I will only do this online work 2-3 hours a day every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (as long as Mike is not at home). The rest of my days will be spend with:
*SUNDAY - Sabbath Day. A day to Worship and Serve God.
*TUESDAY - "Tuesdate" spend the whole day with Mike, plan dates,or just do something fun together making sure that we put our marriage on top of our priorities.
*SATURDAY - Prepare and study my topic for my Sunday Small Group Session. This is also a day when I can explore my creativity! Blog, paint, journal, read books, play the guitar and sing, have online fellowship with friends, rest, etc... This way I'll never feel deprived of doing the things that I love!
I know that every woman's situation is different. Some have kids to take care of, some are committed to an 8 hour job. Whatever each and everyone's situation is, knowing and obeying God's will and purpose for us makes all the difference. I believe that it is the secret to living a full life.
""No matter what we want or what society tells us to want,
or what anyone else wants for us, we as
Women After God's Own Heart,
we are to WANT WHAT GOD WANTS."
- Elizabeth George [A Wife After God's Own Heart]
Comments
Post a Comment
Please feel free to leave a comment! Thank you! :)