Encouragement In The Overwhelm | Christian Homemaking
Hi there, sister! In seasons of overwhelm, we often respond negatively. We’re under more stress, and things just don’t seem to flow as seamlessly. What if there’s a righteous way to handle our trials? Well friend, I’m here to tell you that there is- and the reason I know this, is because I am in a season where God is teaching me first-hand, and I’d love to share it with you today. Grab a warm and cozy drink, since we all need warming drinks and food when we’re under stress- after-all, that’s why it’s called “comfort food.” Let me share with you the trials God is allowing our family to be tested with, and what He is teaching us through it. I hope that this can be an encouragement to you and a testament of His faithfulness as we learn to grow in Christ-likeness.
Welcome to Mama’s Fruitful Home! My YouTube channel and blog is inspired from Titus 2:3-5 and Psalms 128:3. Titus 2:3-5 says, “Older women are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not slaves to excessive drinking. They are to teach what is Good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands and to love their children, to be self-controlled, pure, homemakers, kind and in submission to their husbands, so that God’s Word will not be slandered.” Psalms 128:3 says, “Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your home, your children, like young olive trees around your table.” My hope and prayer here is to grow in sweet sisterhood, that we may flourish together in Christ-likeness as daughters of The King, always encouraging with Scripture. I will share tips on homemaking, ways to care for our over-all health in our God-given design and cooking and baking from scratch. Whether you are a brand new homemaker, or you’ve been homemaking for years, my hope and prayer is that God may use me to encourage you in your journey of creating a fruitful home. I am so blessed to have you here!
Let me start first by sharing what’s been going on the last six weeks, and then I’ll share what The Lord is teaching me through it all.
For the last six weeks, something has happened in one way or the other. About six weeks ago, one of us got sick. In our family, it seems to be that just one of us gets sick for about a week, and then that person heals up, and the following week, just one person gets sick for about a week, and then heals up, and it just keeps going like that. Not often are we all sick at the same time- with the size of our family, it feels like sickness then is just lasting for forever. It was so strange, because some of us got a certain sickness, and some of us got something completely different, so it affected us all very uniquely. This Mama often happens to get sick last. It makes sense that I eventually get the sickness, because I have been tending to many other people for weeks, and my heart, mind and body are under stress. I heal up, and we’re finally all good, excited to get back into weekly Church and Bible study. Then, two days later, one of us comes down with something else, of course one or two days before Sunday Church. It only lasted about two days, however, there went another Church day, missed for weeks in a row. During these bouts of sicknesses, I wake up one morning to my husband letting me know that a young woman cut him off and he got in a car accident on his way to work. Then, when we were all clear from any illness for two or three days, my husband comes home from work with a pilonidal cyst- I’ll spare the details, but I’ll mention that he gets fevers and cannot move for about a week or so when he has this cyst. Then, two days before I was supposed to post this, I came down with an awful sickness, the opposite sickness that I did not have before but that some of my family members did- we were just passing our sicknesses back and fourth.
There ya have it. Now I’m sure each of you have trials of your own in this season. Keep those in the front of your mind as I share with you what God is teaching me through our hard circumstances, and the sin He has revealed within me. I know that God will teach you something here.
There was an evening the other day when I served everyone dinner, and then walked myself to the farthest part of the house(it happened to be the master bedroom bathroom). Sitting there on the toilet, I wept, I cried out to The Lord in prayer and I sat for a moment(in almost-silence) pondering what out of all of this was truly the culprit in overwhelming me as much as I was. I listed out all of the things, and when one specific thing came to mind, I burst into tears even more. You know the feeling when you get really hot and your eyes burn and your tears fall down your cheek and feel like fire? That was the cry in that moment. Wanna know what that one thing that stressed me out the most was? The car accident. This had been my husband’s first, and Lord willing only car accident, so that was scary for so many reasons. This is our leader, our provider, the kids’ Father- if anything happened to him, I don’t know what I’d do. This vehicle is also very new to us, and a car isn’t something that can easily be re-purchased if something bad enough happens to it. The car rental happened to give us a vehicle that smelled so strong of cigarette smoke and a whole bottle of cologne all at once, and I immediately got a headache and stomach ache when I had to drive it. I was so offended that a car rental would ask us what type of car we need based off of our family size, just to give us a car that we would absolutely not be putting our children in under the awful smelling circumstances. What really made me angry, though, was the simple fact that the young woman from the car accident was careless, and that to me, bothers me to my very core. The woman that early morning struggled with the sins of selfishness, impatience, rudeness and hastiness. As I thought more about how her sin affected our family, I realized that I can handle many things that go on in our family, but the moment someone inconveniences us, I’m enraged. As I was sitting there on the toilet, I heard one of our children from the dining-room table singing these lyrics : Leaning on the everlasting arms of Jesus. This warmed my heart in this moment so much, and I knew I had to rely on Christ to help me in this season. I asked Him for His strength, and I asked Him to search my heart. What was revealed to me, and I think is true of all of us, is this : I was wanting a pain-free life, one where others don’t affect me negatively. I now realize, that God brings others, yes sometimes inconveniently, into my life to teach me how to respond righteously when un-wanted things happen.
Two Bible verses that have been on my heart through all of this :
Romans 5:3-5, which says, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through The Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
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Philippians 4:4-9, which says, “Rejoice in The Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, (this is the main point right here that God reminded me of) *whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.* What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me- practice these things, and The God of peace will be with you.”
One : I am called to rejoice in my sufferings, not just survive them. I am growing and being pruned in my fiery trials, and becoming more like Christ through this. I am growing in my capacity. I am growing in my Godly character. I am in need of more hope, trust and reliance on God and His Perfect strength- in The Only One who can save me from my pain. Not my husband. Not my children. Only God. I am only ashamed when I am not being intentional and present in my relationship with God. He loves me more than any human ever can. I have The Holy Spirit within my heart to help me in these times of desperate need. The choice is mine : to walk by my flesh, or walk by The Spirit.
Two : There is not a season where I shouldn’t rejoice. My gentleness should be towards everyone, even the inconvenient people that end up in my lane(literally). God has a purpose for my life, and He knows and plans every single thing that I go through. I should not be anxious over what He allows in my life. When I am starting to feel anxious, I should immediately go to my Heavenly Father and confess my shortcomings to Him and ask Him to help me. I should thank Him for my life challenges, knowing He will never leave me or abandon me. I have the blessing of an opportunity to have peace, because I serve The God of Peace. I can choose to be anxious and unsettled, or to live in peace with my God who promises it to me- a peace that I cannot fully grasp or comprehend, because that’s how good and perfect it is. I am blessed with having a peaceful heart and mind, in Him. No matter who I’m thinking of or talking to, God wants me thinking and speaking things that are true, honoring, just, pure, lovely and commendable. There should be no corrupt or rude things that my mind or my mouth thinks or speaks of, even when that person is inconveniencing me or sinful towards me. When I think and speak in these ways, I am pleasing God, and in turn, blessed with His peace.
I was intensely disturbed by the inconveniences of sicknesses and a car accident, and the true colors of my heart showed- the sin nature of my heart. We’ve likely all heard the phrase, “You can’t control others, but you can control how you respond.” But do we actually practice this? Are we actually on guard against The Devil? Is self-control actually an hourly discipline?
1 Peter 5:8-9 says, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary The Devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith.”
Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
Psalms 141:3-4 says, “Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evil so that I take part in wicked deeds.”
As a Christian wife and Mama, I need to make sure that the tone that I set within the walls of our home are righteous and up-lifting. When I grumble and nag, the whole home becomes tense, because I set the mood here. I want to be a blessing to my husband and our children- and that starts with acknowledging my sin, repenting to God and my family, and moving forward in Christ-likeness. Not perfection. Simply maturing.
I hope this encouraged you today. If you are dealing with a trial and needing prayer, leave a comment down below or email me- my email is mamasfruitfulhome@gmail.com, and you can find it in my profile and in the description below this video. You don’t have to open up about anything personal- you can simply comment or email, “Prayer” and you best believe I will fervently be praying for you in this season. If you have some encouragement to us mamas who are in the thick of it, please share with us down below- Titus 2 ministry is so, so important in our Christian walks. Your encouraging engagement in the comments strengthens me in my walk with God as He leads me in encouraging you to create a fruitful home. It also blesses those who may be craving sisterhood community and encouragement in homemaking. I would love for this to be a safe place filled with righteous conversation. Please consider subscribing, liking and commenting! I post every Friday morning! If you’d like to remind yourself of these verses in your difficult seasons, you can find them written out on my blog at mamasfruitfulhome.com- you can find the link to my blog in my profile or in the description of this video. Bye, friend!
