Hello friends,

I was delighted to discover that for this month of May, ChristianAudio.com’s free audiobook download of the month is the Foxe’s Book of Martyrs!

This wonderful book traces the roots of religious persecution from Stephen in the book of Acts, considered the first Christian martyr, to the early Church’s persecution under the Roman empire.

It is fascinating and encouraging to read of the great “cloud of witnesses” and those “heroes of the faith” who came before us.  I first heard of this title after hearing Dr. Joe Morecraft’s sermon series on the History of the Reformation.  It gave me a renewed love for church history.  There are so many lessons to learn from these great men who fought in the time of Reformation, many of whom are included in the book including John Wycliffe, John Huss, William Tyndale, Martin Luther, Thomas Cranmer.   The details of the sufferings and pain which they were willing to endure will move you to tears.  It gave me pause also about the things and certain freedom that we take for granted today.

For those interested in reading the written version of this work, there are many versions and editions sold, but I recommend the particular edition prepared by W. Grinton Berry because, to the best of my knowledge, I believe it’s unabridged.  The audiobook is a slightly different version from this paperback edition, but I think it is pretty good, too.

The free download is available till the end of this month.  I hope you’ll enjoy it!

Earlier this evening, I felt a bit discouraged about a particular circumstance in my life that I considered to be less than ideal. But God, in His goodness, encouraged me through a friend and reminded me of a wonderful quote by Charles Spurgeon. I decided to google the quote, hoping I’ll be able to read more on this subject and see the greater context. If I were to sum up the quote in one sentence: “Had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, divine love would have put you there.”

How comforting! How encouraging!

Besides this, I’m reminded that God has given me so much blessings in life. He’s given me so much that I don’t deserve, and He’s spared me from the things I do deserve. He’s pardoned my sins when I deserved His just wrath. And He gives me the eternal blessing of heaven when I deserved hell. Since He has taken care of the biggest problems in my life, could He not take care of smaller problems? Absolutely!

Through our finite perspective, there may have been times when we feel like it would’ve been better for us to be in another circumstance than we are in, or maybe to have been taught or exposed under godly teaching earlier, or _______ (fill in the blank); yet in God’s infinite wisdom He knows what is best. He is never too late. His timing is perfect. Never one second too early, nor one second too late. It happens exactly when He wants and appoints it to happen. It would be utterly foolish for me to think that I know better. No one can improve God’s plan, for He “causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28, emphasis mine). We often see things from a temporal perspective; yet as the eternal Creator, God sees the beginning to the end. He is in control.

Everything God does is right, holy, and just. In His infinite wisdom and sovereignty, whatever lot God places me in life is the most suitable for me—not only for the purpose of molding me into the person He wants me to be but, more importantly, to display His trophies of grace by showing what He can accomplish through (or despite!) imperfect means, sinners, and less-than-ideal circumstances, so that it brings Him the most glory.

The following is the portion written by our beloved “Prince of Preachers,” Charles Spurgeon, that was used by God to encourage, comfort, and remind me of His goodness and sovereignty this evening (excerpted from Spurgeon’s Evening by Evening; Or, Readings at Eventide for the Family or the Closet – page 318):

Believer, if your inheritance be a lowly one, you should be satisfied with your earthly portion; for you may rest assured that it is the fittest for you. Unerring wisdom ordained your lot, and selected for you the safest and best condition. A ship of large tonnage is to be brought up the river; now, in one part of the stream there is sand-bank; should some one ask, “Why does the captain steer through the deep part of the channel, and deviate so much from a straight line?” his answer would be, “Because I should not get my vessel into harbor at all if I did not keep to the deep channel.” So, it may be, you would run aground and suffer shipwreck, if your divine Captain did not steer you into the depths of affliction, where waves of trouble follow each other in quick succession. Some plants die if they have too much sunshine. It may be that you are planted where you get but little; you are put there by the loving Husbandman, because only in that situation will you bring forth fruit unto perfection. Remember this: had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, divine love would have put you there. You are placed by God in the most suitable circumstances, and if you had the choosing of your lot, you would soon cry, “Lord, choose my inheritance for me, for by my self-will I am pierced through with many sorrows.” Be content with such things as you have, since the Lord has ordered all things for your good. Take up your own daily cross; it is the burden best suited for your shoulder, and will prove most effective to make you perfect in every good word and work to the glory of God. Down, busy self and proud impatience; it is not for you to choose, but for the Lord of Love!

I feel great this evening. I did my work for the day, washed three loads of laundry this evening, took a warm shower, ate dinner, made plans for the weekend and this coming Lord’s Day. I think cleaning is therapeutic for me. Organizing makes life so much easier and manageable. I enjoy putting things in order or where they belong. Yes, I even alphabetize my books…according to author’s last name, publication date, etc. (This is what happens when God combines a love for books and organization together. ) Okay, just kidding about the publication date part!

There’s also something fulfilling about performing these things ourselves. It’s just not the same when we hire a maid or someone else to do them. I am learning that taking care of one’s home is more than just going through the motions. The labor of love that goes into it makes a difference. One can’t pay for that; it’s priceless. It is the ingredient that turns a house into a home. Growing up, I wondered why my mom’s cooking often tasted better than mine even though I’ve tried to replicate her recipe by following it step-by-step. Now I know why. It is because of the dedication and labor of love that she pours into everything she does for her family. The dishes she prepared were cooked with a mother’s warmth, stirred with a mother’s patience, seasoned with an extra pinch of real hearty love, and served generously with affections.

I echo Cheryl Mendelson’s words when she wrote in her excellent book Home Comforts (an encyclopedic A-Z resource on homemaking how-to’s):

[W]hat a traditional woman did that made her home warm and alive was not dusting and laundry. Someone can be hired to do those things (to some extent, anyway). Her real secret was that she identified herself with her home. Of course, this did not always turn out well. A controlling woman might make her home suffocating. A perfectionist’s home might be chilly and forbidding. But it is more illuminating to think about what happened when things went right. Then her affection was in the soft sofa cushions, clean linens, and good meals; her memory in well-stocked storeroom cabinets and the pantry; her intelligence in the order and healthfulness of her home; her good humor in its light and air. She lived her life not only through her own body but through the house as an extension of her body; part of her relation to those she loved was embodied in the physical medium of the home she made.

Housekeeping is also one of those things that returns immediate satisfaction. It’s one of those jobs where we can not only enjoy, but also see, the results almost immediately. After finishing the laundry, at the end of the day I get to enjoy the nice, delicious feeling of clean bed sheets and warm, fresh-smelling comforter during a cold winter season such as this one. Or when I cook, I get to share and partake with my loved ones the savory creation of homemade recipes with fragrant aroma already wafting through the air. How wonderful…

On this note, well, soon it will be time for me to sleep. Before then, I shall lie down and curl up with a good book on my cozy bed that has been wrapped with crisply washed sheets. The rain has been pouring outside, and I cannot think of a nicer way to end the evening than snuggling up on airy pillows, under a soft comforter along with a great book (off my alphabetized bookshelf, of course ), a warm cup of drink, and a few chocolate chip cookies.

Today is the Lord’s Day!  Happy Lord’s Day to everyone!   I hope you have a blessed day of worship at church today.

Exodus 20:8-10 says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God.” So in this scripture God tells us that for six days we shall work, but on the sabbath day we ought not to work, but rather set it aside as a day of rest.

I can hear it now…  “What?  No work?  Yep, I’m all for any rules that says we don’t have to work.  We need more rules like that!”

Heh-heh…   On a more serious note, though, isn’t it so wonderful to have one day of the week where we can set aside all the other cares and affairs of our lives (including its hustles and bustles) and simply devote it for the worship and meditation of our God?  God knows we need it!  I’m grateful for the opportunity to reserve the Lord’s Day for the public worship, private meditation, reading, and reflecting on the things of God.

May you continue to have a blessed and wonderful Lord’s Day today!

Recently a visitor to my blog wrote a comment in one of my entries to share his views and beliefs against the Reformed view of soteriology.  One of the nice things and purposes of a blog is to interact, share thoughts, and learn with one another as we seek to grow in our walk with God.  I’m thankful to have the opportunity to learn and exchange thoughts with others.  So with that in mind, I just wanted to share some of my thoughts and reflections on this subject…

I believe that one of the common objections against the doctrine of God’s sovereign grace in electing sinners often times stems from a misunderstanding of the nature of fallen, sinful human beings.  Many believe that human nature, though infected by original sin and the fall, has a neutral free will or perhaps even the inclination to choose good.

Those who reject Calvinism likened the non-believer as a mere patient suffering from an illness (sin) and in need of a cure (the Gospel).  They believe that he, just like any other sick person, has the ability to choose to take the medication (e.g. choose God).  But this is a wrong analogy.  The Bible likened the sinner not to a sick person, but rather a dead person (e.g. spiritually dead in sin).  There’s a reason why it uses this analogy.  Can a dead person respond to anything?  Does a dead man or woman desire to choose life?  Well, he or she is dead; they are unaware of their need.  The Scripture uses this analogy to point out the impossibility of the sinner to choose God in his spiritual death.  That’s why Paul says that though we were once dead to sin, now we are made alive spiritually in Jesus Christ because that is what it takes for God to save us.

The sinner is dead, blind, and deaf to the things of God.  He cannot respond to God’s outward call.  His heart is deceitful and desperately corrupt.  His will is not free; it is in bondage to his evil nature, therefore, he will not — indeed he cannot — choose good over evil in the spiritual realm.

The “Prince of Preachers” Charles Spurgeon said,

“Free will I have often heard of, but I have never seen it. I have met with will, and plenty of it, but it has either been led captive by sin or held in blessed bonds of grace.”

And George Whitefield aptly said:

“Man is nothing: he hath a free will to go to hell, but none to go to heaven … till God worketh in him to will and to do his good pleasure.”

This is precisely why people continue to reject God in their sins, unless God raises them from their death and makes them alive spiritually.

Another common misunderstanding of God’s unconditional election is the assertion that God makes robots out of men in predestining or electing them unto salvation.  But, no one goes to heaven kicking and screaming.  Allow me to echo the words of Charles Spurgeon when he said, “An Arminian, on his knees, prays desperately like a Calvinist.” The truth is: we despair of anything other than unmerited, irresistible, sovereign grace as the cause of our salvation.  Who of us, when our loved ones are lost as they dangle over the fire of hell, would pray, “O Lord, I know You desire to save my brother John, but he over here has his own free will…”  That prayer surely makes God out to be an impotent Savior.  I’d venture to say that even when we were Arminians, chances are at some point in our lives, we have pleaded on bended knees before the throne of grace, “O Lord, save my unsaved parents!! Seize them! Draw them with Your cords of love. Pluck them out as a brand from the burning, O Lord!”

Which elect person, when awakened from his spiritual death and shown the depravity of his sinfulness, would choose to return to their dead state of damnation in bondage to sin and reject an eternal bliss of heaven with his Holy Creator?  In saving a sinner, the Holy Spirit graciously causes the elect sinner to cooperate, to believe, to repent, to come freely and willingly to Christ.

I praise God that we’re not dependent in any way upon our so called “free will” in order to be saved, for if that were the case, no one would ever be saved!  No one would have chosen God in his natural dead state.  I thank God that we do not serve an impotent Savior who is limited in His work of applying salvation by man’s will, nor is He dependent upon man’s cooperation for success.

If salvation were in even any minute way (or shape or form) dependent upon the “free will” of man who is dead spiritually, we certainly have room to boast.  Consider Charles Spurgeon’s rendition of Arminian prayer to demonstrate the vanity of such a belief:

Fancy him [an Arminian] praying, `Lord, I thank thee I am not like those poor presumptuous Calvinists.  Lord, I was born with a glorious free will; I was born with power by which I can turn to thee of myself; I have improved my grace.  If everybody had done the same with their grace that I have, they might all have been saved.  Lord, I know thou dost not make us willing if we are not willing ourselves.  Thou givest grace to everybody; some do not improve it, but I do.  There are many that will go to hell as much bought with the blood of Christ as I was; they had as much of the Holy Ghost given to them; they had as good a chance, and were as much blessed as I am.  It was not thy grace that made us differ; I know it did a great deal, still I turned the point; I made use of what was given me, and others did not — that is the difference between me and them.’

I am eternally grateful to my Almighty God that salvation is all of Him, beginning to end, top to bottom, inside and out.  I have no room to boast.  I thank God that He saved me not with the help of my own supposed “glorious free will,” but simply by His glorious, amazing grace.

Thank You, Lord, that when I was dead in sin and could not respond to You, You in Your mercy and grace, raised me alive spiritually by changing my dead cold heart of stone with a new heart of flesh, that I may believe and thus come freely and willingly to Christ.

Happy Thanksgiving to you!  I’m excited to be able to celebrate today with my family.   I’m so thankful to God for His infinite goodness, mercy, and blessings that He abundantly pours into my life.  I hope that your Thanksgiving is filled with much joy and thankfulness to our wonderful, gracious God!

The Pilgrims and Puritans celebrating their first Thanksgiving.

I just want to praise God for His goodness to me.  He answered a BIG prayer request of mine over the weekend.  Though, of course, nothing is too big or too hard for our great God.  Praise God for His kindness!   Without delving too deep in details, I must say He works wondrously, in ways I wouldn’t have guessed.  I know that it was the Lord Who orchestrated the answer to my request.  Yes, nothing happened by “chance,” but the way it happened also seems a bit out of the ordinary.  And I believe God sometimes does things in ways that we least expect Him to.  Or in a way that seems almost unlikely or maybe even almost “impossible.”  Why?  It is so that we will give Him all the glory.  So that we can thank Him and not take any credit for our answered prayers.  So that we are reminded that He is Jehovah Jireh–the Lord will provide.  He alone receives all the glory because we know we can never say “Oh, I did this or that to help make it happen.”  I truly feel that God is watching out over me.  Yes, I’ve known this intellectually in my mind before.  I had an intellectual assent that the Lord loves me and provides for me in every way.  But through my experiences, the Lord continues to teach me and help me to not only think it, but also to experience His wondrous providence and love in my daily life.  Thank You, Lord.

These recent two weeks have been amongst some of the best weeks I’ve had in a while.  Praise God for that!  He has been so good to me.  And He has also answered a few of my prayers.  Well, of course, God always answers our prayers.  Sometimes it’s a “yes,” sometimes it’s a “no,” and other times it’s a “wait.”  But, recently I’ve been able to see how several of my prayer requests have come to materialize.  And I want to publicly thank my Heavenly Father for His kindness and goodness to me.  I want to thank Him for His sovereign providence and provision over my life.  He knows my needs even before I ever knew of them myself.  He providentially sends different people into my life with the right temperaments and personalities that He knows would uplift me, encourage me, teach me, and edify me.  It is so wonderful to be around God’s people who love Him and His truths!  They challenge us in the faith.  They make us want to be a better and godlier Christian.  They set an example for us so we are reminded to set the bar higher in our walk with God.  And through their examples, they help us see how it is possible to live out the godly principles laid out in Scripture.  As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.  And so it is when we see a living embodiment of the kind of character traits we strive to cultivate in ourselves.  That is so encouraging.

When I look back over the different stages of my life, I can now see in retrospect that God has always been there for me.  He is good to me not only when things are going well for me, for example, like this recent week.  He is good not only when He answers prayers with a “yes.”  He is good even when He said “no” because in His divine providence and omniscience, He knows what is best for me.  He was good even when times seemed so dry and hopeless in my life.  He uses even the seemingly “bad” things in my life for good and for the purpose of teaching me.  He uses bad times to draw me closer unto Him so I may rely upon Him more.  God used those times I walked through the deep valleys of life so that I may look up and behold the great heights of His love from below and experience the rich depths of His mercy.  He sovereignly orchestrates everything for His purpose (Romans 8:28).  I am so thankful, humbled, and grateful to know such a good, merciful, loving God Who is actively involved in the lives of His children, Who does all things according to the council of His will and His good pleasure, and for His own glory.  We serve an awesome God indeed.

Thank God for His new mercies every day.  I need to improve my time management and stewardship lately.  I want to be the best steward I could be with my time.  I want to live my life purposefully for God every hour of life.  And I know I’ve not been faithful in that lately.  But you know what?  Thank God it is never too late to repent.  Thank God it is never too late to get back up again.  I am thankful that God has been merciful in drawing me, in convicting me, and that He did not pass me over.

I read in Elisabeth Elliot’s book Passion and Purity that Jim Elliot used to write Scripture verses on little note cards so he could use his time wisely by memorizing Scripture while waiting in line for lunch at his school’s cafeteria.  Wow!  Talk about redeeming the time.  Rather than allowing minutes to pass idly by, he was thinking God’s thoughts after Him and etching God’s Word in his heart.  Jesus said that he who is faithful in little things is faithful in greater things as well.  “Take care of the pennies, and the pounds will take care of themselves.”  Harvey Newcomb said, “So if we take care of the moments, the hours will take care of themselves.”

I’ve also noticed remaining idle invites temptations which otherwise would not have entered into our life.  The old adage is “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.”  And the wise Charles Spurgeon aptly said, “Some temptations come to the industrious, but all temptations attack the idle.”  I think of King David who committed the sin of adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of one of his most faithful servants Uriah, and how he fell into the temptation in the first place.  Incidentally I just finished reading the book of II Samuel recently.  Chapter 11 records for us what happened just prior to David’s sin:

In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel.  And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.  And David sent and inquired about the woman.  And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”  So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her.  (II Samuel 11:1-4)

Why did David remain at Jerusalem when there was a battle going on?  It was during “the time when kings go out to battle,” but instead David stayed at home.  If he had been in battle instead of wandering around walking on the roof of his house, he may not have seen Bathsheba bathing and found himself in such vulnerable situation.

Perhaps that’s why John Owen, “a Puritan of the Puritans,” wrote:

“The indulgence of one sins opens the door to further sins.  The indulgence of one sin diverts the soul from the use of those means by which all other sins should be resisted.”

When we let our guards down and give in to one temptation, it also becomes harder to resist the next one facing us.  Our mind is not as focused on obeying God.

I read an excellent chapter on the improvement of time in Harvey Newcomb’s book A Practical Directory for Young Christian Females that opens my eyes to see the huge loss in misusing even just one hour each day:

Our whole life is made up of moments.  A little calculation may startle those who carelessly trifle away small portions of time.  Suppose you waste only ten minutes at a time, six times in a day; this will make an hour.  This hour is subtracted from that portion of your time which might have been devoted to active employments.  Sleep, refreshment, and personal duties, generally occupy at least one half of the twenty-four hours.  You have, then, lost one-twelfth of the available portion of the day.  Suppose you live to the age of seventy years.  Take from this the first ten years of your life.  From the sixty remaining years, you will have thrown away five years!  These five years are taken from that portion of time which should have been employed in the cultivation of the mind, and in the practical duties of piety!

The common excuse for neglecting the improvement of the mind and the cultivation of personal piety, is the lack of time.  Were you to employ one half of this time in reading, at the rate of twenty pages an hour, you would be able to read more than eighteen thousand pages, or sixty volumes, of three hundred pages each.  If you employ the other half in devotional exercises, in addition to the time you would spend in this manner, upon the supposition that these five years are lost, what an influence will it have upon your personal piety!  Or, if you spend the whole of it in the active duties of Christian benevolence, how much good may you accomplish!  Think what you might do by employing five years in the undivided service of your Master.

Well, there are many beneficial projects that I need to do in my current station in life and to prepare myself for the next chapters of my life.  Projects that would help me in cultivating godly character.  To be an obedient disciple of Christ.  To be the kind of godly Christian woman God wants me to be.  To be a good daughter to my parents.  To be a good sister to my siblings.  To be an encouraging friend to my neighbors.  To be a good witness of Christ to others with my lips and actions.  To impact the lives of those whom God has placed within my sphere of influence.  To learn more of God and study the Scripture daily.  To spend time in daily communion each day with God in prayer.  To evaluate daily how I’ve lived out the day prior to retiring each night and reflect on necessary improvements.  To read more edifying books.  To find and exercise my spiritual gift(s) by serving faithfully in church or local Body of Christ.  To learn more skills on personal finances & investments that would be useful in my financial stewardship.  To make my home more efficient.  To learn or practice being a good “worker at home” now.  To learn more from my mother the feminine skills and domestic arts of homemaking.  To cultivate the gift of hospitality.  To exercise regularly in physical fitness and stay in shape.

I thank God for His provision over my life and that He never gives up on me.  Praise God that He gives a new beginning even when we stumble and fall.  I thank God for His forgiveness, His mercy, and that He chastises because He loves His children.  And last but not least, I thank God that I can trust in Him, by His mercy and grace, to enable me to live a life more pleasing before Him, because without Him I could never do it on my own.  Soli Deo gloria.

I read a news article online yesterday that says a stay-at-home mother’s work worth is $138,095 a year.  Yes, we all know that we can never put a price tag on a mother since her labor of love is priceless, but I thought it’s an interesting article, though.   I don’t know the degree of the accuracy of the figure, but I still think motherhood is the most under-rated, under-appreciated, and under-paid profession a woman can have.  Yes, I do think being a mother is “real work” (especially with a child like me during my growing up years, just kidding, okay, maybe partly true ).  That’s why I’m so thankful to my mother who was a stay-at-home homemaker during most of my growing up years.

Of course, I am aware there may be those who would say being a mother is not a “real job.”  For example, Mrs. Teresa Heinz-Kerry, the wife of John Kerry.  Back in July 2004 during the Presidential campaign, Mrs. Kerry was asked about the differences between the First Lady, Laura Bush, and herself in an interview published in the USA Today.  This was her answer:

Q: You’d be different from Laura Bush?

A: “Well, you know, I don’t know Laura Bush. But she seems to be calm, and she has a sparkle in her eye, which is good.  But I don’t know that she’s ever had a real job — I mean, since she’s been grown up.  So her experience and her validation comes from important things, but different things.

“And I’m older, and my validation of what I do and what I believe and my experience is a little bit bigger — because I’m older, and I’ve had different experiences.  And it’s not a criticism of her.  It’s just, you know, what life is about.”

Mmm, Laura Bush never had a real job?  As I understood, Mrs. Bush had been a librarian and schoolteacher for years.  Last time I checked, those are real jobs?  And, by whose standards is her validation of what she does a little bigger?

Well, in all fairness to Mrs. Kerry, she did “apologize” to Mrs. Bush later on:

“I had forgotten that Mrs. Bush had worked as a schoolteacher and librarian, and there couldn’t be a more important job than teaching our children,” Heinz Kerry said in a statement.  “As someone who has been both a full-time mom and full-time in the workforce, I know we all have valuable experiences that shape who we are.  I appreciate and honor Mrs. Bush’s service to the country as First Lady, and am sincerely sorry I had not remembered her important work in the past.”

Unfortunately, though, I’m not sure that Mrs. Kerry really cleared things up.  Her comment only made it worse, because she left out the very important real job of a mother.  Clearly Mrs. Kerry knew that Laura Bush was a stay-at-home mother, working from home and rearing her twin daughters.  Mrs. Kerry was only reinforcing society’s values that place career first before family.  A woman working outside the home seems to be now a form of validation of a woman’s status.  Mrs. Bush’s decision to be a helpmeet to her husband and a full-time mother is a noble choice and a high calling, and one that should be celebrated and not denigrated.  She is a keeper at home and a worker at home as the Bible teaches to be:

“…so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” (Titus 2:4-5)

I’ve thought of this just a bit before.  I mean, if God ever calls me to be a wife and mother one day, I just don’t know if I could ever be as excited about working for some boss to prosper his business than I do about working at home, serving my own family, and making God’s business prosper.  Now, before anyone asks me what year this is , seriously, though, the other way around doesn’t really make much sense to me.  I understand there are many women out there who want to be there for their children instead of working outside the home, but due to extenuating circumstances they work temporarily.  And I understand that and sympathize with them.  But where at all possible, I’d want to be there for my (future) children and raise them instead of putting them in some day-care-centers.  I’d want to be there for them to hear (and answer) their funny little questions, have them run to me when they’re hurt and kiss them better, instill the right values in them, and teach them about the One Who loves them and Who is sovereign in their lives.  I wouldn’t want to absolve my responsibility by relegating it to others.  I honestly don’t believe anyone else would do a better job being paid to do something that a mother is willing to do for free.

A career woman writes:

“I am in my early thirties, single, a corporate officer, and executive.  I serve on three boards of directors, one a national organization.  With all my customer contacts, employee supervision, and peer contact, my total influence doesn’t constitute a drop in the bucket to what a wife and mother contributes to society.  She directly affects the mental outlook of her husband and children.  She has the power to make her home heaven or hell.  That’s what I call woman power.”

Well, let me close by quoting what a lady named Diane wrote when asked to describe her work.  I thought it’s funny but true:

“I had a continuing program of research (what mother doesn’t?), in the laboratory and in the field (also known as indoors and out).  I worked for my masters (the whole flippin’ family), and received five credits (three sons and two daughters).  Of course, the job was of the most demanding in the humanities (any mother care to disagree?), and I often worked 14 hours a day (24 is more like it).  But the job was more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers and the rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money.  Commonly known as Stay-at-Home-Mom.”