My Career As A Help-Meet - Lisa U Maki
When it comes to careers and being successful at it, I have so much to share from my personal experiences. I used to pride myself in being a successful career woman and credited it to my being hardworking, passionate about my job, persistent, committed, and dedicated. I knew what it took to achieve my goals and made sure that I got what I set my heart and mind on. I was a go-getter who didn't let anyone or anything get in my way.
How I wish I had the same mindset when I got married. How I wish I prepared for marriage in the same way that I planned for my business. Unfortunately, I saw marriage not as a career in itself, but having a partner to support me in my career.
I was working full-time in ministry when I met my husband. That was my career. It was no different than my former secular career in the sense that I poured the same passion, commitment, dedication, and hard work to it. I saw myself climbing up the church ladder and envisioned myself as an international preacher, traveling the world with my husband.
Right after I moved to this country, and freshly married to my husband, we decided to set up a church. I thought my vision was on its way to fruition. I was on top of the world. I thought to myself, "Finally, I have a covering who will help me fulfill the vision that God has given me". This was totally out of order and the opposite of how God intended it to be. No wonder it didn't prosper the way we wanted it to.
It took several humbling experiences for me to realize that my calling as a help-meet is my primary calling, and is my career. My husband was not created by God to support me in my vision. Rather, I was created for him to support him in the vision that God has given him.
1 Corinthians 11:9 says: And man was not made for woman, but woman was made for man.
My being a wife and help-meet is my full-time job. This is my primary ministry. Easy as it may seem, I didn't get this before. I was one of those career-oriented women who carried over this orientation to their ministries, and even their marriages. Don't get me wrong. I am very domesticated. I have always served my husband well. I cook him real good meals, take care of his needs, give him back rubs, and everything else that pertains to serving a husband. However, I didn't see this as a career but more of just tasks that I needed to do. My career for me was my ministry.
I didn't see myself as my husband's CEO, making sure that he accomplishes the tasks that God has called him to do. I didn't see myself as my husband's manager, making sure that I manage his day-to-day schedules and ensuring that he is not stressed out. I didn't see myself as his secretary, screening calls for him and reminding him of tasks and schedules. I was so busy with my own ministry that I neglected my main ministry.
How could I have been so prideful and insensitive? I got so used to being the leader and having people under me that I forgot how to be a follower. I was living in my past, basking in all the things I've accomplished in ministry, forgetting that I was in a new season in my life. How could a woman of God like me who seemed like she has everything put together, who has been serving full-time in ministry for years, and who claims to be very intimate with Jesus, miss the whole point? And yet I did. And for sure a lot of married women of God miss the point too. And without a doubt, a lot of single women of God don't also have a clue as to making a career out of being a help-meet.
I praise God for not giving up on me. I praise Him for removing the scales from my eyes and revealing the truth to me. I praise Him for giving me this chance, not a "too late" chance, but a "still early" chance.
How about you? Is your marriage your career? If yes, I praise God for you. If not, it's never too late. Start by repenting before God and telling Him that you want to obey Him at all costs. Then begin reading every Scripture you can find about being a wife and help-meet. Here are some Scriptures that I highly recommend.
1 Peter 3
Ephesians 5:22-23
Colossians 3:18
1 Timothy 2:12-14
Titus 2:3
Following are additional things you can do.
Start asking yourself how you have failed being a help-meet to your husband and what you can do to change this.
Ask yourself if you even know the vision that God has given your husband, and if you do, what are you doing to help him achieve this vision? If you don't know, why not ask your husband. If he doesn't know, then advice him to start seeking God on it, and together you can pray about this.
Make your husband your number one priority. Don't even let your quiet time with God stand in the way of this. God won't honor your prayers and whatever time you spend with Him if you are neglecting the primary calling that He has given you.
Treat your marriage like a career that you are striving to be successful in. Be the best you can be. With this, I suggest that you serve your husband as if he is a king you are seeking approval from. Prepare him the best meal. Give him the best back rub. Wear something that will make him fall in love with you over and over again.
But remember that in all these you have to do it willingly, with a cheerful heart, and not just something you have to do. You are doing it more for God than for your husband. This is also not a "once in a lifetime" task or something you have to do only on special occasions but is an everyday thing. If you find yourself complaining about this, it's surely time to examine yourself. Until you get it, you will not move forward in your marriage, and even in your ministry. You will never see your husband be the man who God created him to be. And God will hold you accountable to this.
Lisa Maki is the founder of God'z Gurlz, a Bible-based online magazine for women whose mission is to is to provide a place where women can learn to manage their emotions, experience healing, receive love and acceptance, be free to be who God made them to be, and be the best they can be in their homes, schools, professions, relationships, and calling, through sharing of insights and experiences, counseling, prayer, and devotionals, thereby learning from and supporting each other.For more of Lisa's articles, visit http://godzgurlz.com/ Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lisa_U_Maki Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7371847