Blog- Kathy Gallagher's Blog
Friday, September 14, 2007 by Kathy Gallagher
A WIFE'S CALLING: THE BIGGER PICTURE
The longer I am married and the more I help other women, the more I believe that our greatest calling as married women is to our husbands. Even having a husband who is disobedient to the Lord does not exempt us from this calling – it just changes the way we support them.
It could be said that marriage is a ministry or even a mission field. For instance, look at the life of Elizabeth Elliott. I’m sure she was not prepared for the innumerable hardships of life in Ecuador. Reading books and stories of others who have gone out on the mission field can be a help, but nothing can really prepare the person for what life is like when on the mission field. There was no way Elizabeth Elliott could have foreseen what would happen to her husband. Others have lost children, homes, spouses and health. If a godly person was called to minister in China or Africa and the natives rejected his message, he would never think in terms of abandoning his mission field. He would stay because God had put in his heart a great love for the people; a love that actually superseded the love for his own life.
A wife’s calling is just as real. It too can be fraught with anxiety, hardship and loss. Nevertheless, it is a calling and it is what God has allowed.
Everything has a purpose for the child of God. Nothing is incidental or accidental; nothing comes to you that has not first passed through very loving hands.
There is something more precious to God than our temporal happiness: our holiness. I believe that this life is a proving ground and He uses everything in preparation for our eternal life with Him. It may hard to imagine what good or eternal benefit could possibly come from the mess of a bad marriage, but I know that nothing is wasted with God. He uses everything: our suffering, our tears, even the seeming futility of what we have to go through.
I remember when my marriage with Steve seemed to hang by a thread. There were times of unrelenting depression and fear. It was difficult to see any purpose in what I was going through. I see things differently now. Yes, a ministry was birthed out of what we went through; but more than that, God used it to transform both of us from the inside out. The work He did within us will last an eternity. It was more than worth it!
There really is a bigger picture isn’t there?
Posted on Fri., Sep. 14, 2007 - Permalink | RSS
COMMENTS for A Wife's Calling: The Bigger Picture
On Tuesday, February 26, 2008, Rachel said:
I guess I don't know if this is the appropriate site on which to post my comment. I am a 31 year old woman and up until a year ago struggled with sexual temptation and lying from a young age. I was raised in a Christian home with loving and born again parents. One night at the age of five I was sexually molested by a teenage boy in my church. Even at the tender age of five I knew that something was very wrong about the way he was touching me. He told me that if I told my parents they would be really mad at us and not want me anymore. Thus began a lifetime addiction of lies and deceit. It became so easy to lie when I was afraid of the opinion or reactions of others. Finally one Sunday night at church the Holy Spirit spoke to me when I was 8 years old. I told my mom what had happened and she just held me. I still remember my child like relief that my parents still loved and wanted me. However, Satan used what had happened to me to begin a torrent of sexual addiction and relationships. I stopped going to church in my early twenties and had so much anger and shame. After an up and down struggle with my sin I heard a number of sermons on forgiveness. I knew that I had to give my anger over to God and forgive the boy who had molested me years before. If I didn't forgive, Satan would continue to use my bitterness and I would remain a slave to sexual sin and anger. The victory that came about as a result of releasing my bitterness over to Christ was life altering. I'm not saying I don't struggle with temptation but my walk with Jesus is all encompassing now. The freedom that comes in revealing myself to God and others was beautiful. Thank you to the Lamb of God.
On Saturday, November 10, 2007, yolanda said:
How appropriate that you wrote this on our anniversary! Thank you for a reminder.
On Friday, November 9, 2007, Dawn said:
Thank you for this article. I am in a marriage that has had sexual addiction as part of it for over 20yrs.I am at the point of wanting a seperation.My husband does not what the community to know there are issues.It is a battle. I waqnt some peace.
