Don't Come Down

I am writing this post because I am the perfect mother, home-keeper, wife, and Christian.
I am the epitome of the Proverbs 31 Woman.
My children are all able to recite the entire bible and were all saved by the time they were one-year-olds.
The toilets in my house are always clean.
I wear a size 2 jeans and just can't seem to gain weight.

Hahahahahahahahahahaha. Yeah.... no. Not so much.

I am REALLY writing this post because recently I went through this crazy pity party because I wasn't all those things. Ludicrous that any woman should ever fault herself for not living up to some impossible standard, butttttt we do. We do fault ourselves so often for not being this perfect woman that we have built up in our mind.

I mentioned it to my husband one of those nasty rainy days recently when it felt like simply nothing was right with the world and I guess he could tell. Here's a snippet of our conversation:

Hubby: How are you doing?

Me: I just don't know... am I doing a good job at this whole staying home thing? I mean I feel like I'm a decent mother and a decent wife, but Lordy, I'm a horrendous homemaker. And... and... well... and I'm just not used to not being good at something.

Hubby: Well, what do you think is keeping you from being a good homemaker?

Me: Hmmmmmmmm. I just don't feel like I have enough time. And when the crunch time comes down to it and I have to choose... I choose to spend time with our boys. Or sometimes I choose to spend some time for just me. And when I choose those "other" things then the house seems to fall apart.

(My husband then walked over to me and put his hands on my cheeks, got tears in his eyes, and looked deep into my soul)

Hubby: January. You are doing a good work. Do not come down. Every moment of you with our boys is irreplaceable. You are irreplaceable. You are doing a good work. Do not come down.

Needless to say, I think he said more than that but I pretty much turned into a blubbering mess after the first few words.

He is pulling that phrase from Nehemiah 6. Nehemiah is rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem and his enemies want to meet with him and keep sending him messages to come down to some valley so that they can talk to him... they want him to quit building the wall. Nehemiah's response?

"I'm doing a great work; I cannot come down."

Our Enemy so desperately wants us to not spend time with our children. He wants us to ignore our husbands. He wants us to work our hands to the bone and forget to read The Word of God. He wants us to slave away in vain at becoming The Impossible Woman.

The Enemy wants you to stop doing your great work. He wants you to come down.

But I am here to tell you...

"You are doing a great work; do not come down."