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What is a Think Through? it is an idiom that conveys the meaning of carefully considering possibilities and outcomes of a situation.
This week’s Think Through: Most of us do not expect to read that someone is a fashion designer and a missionary. What an unusual calling, but is it really? God has called each of us to do something based on the unique gift or gifts He has given us. Often His calling stretches us and requires us to think differently about our lives or our abilities. What is God calling you to do? Nothing is to insignificant if God is calling you to act upon it. I know that it takes courage to share what God is calling you to step out and do, but sometimes sharing it with someone else is a motivator to get started.
Living as a woman 
I thought I would comment on my own question. This may sound strange, but I found it much harder to start this blog than I did deciding to quit a job that I loved and to start teaching in Africa. There were all kinds of reasons why I was hesitant to blog – what if nobody reads it, who am I that anyone would want to read about experiences that I have had or what I have to say, I am not a particularly good writer, and the list goes on and on. All of these reasons may be true, but none of them really matter. Sometimes we just have to put ourselves out there and let God use us how He wants, even if it means we may look like a failure to the world.
Although, I feel like my calling will always be to remain a constant source of support to both my husband and children, I do know that there is a possibility to be called to something else. This is an entirely new dimension of thinking for me becuase I was raised in a home where the wife/mother lives to serve, in a very pro-woman era many women would scoff at my own mother, and at me for wanting to follow in her godly footsteps. As I have grown more confident in my decision, I can list many reasons of why this is the right fit for me, and why I feel like being a ‘housewife’ or ‘stay at home mother’ is no different than a teacher, doctor or other highly esteemed job, because it is, at the core, the same thing….living out a passion to help others, to teach others, to nurture others, in my case, those people are the same people that God has entrusted me with. But, to go back to my openeing thought, I remember sitting through a pre- marriage counceling session and he pointed towards Proverbs 31, which was always my ‘go to’ book and chapter to prove to any Christian than what I was doing was what God intended for every woman to do. But then I was told that that precious and god-fearing woman did in deed work, she used her talents and sold her work at the city gates, she was a workin’ woman, and in that I can picture this godly woman showing her own children about hard work and the fact that it can ‘pay off’ in the monetary sense. So now, when I hear of a working woman I realize God has called us to do all things, and so long as we do them ‘unto him’ we really can’t go wrong. Now, I feel like I have found the best of both worlds, because I am earning a paycheck, in my own home, while my children are with me, because I watch two other children while their mother works. But I will always be open to being called to an actual ‘job’ and I have realized if that is what God is calling me to, then that is what I have to go and do. He already has his plans for me.
I always love reading your response. I would say that you do have an “actual” job and the most important job that any wife and mother could have is caring for your family. So I celebrate your choice and encourage you to continue to enjoy where God has planted you. You are right, God calls women to do different things and some mothers do not have the option of being able to stay home and some just want to work. If this is where God has placed them then we need to also encourage and support them.
Life ebbs and flows and depending on the season of life, God may call you to do something that you have been dreaming about or haven’t even thought about. You have so much life ahead of you, it will be interesting to see what God has in mind for you as you move through the stages of life.
My greatest passion has always been World Missions, and God has used me in that capacity on a short term basis. However, due to health concerns, I can no longer travel overseas to serve Christ. He has now given me an “overseas” job at home through Global Media Outreach. GMO is an internet ministry through Campus Crusade for Christ. Their websites are advertised all over the world and as people write in their responses and questions, we GMO missionaries answer them and disciple them as God leads. It has been so exciting to communicate the Gospel to mostly young people from Africa, Asia, Egypt, Iran, etc., realizing how many are seeking to know the answers to life questions. If you are interested in becoming a Global Media Outreach Missionary from your home on your computer, go to GMOjoinus.com You will find it extremely rewarding.
Very cool Betty. It is so easy to get discouraged when God closes a door in our life for one reason or another. Your post is a great example of when He closes one door, He opens another. We can serve Him no matter where we are planted!