Ladies Corner
Faithfulness in the Everyday
So often as women, we get caught up in our roles of wife, mother, sister, daughter, and friend and lose sight of the big picture. We find ourselves rushing through the day, checking off our To-Do list, only to lay down at the end of the day exhausted and trying to prepare ourselves to do it all over again the next day.
Every now and again our good Lord brings about an event that makes us stop in our hectic tracks and refocus on Him and what He has provided eternally. He provides a home with Him, but there are conditions to entering into that home--a faithful life.
An older Christian sister left this life not long ago. She left behind a life that was not perfect by any means, but it was a faithful life. Her faith had carried her through her new groom being lost in action for 15 months during World War II. She was faithful even though some of her family left the Lord for a period of time. She raised two children, and made mistakes with them, but even on her deathbed was trying to right those mistakes. In her last days she was surrounded by her family, their voices singing hymns to comfort her soul. To every visitor by her bedside she encouraged them to stay the course and be faithful to the Lord.
She lived in such a way that she even used her funeral as a last measure to teach the gospel. When she was still able to attend services, a brother had given a lesson, simply preaching the gospel. After services she called him over to her and told him how she appreciated the lesson. She told him she wanted him to preach it at her funeral. She said, “I might draw a few people and I want you to preach the gospel to them.”
I had (once again) become caught up in my own personal bubble, struggling through the day, stressed out and burned out. As this sister’s life on this earth came to a close, I found myself thinking of her often and the life she had lived. I knew this woman was not perfect, but I knew her eternal home was secure, because she had lived a faithful life. I realized that’s all I can ask for, all I can work toward - a faithful life. That is where my focus as a Christian wife, mother, and sister needs to be - living a faithful life.
A faithful life is more than attending services, making sure I make a meal for whomever happens to be sick that month, or whispering a quick prayer when I feel like it. A faithful life is lived in service to God, not to our selfish desires. Any good done in life is by Christ’s goodness in us.
For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:19–20).
A faithful life looks past the bills, housework, and errands, among other things, and looks to that eternal home, longing to be in God’s presence forever more. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 says:
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
When we lose our will in God’s will, and it is not our good but Christ’s good that others see, there is beauty, peace and comfort at the end of this journey. There is an incredible hope of seeing God in His glory and being forevermore in His presence. In Philippians 3:20-21 Paul describes that great day when these bodies will be transformed:
“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.”
So when our head hits the pillow at the end of the day, we know whatever comes after our sleep will be dealt with a thankful, faithful heart. I am thankful for the saints who have walked before us - those who lived a beautiful, faithful life. They leave their legacy and inspiration, never regret or eternal sorrow. I am thankful for this sister’s life, whose death reminded me of the joy she was entering into. She reminded me of the life I so desire. So as we pray for daily renewal of our souls, we live an everyday faithful life to be renewed with eternal glory, joy and peace.
