Make what you do count

One can waste years of their adult life wanting something they don’t have — we only have one life on this earth, make what you do count.

I read over and over again from women who are either desperate to return home and become full time housewife or angry that their husbands are forcing them back into paid work. In their mission, they hate their jobs, they are miserable about their situation, they are not happy at home or with their husband’s decisions and their children are picking up their discontentment and sadness. To make it worse, other women keep reminding them of “how tough their life must be” and "you must return home quickly" only adding to their discontentment.

Life is short

make the best of what you have, be thankful that you are well and healthy and stop focusing on the negative. 

To be blunt — stop complaining and feeling self-pity and look at the positive because maybe, God is teaching you something. 

I work.

— that is the path the Lord has placed me on — I can accept or reject His plan, I may not want to go off to work every day but I have a choice.

I can be happy and thankful for what I do or whinge and complain. I know which one He wants me to be — be joyful, be happy, be thankful. Be content and NO COMPLAINING. 


We need to accept our situation and trust in the Lord. And believe it or not, many Christian women are working because that is what the Lord has asked those women to do. And when the time is right, the Lord makes other plans — not in our time, but in His. One needs to be patience and TRUST in the Lord at all times, even when we are doing things we don't want to.

If you have read Proverbs 31 recently, there is one thing you won’t read in any of these verses — there is no whinging or wanting to do something different. This is a woman that runs her home, cares for her family, buys from afar, undertakes tasks for her husband, sews, cares for her servants, reaches out to the poor, gets up early, goes to bed late and on top of all that, has a vineyard to care for. She is a one very BUSY woman with many and varied responsibilities both at home and outside her home, but she never complains, she isn’t miserable and she isn’t wanting for more. Instead her words are spoken with kindness and wisdom, her husband has complete trust in her and her “children rise up and call her blessed”. All those around her see her joy and happiness, they do not see a woman that is unhappy with her situation and grumbling to others about their husband's decisions.



We must have the same attitude with our lives, whether that be at home, caring for others or perhaps going off to work.

Rejoice everyday — find reasons to be happy — don’t grumble because you aren’t doing what you want —accept the Lord’s decisions, because He is right and just in all things.

Don’t waste any more hours of your life wanting things you don’t have. Get on with living the life that the LORD has given you. 

PS Sorry for sounding so harsh with this topic, but I despair when I read of women so miserable about their situation and think of how much time is wasted being unhappy and not doing the one thing the Lord has asked us to do — rejoice, be joyful . . . no matter what you are doing. 

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Comments

  1. Thank you for this. These words of wisdom are so rarely spoken and so desperately needing to be said. Thank you for having the courage to say them. I for one needed to hear it.
    Blessings sue.xxx

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    1. Hi Sue


      We need to accept graciously any instructions given to us by Christ, even if we don’t like it - being miserable about our situation makes those around us miserable and will affect one’s husband and children in time - it is like a virus spreading. Women can be very quick to find all the problems that might happen (such as “my housework won’t get done”) but in reality, the sky never falls in when one trusts the Lord completely. And sometimes we find out that what He has asked us to do, has taught us a think or two about ourselves!

      The verse that Clara quotes below is perfect to remember when things aren’t going our way: "The joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10).

      xx

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  2. So true. This is something I tell my children. Misery is a choice! We can choose to be miserable, or we can choose to be happy and joyful! So much better to be happy and full of joy!! We are surrounded by blessings even when things look grim - we must make a choice to focus on those blessings, the things we can be thankful for and give over our sorrows and griefs to our Saviour. After all, He is more than willing to carry that load - "Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." (Isaiah 53:4)
    "The joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10).

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    1. For some women, they must waste years of their life unhappy and miserable, time they will never get back. Choosing to be happy and full of joy is so much better for one's health and state of mind because once you lack joy, then you lack the ability to be thankful because you can't "see" the things around you that you should be so blessed about. And ever been around a miserable person, it is like a virus to others so what does it do in families - it pulls everyone down.

      This is such a wonderful verse: "The joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10).

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  3. You wrote this article just for me! I had the thought that I needed to ask my sisters on a forum how I could get out of my job and stay home to be a homemaker. This thought was literally moments before I opened up your post on Good Morning Monday's Blog Hop.

    I need to be happy with where I am right now and let Heavenly Father direct me to where I will be tomorrow.

    Thanks so much for being inspired to lead and guide me. He uses other people to help us all the time. Today, He used you to help me!

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    1. Sherone,

      Sometimes we find ourselves in situations that we don’t want to be in and when we fight it, we only end up miserable. But if you do it the Lord’s way, the path goes from rocky to smooth and what looked so difficult in the first instances is in fact much easier. Working isn’t easy and does have complications but I have always found that if I leave it to the Lord, things work out. We are living His plan and not ours - His timeline not ours. Other women will add to your stresses by telling you to leave work and to pressure your husband about your plans. I find through pray is a much better path. And only now looking back I can see what God has been teaching me - one of the most important things is patiences, trust and faith. And then suddenly, often unexpected a new door opens and God says “go through” - He hasn’t forgot you, He never did — His plans are ALWAYS perfect and beautiful.

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  4. I needed to read this tonight. Thank you! Pinning!

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    1. Thankyou Laura - no matter our situation, God is always with us :))

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  5. Excellent post and I, like Laura, needed to read this and I need to remember to be thankful and happy with God's plans for me. Thanks for sharing at Good Morning Mondays. Blessings

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    1. Thankyou Terri, I think we all need reminders from time to time, I certainly do.

      Have a wonderful rest of week.

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  6. True words. I have been trying to focus on contentment lately, but it's hard. Our society has been trained to cultivate wants and desires, to focus on outrageous dreams and possibilities rather than to accept the mundane and ordinary miracles around us.

    Thanks for sharing at #SmallVictoriesSundayLinkup ...I've pinned and will be featuring your post in this week's linkup!

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    1. I have stopped watching TV (only watch Netflix) as I got so tired of the advertisements that constantly tell you to buy . . buy . . buy and not be content with what you have. Everywhere you look these sorts of messages are trying to get you to buy and question your happiness.

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