By ELISA MAYO

 

Elisa Mayo (top right) with her husband, Matt, and their kids, Alea and Trent.

Kitchen Tune-Up

 

     How can we know the number of times we have been spared tragedy by a feeling, a discerning nudge, or a fleeting thought? I think it would be awe-inspiring if we could see our “could-have-been” movie, showing us each step along the way when God whispered into our soul and pointed us in the right direction. We call this intuition, a gut feeling that leads us, but we know that it is something much more — a spiritual voice of love guiding us.

 

     Mothers are often cited with this intuition regarding the care of their children. It’s a feeling that has landed me more than once in opposition to those around me — even my husband.

 

     Hannah experienced this when her husband tried to take away her yearning for a child with the words, “Hannah, why do you weep, and why do you not eat, and why is your heart sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons?” (1 Samuel 1:8, NASB)

 

     Though Hannah’s husband’s words were true, they could not take away the deep desire, the whisper in Hannah’s heart that she was to give birth to a prophet of God. No more than when my child was sick and being helped by great medical staff, and my husband couldn’t change my mind and tell me that something more wasn’t needed. I felt that strong push that more could and should be done. 

 

     Though I wrestled with understanding why, I knew that nudge from God, and I had to press forward with changing doctors even if it meant that my own husband did not understand. Looking back, it is clear that the help my daughter received prevented greater damage to her body, strengthened my faith in that nudge, and strengthened my husband’s faith in motherly intuition.

 

     Abigail experienced this when her husband insulted David, and David promised to destroy all that Abigail’s husband owned. Abigail quickly saw the folly of her husband’s insult and said to David, “Please do not let my lord pay attention to this worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he.” (1 Samuel 25:25a, NASB)

 

     David countered that it was Abigail’s discernment that spared all that her husband had. As a wife, we can serve as the protector of our husband’s earthly goods, including his children.

 

     I had a deep yearning to homeschool our children, but for years my husband was so vehemently opposed that he demanded no discussion on the subject. I prayed and cried to the Lord over and over. My heart was broken when my nudge and my reality did not meet. Days trickled by and my desire could not be quenched. In the wait, I read, I studied, and I prepared myself for what I knew was my calling. Finally, my husband relented and gave me one of the greatest gifts of my life — the ability to teach my children.

 

     Thankfully, I have a husband of great faith, one who was instrumental in bringing me back into the fold of the church some 25 years ago, and this makes me forever grateful that God uses me to care for such a great man.

 

     We know that our role as a helper to our husbands is a sacred one. Our covenant relationship demands that we support, love and obey our husbands. But no obedience is above our obedience to God, and that is why, dear mother, we are to be prayerful, pliable, humble, and ready to be the wives and mothers we are called to be, even when our path seems shaky.

 

     When God speaks, listen. He isn’t training mothers and wives who are weak. He is training soldiers, industrious women, sold-out girls. Your godly assignment is an important one. The power of a wife who prays for her husband reaches God and makes a way — it changes things that seem impossible, and the reward is not just to you, mother, but to your husband.

 

     “The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.” (Proverbs 31:11, NASB) 

 

Elisa Mayo is a homeschool mom juggling working full-time with motherhood and marriage. She lives on a small farm with her husband and two kids.

Pro-Life Mississippi