He maketh the barren woman to keep house,
and to be a joyful mother of children.
Praise ye the LORD.
Psalm 113:9
In all my adult years, I never thought I would meet anybody who would not want children. Now, I have met women who were not able to have children or who, with their husband, had established their families through other means. Needless to say, of all the women in the aforementioned descriptions, they have all felt blessed and that this is the way God intended for their lives to be led. These women still have homes and husbands to care for, but they also have another calling.
There are some of these women in every church. I know of a few in ours. One of these great ladies works with the children in our church. She finds great joy in her role as their teacher. She teaches Sunday School, children’s choir, creative movement, and much more that involves the children of our church. She finds great joy in fostering the spiritual side of the children she works with each week. She finds great joy in the pursuits of her own family and those of working with our children. God has made her joyful in what she does.
Ladies, whether you have children or not, you are blessed to be put in the position you are in. As mothers, we are blessed with the joy of having a family and taking care of it. Barren women can find joy in helping foster a godly spirit in their friends’ children and the children of the church. Through these roles they praise God through their actions. Children look up to both their parents and their elders for guidance. As women of God, barren women still can find joy in helping with children through doing God’s work.
* ~ ♥ ~ ✞ ~ ♥ ~ *
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for the women that You have placed in our lives. Without them we could not learn from one another or be good examples for each other…or for our children. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
About laurapattillo
Laura, I too am very thankful for the Godly women in my life. Besides my mother, there were many faithful women who taught me in Sunday School and lived what they taught and are still doing that today. God is so good to have provided just what and who we need in our lives.
I am also thankful for so many Godly role models in my life.
thanking God along with each of you for the ways He chooses to work in women’s lives to be godly, righteous, inspiring role models. <3
Thank you for broaching an issue that is so often ignored. I am without children due to multiple miscarriages, and found church very hard at times as family and motherhood is (rightly) revered, and I felt like I had failed in a basic purpose of being a woman. You are right that women without children can be serve in other ways, helping with children’s work, mentoring new Christians, or be freer than mums with young kids to serve as needs arise. Only one minor suggestion, referring to a woman as barren, although it is a biblical term, is maybe a little insensitive, and doesn’t allow for the range of circumstances that lead to childlessness, including those who, like Paul, have remained childless by choice in order to serve God. Perhaps childless, or without children may be more appropriate?