I Cannot Come Down

Recently, I was presented with a job opportunity that in almost any other season I would have jumped at the option to give it my best shot. I didn’t. I have two toddlers and a baby on the way. Most people would say, “You can certainly do both the mom thing and the working thing.” Thank you. I consider that a compliment. Plenty of women do it. 

As I was unloading laundry at 10:30pm, considering whether or not I “should” try both again, and praying as I did so, I thought of Nehemiah. Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem in 445 BC. He was moved by God to leave his position as cupbearer to King Artaxerxes and rebuild those Jerusalem walls, part of which are still standing today. He went to work diligently and prayerfully. Some were displeased that he was seeing to the welfare of the people of Israel and in many cases he was despised and misunderstood. He did what God had laid on his heart to do anyway. At one point when his enemies tried to get him to come down from his work, his reply was “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave and come down to you?” It is that first sentence that was brought to my mind doing laundry and considering if I could truly do both the “boss babe” thing and the motherhood thing. 

“I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.” 

I know God has given me the desire to nurture and teach my children and to be as present as possible, especially in these little years with them. I know that I’m right where I need to be, even if there are nearly constant tugs to do more or be more, both internally and externally. Doing what God has for me right now looks like saying “no” sometimes, but…

 “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.”

Many of you are doing what God has for you. Maybe you’re using your skills at work in a way that’s meeting needs. Maybe you’re working full time and going to school full time and you know it will pay off in the end. Maybe caring for your family is your main priority right now and it’s hard. Maybe you’re pouring into students daily and as tiring as it is, you persevere on purpose. Maybe God does have you doing multiple things for a while and you know you cannot stop yet. 

To you, I say you are doing a great work and you cannot come down prematurely. I pray God gets all the glory when you finally complete that work, whatever that finish line looks like. Once the walls had been built in Nehemiah’s day, he said that “they (the nations around them) perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.” May those around you perceive that God is helping you too. 

And to the mommas near and dear to my heart, it’s okay to “just” be a mom. Women can do many things, but we don’t always need to do all the things in the same season. Choose your priorities wisely. You’ll be choosing them over and over again.  

Just some thoughts with a Bible and laundry bin, 

Stephanie