When I was in grade school, I used to daydream during Mass about being a foreign missionary. I would go to Africa, live in a shack, and serve the poor in a remote desert area. I couldn’t wait until I was old enough to go serve the Lord overseas. A little bit of maturing helped me postpone this adventure until I had graduated from college. Then I was off—not to Africa, as it turned out, but to Japan.
After two years of teaching English conversation, I returned to the United States. While I hadn’t been the kind of missionary I once dreamed of being, I had helped support evangelization efforts. But I realized that two years wasn’t enough for me. I still wanted to serve God with my time. I did not feel called to religious life. But neither did the thought of a regular 9-to-5 job satisfy me. Eventually, I wrote and published a newsletter of Catholic apologetics as a side business. That too lasted a few years, until I was just too overwhelmed to continue.
Continue reading my guest post at Suscipio4women.com.
Great post! Thanks for putting your talents to God’s use. Your writing is inspiring, your life story even more.
I’m so blessed to have you as a follower. Thanks for the encouragement.
Well done, Connie! I’ve been thinking about this same topic for a while now and have started putting some thoughts on paper. I think that discerning whether to be a SAHM or a working mom is accomplished only through the Holy Spirit and He makes His Will clear in the way that your decision affects your family and your work.
Thanks, Terry. Since you’re a working mom, I look forward to seeing your take on this too. I had to work for the first year of D’s life and it was really difficult for me. That’s the subject of an upcoming Suscipio post. It wasn’t my will at all!