For the woman wondering if leaving her job
means leaving her calling
What Does the Bible Really Say About Staying Home?
If you’re a Christian working mom feeling pulled toward home, you may be wondering: Is this truly God’s will for me? Am I abandoning my calling—or stepping into it more fully?
The world often tells us that success means climbing higher, earning more, and doing it all. But Scripture offers a different lens—one rooted in identity, service, and faithfulness.
For nearly 20 years, I dedicated myself to building my public service career. I worked hard, asked for more, said yes to any assignment that came my way, got more educated, took all the leadership training available to me, worked late into the evening, and yet, it was never enough.
I was driven, dependable, and deeply grateful. However, as the years passed, I also grew in my personal life. My college sweetheart and I got married, had babies, and bought a home that I didn’t have time to enjoy or maintain.
Over time, God began to stir something else in me—a longing for home. A desire to be more present for my husband and daughters. A nudge to slow down and listen… to Him.
Still, I wrestled with so many questions:
Is staying home possible? Can we afford it? Will I be satisfied being “just a mom?” Will I be wasting all the effort I’ve poured into this career if I hit the pause button—if I give myself time to rest, to breathe, to think, and to chart a new path forward with God’s help?
In this post, I want to walk you through what I’ve discovered in Scripture—and in my own heart—as I wrestled with the call to leave my job and focus on home, motherhood, and a slower pace of life.
Let’s explore what God really says about calling, purpose, and the sacred work of home.
What Scripture Says About Motherhood, Home, and Calling
Proverbs 31: 10–31 — The Woman of Strength and Stewardship
(Read it in your Bible.)
This passage doesn’t describe a woman stuck or silenced. It paints the portrait of a woman entrusted with much.
She is strong, wise, entrepreneurial, and spiritually grounded.
She nourishes both her household and her community.
Her influence isn’t limited by titles—it’s multiplied by her faithfulness.
She doesn’t fear or fret; she laughs at the days to come because she knows who she belongs to. She is confident and prepared for the days ahead.
She fears the Lord, serves her family, and stewards what she’s holding—multiplying it for the good of her family and community. She is praised, but that isn’t what motivates her. Her faithfulness to the Lord is where her power and true beauty lie.
Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
— Proverbs 31:25–30 (ESV)
You don’t need a C-suite title to live on mission.
You just need a heart aligned with God.
Titus 2: 3–5 — The Sacred Assignment of Home (Read it in your Bible.)
This passage often gets misunderstood, but it’s not about boxing women in—it’s about building a legacy.
Paul urges mature women to teach the younger women how to love their husbands and children and “be busy at home.” Why?
Because home is where spiritual formation begins.
When we disciple our children, cultivate peace, and nurture rhythms of faith and grace—we are shaping them for generations, and our work has eternal impact.
Paul ends his encouragement to women by saying:
“…so that the word of God may not be reviled.”
What does that mean in our modern context? Paul is urging women to model and teach godliness—not to oppress or limit—but so that the fruit of our lives would reflect the truth of God’s Word to the world.
If we, as believers, claim to follow Christ but live in ways that contradict His Word, the gospel becomes easy to dismiss.
How you spend your time—what you give your energy, gifts, and focus to—matters.
You are how the natural world sees God in action.
Your life matters.
Your testimony is powerful.
Your quiet effort has eternal consequences.
If you are sensing that God is leading you to a shift—from career to home—could it be that He has a plan for you there?
To grow in your faith, to live out His Word, and to quietly build His Kingdom from home, starting with those He has given you to love?
Motherhood isn’t a pause from purpose. It is a call to sacred work.
Ecclesiastes 3 — Honoring Your Season
This is one of my life scriptures:
“To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.”
As a young immigrant growing up in the 80s and 90s, I knew early on that I would not waste any opportunity. My parents sacrificed much to get me here, and I was determined to make their struggle worth it.
As a girl from a broken home, I learned to be self-sufficient, get an education, and secure a career—so I wouldn’t have to depend on anyone.
As a single woman, I threw myself into work. I climbed ladders. I performed. I succeeded.
But that season ended.
When I had my first daughter, I started thinking new thoughts. Thoughts of being home. Thoughts of being present. Thoughts of living differently.
But we hadn’t planned for that.
Our home, lifestyle, and budget weren’t set up to live on one income.
It would take years of prayer, patience, and planning.
In the meantime, I struggled deeply.
I suspected that leaving the house on little sleep, crying in daycare drop-offs, and getting home just in time to feed and put my babies to bed… wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
The whisper was getting louder.
Eventually, it affected my joy at work. My performance declined. My health suffered. My marriage was strained.
Work demanded more than I could give—constant email availability, evening and weekend events, and an unwavering devotion to someone else’s agenda.
I was living in a season that had already ended.
The pain of resisting God’s call home became unbearable.
Something had to give: my marriage, my children, or my career.
I couldn’t do it all well.
I had expressed my desire to come home to my husband, but he wasn’t initially on board. Not because he didn’t love us—but because he couldn’t see how we could make it work financially.
It took faith—faith that if God was leading, He would provide.
We took the leap.
And a new season began.
You were never meant to carry every assignment in every season.
Sometimes, the most faithful thing you can do is lay something down—so you can pick up something better.
When I stepped away from full-time work, it wasn’t because I couldn’t “hack it.”
It was because God was inviting me into a deeper work—one that couldn’t be listed on a résumé.
Prioritizing Motherhood and Home Set Me Free
You know what surprised me most?
Coming home didn’t make me disappear.
It made me more me than I’d ever been.
I discovered joy in small things:
Homeschooling.
Long conversations.
Afternoon walks.
Home-cooked meals.
I realized I had been living in fear—always performing, always afraid of losing what I had, always scared of falling short.
But home became the place where God detoxed me from a fearful mindset.
Here, He taught me to rest, trust, and be fully present.
For the Woman Wondering If This Is Her Calling
If this sounds like you…
If you feel the nudge, the growing desire to live slower and more intentionally…
I know it feels risky.
I know it may not make sense to the world.
But here’s what I want you to know:
- God knows what is best for you and your family.
- He sees the work no one else applauds.
- He honors the obedience no one else understands.
- He is not asking you to quit or give up.
- He’s asking you to trust Him more fully.
He will grow your faith and your gifts in unexpected ways.
You can trust Him.
Prayer Prompt
Lord, help me to see this season through Your eyes.
Help me trust You more than I trust the world’s approval.
Give me peace if You are calling me home, and courage to obey—even when it feels scary.
Let my life reflect Your grace, not my own performance.
Help me rely on You to build the life You want for us.
Amen.
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