Parenting alone takes a toll on women's health. A number of studies show that single
mothers have a number of health risks; overall mortality, cardiovascular
disease and mental health issues. Stress is probably the major factor. “I never
get a break,” exclaimed one mother. “The most important finding was that single
mothers in almost all countries had poorer health as they reach older age than
women who are married," said the study’s lead author, Lisa Berkman, a professor
at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health and director of the Harvard Center
for Population and Development Studies. "They have a difficult time performing…things
like climbing stairs, getting around, cooking."
I always find it amusing when “studies”
prove what God’s Word teaches us and was written thousands of years ago! When I
teach women to stay married and be keepers at home, I’m not teaching them this
to make their lives miserable and punish them. No, I’m teaching it because I
know it is what is best for them, their marriages and their children. Now, studies even prove it is best for their
health.
Being a happily married women and keeper
at home keeps women busy enough without the added stress of trying to raise
your children alone and make sure they are provided for. God NEVER intended it
to be this way, yet our society, even Christians, promote women getting high
educational degrees and careers instead of learning what it takes to be a
godly, submissive help meet and a great mother to their children. These things are considered second best and need not be taught.
Women are divorcing their husbands in droves today because they are not "happy." Losing their health and shortening their lives is NOT going to make them more happy. They need to be encouraged to stay faithful to their vows. Obey God. Let no one tear asunder what God has made into one flesh. God's ways are for our good and our best. Man's ways will NEVER even come close to how good our Lord's instructions are to us.
If there are some single mothers in your life from no fault of their own or even from their own fault, do everything you can to support them and be there for them. If you have time, go help them. If you have money, give them some money. Do what you can to minister to them and try to make their lives easier. Be Jesus to them! Don't ever punish them for the choices they have made, for this isn't our job. They are suffering enough.
If you are married and a keeper at home, yet you are feeling exhausted, read my post When Do Mothers Get a Break? for suggestions on handling raising young children. Young women weren't made to do it alone. Older women need to step it up and help the young women in their lives. Raising a godly generation is the single most important thing anyone can spend their life doing. It is never wasted time!
Therefore, women, continue to encourage those in your lives of the importance of staying married to the man of their youth and being home full-time to care for their husband, children and home. You may think your words are falling on deaf ears but God's Truth and His ways never come back void!
The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becomes holiness, not false accusers, not give to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
Titus 2:3-5
