Several years ago, I read Titus 2.

This wasn’t the first, nor was it the last time I was reading this chapter.

This time though, it was different. I was drawn to verses 3 to 5 like a piece of metal is drawn to a magnet.

Perhaps it was the fact that I had just read a book about verse 5 specifically. The writer had taken time to document testimony after testimony of women who had made the decision to make their homes their base of operation basically 24/7.

I found this a fascinating read at the time. As a new wife, I found myself really zooming in on these 3 verses, trying to prayerfully decipher what they might mean for me practically.

I eventually began praying these verses back to God frequently, a practice I have kept to date.

I took time to also study this portion of Scripture. The result of this study made me solidify certain convictions that have undergirded my faith and practice as a wife and mother. One of these convictions was being a keeper at home.

I recently sat down and noted down 7 reasons why I’m a keeper at home. These are the reasons I’m sharing with you with the hope that these will shed more light on this topic of being “busy at home.”

I hope that they’ll be helpful on your journey as a woman, wife, and mother who’s set to do God’s will and live it.

The last one is probably the one that was the most impactful as I made my decisions around this area.

Let’s get right into the reasons.

To provide a conducive environment for the purposes of God to thrive in each of my family members.

Providing this kind of environment has meant that I am present to ensure that each member of my household is thriving in spirit, soul, and body.

Physically, for instance, this has translated into ensuring they have good healthy food to eat as well as a clean home to live in.

In being present, I seek to facilitate the nourishment of their souls. I ensure they are feeding their souls with the right material and content. I have naturally taken the role of facilitating and supervising their schooling so they can grow intellectually too.

I also trust God to provide an environment that allows them to grow spiritually above all.

This will often mean for example ensuring that our children are creating time to fellowship with God at a personal level.

Could be providing a Bible, notebook… so they’ll have what they need within my God-given ability to provide.

To facilitate the training of my children in life and godliness

Training takes time.

Pointing others to God, especially for littles, doesn’t just happen. It is deliberate.

It takes planning, training, and taking advantage of spontaneous moments to direct them to Jesus.

It occurred to me that this cannot happen when I’m away from home. It happens because I’m present. It happens because I’m also watching for those moments when I can impact godliness on them.

This also came with the realization that a lot of the training I wanted to do would be more effective if I practiced what I was teaching and training them. Discipleship, in other words, is more caught than taught.

My presence was therefore critical if I was to pass on values and convictions that would eventually undergird what I was passing on to them in training.

When I was teaching my little one how to do her Quiet Time with the Lord, I had to commit to being with her at least 4 days a week each morning so we could spend time in God’s presence together.

I’m grateful she’s now doing her Quiet Time each morning on her own, something she’s been doing for a few years now since then.

To be available for my husband and children as a wife and mother.

Nurturing relationships, just like training, is deliberate.

I have to be actively involved as well as intentional in fostering these relationships.

I must admit though that being present doesn’t always equal nurturing of relationships.

However, being available and at home has made it easier for me to be deliberate in nurturing relationships, especially with children.

As I see many young people in their teens shunning closeness with their parents and guardians, I have trusted the Lord to be there for our children at every stage of their lives.

I’m grateful that they can chatter around me as I work in the house, interrupt me when I’m editing a piece of content, and share their minds freely about a given topic as we discuss it at breakfast.

I find too that it’s easier for me to relate with my husband when he can find me at home and he has the opportunity to share his heart unhindered.

I have to keep working at this availability even when I am at home because I can easily get occupied with everything else except nurturing fulfilling relationships with the members of my household.

To have space to express my creativity unhindered.

The Proverbs 31 passage has been an inspiration for me for years.

I have even written a book based on this passage. You can find it here in case you’d be interested in reading it.

The Proverbs 31 woman does many things. Her life can actually be intimidating for any woman who’s seeking to pattern her life after this exceptional woman, I included.

One of my takeaways from this passage has been to enhance my creativity in every area of my life. It is the will of God for every woman to be creative, after all, we’ve been created in the image of a creative God.

Because I am in the context of my own home, with no one to give me that condescending look when I fail, I would say I’ve thrived in my creativity.

From recipes to home décor to my entrepreneurial pursuits and the like, I’ve had space to be creative without being limited by the question: What if this fails?

I have seen the same flow over to my children. Not only have they worked on new recipes too, but they’ve worked on flower arrangements with natural flowers and plants now that we live in the countryside, making homemade flower vases, working with beads, boxes, and other things.

At the writing of this post, we’re just getting into the month of December. I’m grateful that alot of their Christmas décor is DIY-inspired.

There’s no place like home when one is aware that it’s that one space where you can strive to be the best you can be for the glory of God in exercising creativity.

This pursuit of creativity in the kitchen led me to heed the encouragement of some who’d benefited from my recipes to start a YouTube channel. I share easy delicious recipes on the channel that are so simple that anyone without an oven especially, can make them.

To keep an eye on what’s going on in my home.

We are indeed living in dangerous times.

Gone are the days when we could keep our children at home and we knew they were safe.

These are times when the enemy of their souls will get them right in the comfort of your home: Through the media space.

I realized I can’t afford to keep an eye on what’s going on from a distance. It wasn’t even going to help working with a nanny or a house help.

I had to be as close as I could possibly get to my children.

Proverbs 31:27a says:

“She watches over the affairs of her household…”

We’re losing far too many young ones because parents, and particularly mothers, are not paying attention to what’s happening in their households.

I keep checking in on my teen daughter, for instance, to know what she’s doing on her phone. She, on the other hand, keeps rolling her eyes at me every time I do that. I once jokingly reminded her that I was watching over the affairs of my household by doing so.

I find that such opportunities for me to do this afford themselves because I’m at home.

This way, I find it easier to watch over the affairs of my household.

To offer a support system for my husband in his role as leader and provider.

Being a leader in any capacity in a given organization or group is not an easy task. It needs the trust and support of those one is leading.

A husband as the God-ordained leader of the home needs the unwavering support of his wife to effectively lead the home.

A mother has the irreplaceable role of nurturing respect in the children for their father, especially when she’s with them most of the time.

Her entrepreneurial ventures, like those of the Proverbs 31 woman, often help relieve the man of the heavy burden of ensuring the needs of his household are met.

I’ve even found that because I’m present at home, I will tend to be frugal in the use of resources as well as ensuring the children are doing the same.

This is a supportive role that helps a husband perform optimally in his role.

It is scriptural

This last point was pivotal in my final decision to make the home my base of operation.

I remember even praying that God would show me what it meant to be busy at home.

I didn’t want to be idle. I didn’t want to be a busybody either.

I’m sincerely grateful to God that he answered that prayer.

I barely have time to do all the things on my to-do list. My days are full. I enjoy being at home and I enjoy what I do.

My children cannot imagine me being anywhere else other than home. My husband too.

I won’t belabor to explain the scriptures to you now that I have already talked about the two that God used to help me solidify my decision to be a stay-at-home mom as I understood from his Word.

These are Titus 2:3-5 and Provers 31:27a.

I made the decision, knowing that God was with me and that He would provide for us.

This has given me the strength to continue being a keeper at home even when it doesn’t seem to make sense to many.

Being a keeper at home fulltime isn’t as easy as some would imagine. The feeling of being left behind by your contemporaries as well as the isolation is not a joke. I’m grateful as I’m certain this is God’s will.

I keep having sneak previews of the result of my being at home such as the closeness with my children and the skills they are acquiring.

As much as I may not know how they’ll turn out, I have hope because I’m convinced this is how God wants me to live.

7 Reasons Why I’m a Keeper at Home: A Celebration of Domesticity, Titus 2:5

To provide a conducive environment for the purposes of God to thrive in each of my family members.

To facilitate the training of my children in life and godliness

To be available for my husband and children as a wife and mother.

To have space to express my creativity unhindered.

To keep an eye on what’s going on in my home.

To offer a support system for my husband in his role as leader and provider.

It is scriptural

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