She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness. Proverbs 31:7 NLT

In her book The Apostolic Woman! God’s Restorative Plan For Woman In His Kingdom, Linda Heidler said the concept of keeping the home began in Genesis 2:15. God placed man (and woman) in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch it – to be keepers of the garden just like women are the keepers of their homes. 

“Keep” in Hebrew means guard, protect, and support. Keeping house is about dusting, vacuuming, and doing laundry, and so much more. The woman is the ruler of her home. Heidler said, “She is to guard it as a sanctuary for her family.”

What goes on in our houses, as well as what goes and comes through the doors of our homes (like attention to a budget and good company), is the woman’s responsibility. It is our purpose, through prayer and guidance from the Holy Spirit, to keep our homes healthy, happy, and holy.

Sometimes I did okay. Sometimes not so much. I attended church back then, but struggled in my faith, so I was uncertain about my role 38 years ago when I became a mom.

I wish I had exchanged my self-doubt for His assurance, and read more of my Bible and prayed more. Heidler described the dilemma for a lot of women who didn’t know better, “The concept of the ‘keeper of the home’ was lost. Women were either ‘housekeepers,’ or they abandoned the home for the workplace.” 

She said, “Either way, no one was functioning in the biblical role of the ‘keeper of the home.’”   

She also said, “When the family falls apart, society soon follows.” 

The Solution Now

Kirk Cameron emphasized the significance of family during his American Campfire Revival. That’s why he called each of us into a personal revival, as well as one for our families and our country. He instructed us to be like our Founding Fathers. 

• Trust God and the covenants He made with us.
• Read His Word.  
• Pray. 
• Plan and do our own 100-day plan and beyond.

This post is a call for us women to get back to being keepers of our homes, not just housekeepers or women who work outside the home so we can afford a housekeeper. We don’t labor in our houses for our husband and children. We serve them in our homes by being raised up by God and then raising up them. 

Heidler said the roles of a biblical mother include being a keeper, protector, and guardian and qualities encompass strength, wisdom, and mercy

Even though my children are grown and gone, I can be these things now when they visit, call, and FaceTime. I can live Proverbs 31 now. I can do what Heidler said is God’s plan for women now. We all can.

“God has a plan for secure and prosperous families and a big part of that plan depends on the ‘keeper of the home,’” she said.  

I hope all of my women friends hear that we were made for now. God wants us to show up for Him, for our families, and for our communities and our country. He wants to include us in His revival in a BIG way. 

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you who mothered your own children and all of you who mothered someone else’s children. God wants more from us and now. 

In This Together,
Kim