Intentional Planning & Goal Setting for the Homemaker

 How do we set goals and build routines that actually reflect faithfulness to Christ? In this final episode of season one, we walk through Proverbs 31 as a practical guide for intentional planning, wise goal setting, and ordered daily routines. This episode reframes productivity through the fear of the Lord and offers tangible encouragement for women seeking to steward their time, homes, and callings with diligence and joy—especially in the ordinary, unseen work of everyday life. 

Transcript

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A wife of noble character, who can find. She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. She is like the merchant ships bringing her food from afar. She gets up while it is still night. She provides food for her family and portions for her female servants. She considers a field and buys it. Out of her earnings, she plants a vineyard. She sets about her work vigorously. Her arms are strong for her tasks. She sees that her trading is profitable and her lamp does not go out at night. In her hand, she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers. She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy. When it snows, she has no fear for her household, for all of them are clothed in scarlet. She makes coverings for her bed. She is clothed in fine linen and purple. Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them. She supplies the merchants with sashes. She is clothed with strength and dignity. She can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praises her. Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting. But a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate. Proverbs 31, 10 through 31. Hey friends, welcome back to the Keeping the Citadel Podcast. My name is Heather Faria and I am your host. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have been getting off to a great start with your new year. We had a very sweet time with our families and a nice break off of school that has been both refreshing and productive. I don't know about you, but when my kids and I are taking a break from homeschooling, I use that time off to cram all my major projects that are hard to get done with school going on. I'm sure you guys know what that's like. And I'm just always so grateful for that time. It's not exactly restful, but I would definitely say it's so refreshing to knock those things out and be able to come back from break with those things off my mind. Among the many homemaking projects I was knocking out, I had a big list of items to do for Keeping the Citadel, including recording this podcast, which I had hoped to get out to you a couple weeks ago. But because I gotta put my home and my family first, sometimes these episodes might be a little delayed, and that's just the way it is. With that said, though, my plan this year is to do my best to get these episodes out to you at least every other week, and they will coincide with each issue of the magazine. This way, the combination of the magazine and quarterly podcast season will be working together to provide you with a really comprehensive theme of Titus II discipleship each quarter. So we will be starting season two here soon, and that season will tie into the winter theme of our magazine titled Live a Better Story. So stay tuned. That's probably going to be coming out in the next uh two weeks. But today, we will be wrapping up our series on manning your post. So, in this first season of the Keeping the Citadel podcast, we have spent the last several episodes discussing topics that revolve around answering the question of how we as women can man our post at home well. In the first episode, I read the verse from Proverbs 31:10 that says, Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies. And I explained how the literal Hebrew translation for the phrase virtuous woman is woman of valor. And if you remember from that episode, I said to have valor means to have heroic courage, strength, and resilience. We discussed how a true woman of valor is a woman who mans her post well. Throughout the season, I have shared several stories and interviewed amazing women that have hopefully inspired you and given you real life practical examples of what it looks like to be that woman of valor in the sphere of your own home. Today, though, as we wrap up this first season, I want to bring the conversation back to the Proverbs 31 woman and her example. But instead of sharing an interview where I ask another woman to share her story for you, I want to shift the storytelling to you, my dear listener. What kind of story are you telling with your life? How can you be a woman of valor in your own home? How can you practically live in such a way that exemplifies the kind of woman that we see modeled in Proverbs 31 so that you too will be manning your post well? It's one thing for us to hear stories of courage and virtue, but sometimes it's quite difficult to know what it looks like for us in the everyday nitty-gritty of our own lives to walk that out. How can we be women with stories worth telling? So, in this episode, I want to really get practical for you and discuss what I believe to be one of the most essential tools in putting these ideas into action. And that is the practice of goal setting, establishing habits, and daily planning. My overall goal for the Keeping the Sit It All podcast is to give you both a beautiful vision of your role as a biblical woman and homemaker, and practical steps to living that out so you too can be telling a great story with your life and living fruitfully for the kingdom. We don't want these stories and inspiration we hear to just stay in our hearts. We want, as Doug Wilson says, theology that comes out of our fingertips. So now that we have the vision, let's dive into how we can put it into action. Okay, so I mentioned a little bit ago that I believe that one of the most essential tools in actually manning our posts well is the practice of goal setting, establishing habits, and daily planning. I realize this time of year the topic of goal setting and planning sounds cliche, but hey, we're wrapping up January, so we would need a refresher on this, right? I truly believe that this is a skill, January or April or August, that we as homemakers must master if we are going to have fruitful and productive homes. And yes, you'll notice I said a skill to be mastered. That means I don't believe that the act of planning is something that just type A personalities do. I think there's this big idea when it comes to planning and goal setting that you either have the gift or you don't. But contrary to popular belief, I really don't think that planning and goal setting is something that people are either good or bad at based on their personalities. It really is a skill that can be learned and developed. So the good news is that regardless of your personality or whether or not this is something you have been historically bad at, I do believe that planning is something that you can learn how to how to do and how to get good at. Now, that doesn't mean that it's going to look the same for everyone, or that there is a right or wrong way to do it. This is where the development of the skill comes in. But by practicing different methods, we can figure out what works best with the unique personalities, gifts, and lifestyles we have. So the point I want you to take away isn't that there is one right way to plan or that you have to do it exactly the way I do it. The point I want you to take away is that we should all be planning intentionally, regardless of our personalities. Okay, so why is planning so important for the Christian homemaker? Why can't we just be free spirits in our home or take care of tasks when inspiration strikes? The reason why is because the life we are called to as Christians is not merely spiritual. We are physical beings and we must actually put the faith we have into physical action. The habits we have and the way we live should reflect the truth we proclaim. If Christ is Lord of our hearts, he must be Lord of our schedules and daily habits as well. The Bible says in Ephesians 2.10 that we are created for good works. And in Psalm 90, 12 we also read, so teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. These verses show us that we need to be intentional about the way we structure and steward our time. They also show that part of being wise is making a plan for how we can be the most fruitful with those good works that God has created for us to do. Since you are a homemaker, that means that one of your main responsibilities in life is learning not just how to check everything off your to-do list, but how to truly manage your home well. Therefore, this is a crucial area that we should all be seeking to grow in excellence in. So, how do we develop this skill and put this into action in a wise way? I'm gonna walk you through a four-step process I've been doing for years and share how you can adjust this to work for you. Okay, so step one is start with your God-given purpose. Before you can even get to the goal setting, it's important to start with your God-given purpose. As women, we constantly have this never-ending list of all the things we want to do or accomplish, not to mention the added list of outside engagements that are always vying for our attention. If we haven't first determined what our God-given purpose is and how our roles and responsibilities flow from that, then we will have a really hard time knowing what things to prioritize and what things to say no to. We know, as it says in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, that our chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. This means that whatever your personality is, your goal setting should always begin with surprise, surprise, God. Every commitment you make, every goal you set, every tiny little habit you have in your day-to-day life should reflect that main purpose in your life, to glorify God. The act of glorifying God, however, is not necessarily a one-size-fits-all kind of thing. Obviously, all Christians are called to glorify God through bearing the fruits of the Spirit and spreading the gospel. But too often people stop there and act like that's as far as it goes when it comes to living a God-glorifying life. The truth is, however, that as women, we have a very specific way that God has told us how we can be glorifying Him to the fullest. And so, in order to do that, we need to have a very firm understanding of what our specific biblical roles are and what responsibilities we are required to fulfill as a result of those. Now, I'm not going to do a complete deep dive of this, but we know from scripture that God has designed women to have the important roles of helpers, homemakers, and life givers. This means that from Scripture, we are already able to establish what I like to call our spheres of responsibility. Let's go back to the Proverbs 31 woman for an example of what this looks like in action. In verse 10, we read, A wife of noble character who can find. She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. So, right away, we see that one of the primary functions of this woman of valor is that she is a helper suitable. Now that doesn't mean that if you are single, that you are not able to fulfill God's purpose for you as a woman. That's not what I'm saying here. But it does mean that one of the primary purposes that God had in creating women was to be helpers, and in particular, a helper to the man who is the woman's head. So if you are single, this could be your father, or it could even be the headship of godly elders at your church. For most of us, though, and this is the primary reason God created women, our main function is to serve as the helper to our husband. From there, we are also to be life givers to our children. And we see this in several verses throughout the passage as it describes her taking care of the needs of her children. The passage goes on to describe the many ways she works hard to tend to the needs of her household, ensuring that everything and everyone within her domain is cared for properly. This reflects the role and responsibility of the homemaker. In verse 17, we read that she makes her arms strong so that she is able to work hard at the tasks at hand, thereby showing us another sphere of responsibility for the woman is stewardship of her health. Verse 20 tells us that out of the overflow of her industrious work in her household, she is able to open her arms to the poor and needy, showing how a woman is called to Christian charity by serving the body of Christ and those who are in need. And then finally, we see in verse 30 that the source of all these good works are rooted in the fact that she is a woman who fears the Lord. This takes us back to our first and primary purpose of how everything we do should be done to glorify God. Without a heart that fears God, seeks him earnestly, and is growing in godly character, all the good works that we set out to accomplish will be in vain. Therefore, spiritual spiritual growth is another sphere of responsibility. Okay, so let's go ahead and break this down. From the Proverbs 31 woman, we have discovered at least five main spheres of responsibility that we have as women spiritual growth, marriage slash motherhood, homemaking, health, and ministry. Although it wasn't included in the passage for the sake of our goal planning, I'm gonna go ahead and add education to that list because as mothers, we have the responsibility from scripture to disciple and educate our children. So, with that addition, we have six main spheres of responsibility that reflect our purpose as women. And I'll go ahead and repeat those spiritual growth, marriage and motherhood, um, and that's one category, the marriage and motherhood, homemaking, health, ministry, and education. These spheres of responsibility are the domains that God has entrusted you to steward and set your hands to. If there is something that you are being asked to do or you find yourself spending your time and energy on, and it doesn't fall into the realm of one of those six categories, there's probably a good chance that it doesn't line up with God's plan for you. So now that we have established what God has made us for and what the roles are that we are called to live out faithfully, we can move on to the goals that we want to set for each of those areas. So this brings us to step two, and that is carve out your goals. But I like to call this strategic stewardship. So this is where we enter into the fun part of goal planning that everyone tends to think of, especially this time of year, where you imagine those big dreams and all those plans that you would like to accomplish. This also, though, is the part that a lot of people tend to mock and scoff at because we all know that most New Year's resolutions end up getting thrown in the trash by February. It just happens. It just, we all know it. But here's where I want you to pause and to encourage you to try to shift your thinking about this. What if instead of viewing goal setting as this whole self-focused new year, new me resolutions mentality, what if we instead sought to view it as strategic stewardship? What do I mean by this? Let me explain. We've all heard of people making resolutions to do better. And most, if not all of us, have even made some of these on our own at some point. The problem with resolutions is that they are primarily a way that we are trying on our own to muster up enough resolve to better ourselves. Resolutions at their core are just another version of man trying to save himself. This is fundamentally why most resolutions fail, because in and of ourselves, we cannot save ourselves or make ourselves better. Here's the truth. We don't need enough gumption to beat our bad habits. We need a savior to save us from our sin. We don't need to spend more time navel gazing, dreaming of how to make our dreams a reality. We need to submit our will, our plans, and our time to the Lord and ask him what he desires to do with our lives. Because we can't save ourselves or better ourselves or make ourselves new. But what we can do is submit ourselves to the one who can. So if we want our lives to be transformed, if we want our homes to be transformed, we must go to Christ first before making a single plan. We must ask him what his will is for our lives, and then make it our number one goal to live in intentional, faithful obedience to that will. It isn't through perfectly achieved goals that we reach transformation. I want you guys to hear this. This is really important. It is through his word and the process of faithful obedience that Christ transforms us and makes us more like him. This is how we live successful lives for his glory. So, with all that said, this is why I said that step one is not actually goal setting, but it is starting with your God-given purpose. Before we do any goal setting, we must begin by asking ourselves three questions. Number one, what is God's ultimate will for me as a woman? Number two, what is God's will for my home? And then number three, how can I better and more faithfully serve him with what he has entrusted to me? If we don't start there, then any goals we make will most likely fall into that whole new year, new me mentality. And the thing about that is it's just very self-focused. The plans we make need to be for the glory of the Lord and for the good of our people. So instead of just throwing all our hopes and dreams onto a piece of paper and wishing for the best, what we need to do is focus on, as I said just a bit ago, strategic stewardship. So, what is this whole strategic stewardship thing? Strategic stewardship is the art of creating goals, plans, And routines that flow out of your God-given spheres of responsibility. Now, I just want to pause for a sec to let you know that I made a free guide called Planning for Fruitfulness that walks you through this whole process. So I know while you're hearing this podcast, maybe some of this might be a bit confusing. But if you go to my website, keeping the citadel.com, you can join our email list and you will be able to download this guide right now for free and really see a visual of what I'm talking about. And it walks you through this whole process of learning how to goal set and skillfully manage your home. So I really encourage you right now to just hit pause, go get that download, and then come back. And then you can follow along while I am talking about this because then it will just really, really make sense. Okay, so now that we have established your spheres of responsibility in the previous steps, now that you have asked yourself those three vital questions, you can now begin making goals for each of those spheres. At the beginning of each year, I like to take a page and mark out these six areas of responsibilities and put a list of big overarching goals for each category. When your goals flow out of those categories, you are making an intentional plan for how you can grow in the areas that the Lord has entrusted to you. I recommend making a short list of your overarching yearly goals for each category. And for these yearly ones, you're going to think more broadly than narrowly. Then, after you've made your yearly goals for each category, you repeat the process at the beginning of each month. So this is something that I think not a lot of people do. We kind of get in this goal setting mindset just once a year. But this is something that I have found is really key to keeping that vision of what I set out to accomplish fresh in my mind when you repeat the process every month. So what you're gonna do at the beginning of each month is you're gonna break those goals down for that month into more actionable steps. So this way you're really being intentional to focus on those areas that God has called you to prioritize and steward well. So now this brings us to step three, and that is establish daily habits and routines. This is what I like to say is the number one key to successfully managing your home, even more so than goal setting, because this is where the rubber meets the road. See, when it comes to goal setting, the pressure for perfection sets people up for failure before they even begin. What we need to do is instead of thinking we have to perfectly succeed at these goals that we set out to accomplish, what we need to do is focus on faithful obedience. That should be our number one commitment. Don't tell yourself just to commit to a goal. Tell yourself to commit to never giving up on being faithful. I'm gonna say that one more time. Don't tell yourself to commit to a goal. Tell yourself to commit to never giving up on being faithful. But, and here's the key being faithful doesn't mean that you have to keep a perfect streak or record of doing something, and that if you miss a day, then you're a failure and you just throw in the towel. Again, this is why people end up quitting because they don't understand that committing to faithfulness doesn't mean committing to perfection. It means that when you fail, and you will, you will fail. I can promise you that. But when you fail, you are committing to not throwing in that towel and giving up. You are making the the commitment to no matter what, get back on that horse the next day and the day after that and start over again and again and again. People don't like this idea though. They want the glory of perfectly achieving their 75 hard challenge or whatever it is. This is because we live in a perfectionist culture. We want to see the calendar with every single check mark checked off on every single day and no gaps in between. But we it we as humans hate the work of faithfulness. But here's the cold hard truth. You can have the most amazing goals in place, but if you aren't putting in the daily work of being faithful and obedient, it doesn't matter how great those goals are, they're never gonna get accomplished. And then if you if you do make a mistake and then you just decide to give up, they're definitely not gonna get accomplished. Faithfulness, the the continuing to go on, the continuing to persevere, even after you have made a mistake, even after you have had a setback, continuing to persevere in obedience is the measure of success. Because faithfulness is where your character is proven. Another word I like to use for faithfulness is plotting. What does that mean to plod? When I looked this up, I got the definition to walk along a path with heavy, usually slow steps. Another definition said to work slowly and perseveringly at a dull task. From these definitions, we get the idea that plotting is that slow but steady work of the daily grind. Proverbs 21:5 says, the plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty. We are called to be diligent and obedient in the work God has given us. Making plans and being intentional are great, but they will only get you so far. You have to put in that work of daily faithfulness, and that gets put into action when you with your daily routines and habits. I've been goal setting. Here's just a little personal um insight into my life. I've been goal setting in pretty much the same pattern I've described here since I was in high school. As part of my homeschooling education, my parents had me go through a training that taught me how to begin goal setting by identifying these roles and then from there to make plans. And yet, it wasn't until I got the rhythm of daily habits and routines down much later into my adult life, sadly to say, that I started to see real success and progress with them. It wasn't because I hadn't learned the power of habit forming as a teen or anything like that. And this was all part of that training as well. It was because I confused faithfulness with legalism. I thought that if I worked hard on being disciplined about things, that somehow I was striving after perfectionism. I think in reality, there was also just a lot of laziness in my heart that I needed to repent of. But eventually the Lord taught me that pursuing faithfulness and obedience and the small things was not an act of legalism, but of love for Him. And that obedience not only brings joy, but it brought me freedom from the guilt that all my lack of self-discipline and laziness was constantly producing in me. Realizing that faithfulness, not perfection, was what the Lord required of me. And then actually walking in that daily faithfulness has done more in my heart to transform my character, grow me in grit, and at the same time, dependence on him than anything else. So daily routines certainly aren't as glamorous or as fun to make, let alone follow through with, as these big plans and goals are. But guys, this is where the magic happens. When you persevere in the mundane, when you keep plotting with joy, even when it seems slight progress is small, you will eventually see the fruit of your faithfulness. So let's get practical. And then by loop scheduling the days of the week to have certain themed tasks. Here's an example of what I mean by loop scheduling the days of the week. Monday, I have a cleaning loop day. Tuesday is my bills, budget, and meal plan day. You could also refer to that as like home administrative tasks. Wednesday is when I try to get all my errands done. Thursday is like kitchen meal prep. And um, Friday is catch-up. And then Saturday is Sabbath prep. So that's when I do any remaining cleanup, preparation for hosting guests, and then obviously meal prepping for our Lord's Day meals. And then Sunday is Lord's Day rest. So if you get that free guide from my website, I have pages where I show you what this looks like in my own planner and offer some blank pages for you to make your own routines that work for you. And in that guide, I also give a more in-depth explanation on the process of loop scheduling, the days of your week. But that whole process of loop scheduling has literally revolutionized the way I plan out my weekly schedule. So be sure to go and get that download because I really think that you will find this incredibly helpful in planning out your daily and weekly rhythms. Okay, so now that we've gotten our routines down, our habits down, this brings us to that final step. Step four, make your daily plan of action. Before we get into the daily plan of action, I want to talk about weekly brain dumps, but doing it in categories. Have you heard that saying, women are like spaghetti, men are like waffles? If you haven't, just forget it. But we all know what it means. Women have a tendency to have a million thoughts and feelings intertwined, whereas men tend to think in categories. And while I know that the way a woman's mind works can certainly have its advantages, it also can make things like managing a household very overwhelming. When it comes to managing a house, we need to learn how to think in categories. Ladies, I know it's hard, but we can do this. Having a jumble of responsibilities, tasks, and intentions floating around in your head with nowhere to put them is not going to do anything except lead to a nervous breakdown. So this is why I like to do a strategic brain dump. The weekly brain dump is not an idea I came up with. It's something many of us already do. But as I'm jotting down the long list of tasks that I need to accomplish each week, I write them in categories. So at the beginning of the week, I do this brain dump of all the tasks I need to set out to get done through sometime throughout that week. But before I write them down, I start out with writing housekeeping. And then underneath that little heading, housekeeping, I write down all of the housekeeping tasks that I need to take care of for the week. Then I write another little header and I write home admin and I write down all of those home admin tasks. And then I uh will move on to homeschooling. I'll write down all my homeschooling tasks. And then I move on to work and ministry tasks. I usually have another brain dump where I just put any miscellaneous items or errands, things like that that also need to get done. So since I already have the brain dump divided into categories, this makes it super easy for me to assign those tasks to my daily action plans. So that's why I wanted to kind of get into that weekly brain dump before I get into the daily action plan. Once you get all those tasks out on your brain dump, it's time to make a plan for them. I like to make my plan for the week on Sundays while I'm resting. This makes it so that I can start hitting the grindstone on Monday with a plan in place and ready to go. So basically, what I do is I take those tasks and I spread them out according to the weekly loop days that I just mentioned a little bit ago. For example, I'll put all my home admin tasks on my bills budget and meal plan day, and I'll put my home organization and cleaning tasks all on my cleaning loop day. If I have any errands to run, you get the idea. I'm gonna put them on my errands day. Again, you can see more of this, uh, more of how this works in that guide that I mentioned. Okay, so once you've got your week planned out, it's time now to give it to the Lord. Take some time to pray that he will give you the strength to accomplish these plans and that you would prioritize what he would want you to focus on, and that he will establish the work of your hands. Don't stress or feel guilty at the end of your week about anything left undone. I want to repeat that. At the end of your week, with anything left undone, do not feel guilty. Proverbs 16 9 says, the heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. The Lord is sovereign over all the details of your life. You might have planned a big week, but then someone in your house gets sick or the car breaks down. These things might be surprises to you, but they are not surprises to God. We have to hold our plans with open hands and give them to the Lord and just do the next right thing. Remember, your job is faithfulness, not perfectly executing your plan. Your plan is there as a tool that is meant to help you and help you be more fruitful in your home. It's your plan is meant to give you that vision and direction of knowing where you're going and how to get there. Okay, so that pretty much wraps up that four-step process that I do in uh as a way of managing my home. Uh, I want to close with a word of encouragement. Misty Winkler has a quote that I love from the Convivial Homeschool that says, fruit comes after a long season of labor. Not as soon as the seed hits the ground. Our children are not annuals producing a quick crop. They are trees. Trees take years to establish roots and bear fruit. But when the tree is cared for, their yield is for a lifetime. Although this quote is directed at how we think of our children, the same is true for us. We are not annuals either. The fruitfulness that we are pursuing should last far beyond the course of a year. We are seeking a harvest that lasts a lifetime. When we start getting angry or falling into despair because things aren't going according to our perfectly laid out plan, that's a good indicator that we have our priorities backwards and we are looking to our plans for peace instead of Christ. We craft our plans as intentional tools for success, but we hold them loosely, remembering that the Lord's plans are sovereign over ours. If he ordains for us to have a day filled with interruptions or bad attitudes or lots of disciplining our kids, we release our plans for his in order to serve our people well. So it's very important to remember to be flexible. Be flexible and willing to rearrange things. And remember, hard does not mean bad. You might have days where you fail hard, but thank God he never fails us. A couple of my favorite verses are there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. I'm going to close this out with our usual charge, but before I do, if this episode encouraged you, would you please take just a minute to subscribe and leave a review? As we prepare to start the new year, I have a really big goal to grow the Keeping the Citadel podcast, as well as our magazine subscribers and get this message out to women, and more importantly, the women who need it most, that biblical womanhood still matters. This whole mission of Keeping the Citadel, this isn't more than just a magazine and a podcast. This is Titus II discipleship. I I truly believe that something like this can really help to change the culture of womanhood in the church today. But it's going to take an army of women to do this, so we need you to help us bear the flame. So if this conversation blessed you, would you please take a moment to subscribe, rate the show, and leave a review? It just takes a few seconds, guys, just a few seconds. But it makes all the difference to us, and I am so grateful for your support. Also, don't forget to join the Keeping the Citadel magazine community by subscribing. Right now, when you subscribe, you will get entered into our batch to get the spring issue. Uh, you need to make sure you go and do that before February 15th if you want the spring magazine. Uh the title is called The Battle for Beauty. It's gonna be so good, so good, you guys. I've been getting the articles coming in, and this it's just filled with so much rich content. So make sure you sign up today for that spring issue. Subscribe, share, and help us build a culture of faith, one home at a time. With that said, here is my charge to you. As we close this season, I'm gonna leave you with this. The woman of Proverbs 31 is not praised because she did everything perfectly, nor because she lived a glamorous or effortless life. She is praised because she feared the Lord, and that fear worked itself out through faithful, embodied obedience over time. She rose early, she worked with willing hands, she planned, she labored, she gave, she persevered, and she did it all, not to be seen, but to serve. First the Lord, then her people. Sister, you are not called to be impressive. You are not called to be everywhere. You are not called to live someone else's story. You are called to man your post. To take the small, ordinary, often unseen work God has entrusted to you and to do it with courage, diligence, and joy. To order your days not around your feelings or the world's expectations, but around faithfulness to Christ. To plan wisely, work steadily, repent quickly, and keep going when the work feels slow and the fruit feels far off. Do not despise the plotting. Do not grow weary in the mundane. Do not believe the lie that faithfulness doesn't matter because no one is applied. Your home is not small in the economy of God. Your obedience is not wasted. Your labor is not in vain. So tomorrow morning, take up your post. And the day after that, do it again. Plan your days with wisdom, but then hold them with open hands. Work with all your heart, and then entrust the things left undone to him. Trust that the God who called you to this work is the same God who will establish it. Be faithful, do the next right thing, and until next time, embrace your high calling, live a better story, and keep the flame of your citadel burning brightly.