“Just” a Housewife? or Warrior Women?
I hear Brett coming up the stairs because his dog tags, memorabilia of Seth and Roi, are clinking together. I turn around from dusting my dresser to see him fall onto the bed.
“Hey, you OK?” I ask.
“No.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what’s wrong.”
His eyes are closed, and I can see the tension in his face. Within minutes, he is fast asleep. I know what this is—it’s all the signs of a spiritual attack.
This incident occurred during the time Brett had been editing our most recent film, Disciples in the Moonlight. The spiritual warfare had been building. The weight of the project had become too much for him to carry—the decisions, the fear of failure, the daunting reality that the film was not fully funded. It had been a long seven-year journey to get to that time and place. The several months prior had been emotionally, physically, and spiritually heavy for us.
I place my dust rag down and reach for my Bible on the side table. I open to the very passage I read that morning—Psalm 91. I had been reading a chapter in the Psalms daily as a prayer to the Lord, applying the honest, vulnerable words to my own life. The Spirit knew that on that particular day I would need this one.
As Brett lies passed out on the bed, I stand over him and go into the battle. I choose to be like King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20:12, and when I don’t know what else to do, I look to the Lord and cry out loud to Him in prayer:
“The one who lives under the protection of the Most High dwells in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust…
Cover us with Your feathers; right now we take refuge under Your wings.
Your faithfulness will be a protective shield.”
My Bible is open in one hand, and my other hand is hovering over Brett’s body. I wave it back and forth in a circular motion, making a shield around him. As I continue my prayer, I wave my hand over my head, expanding the shield to cover myself too.
“I will not fear the terror of the night, the arrow that flies by day…
Though a thousand fall at our side and ten thousand at our right hand, the pestilence will not reach us.
In Jesus’ name I command the darkness and any pestilence to flee.”
My right hand continues to encircle Brett and me. I cannot see the spiritual war around us, but the tension is palpable, and therefore, I am declaring protection from it.
“Because I am making You my refuge, and the Most High my dwelling place, Lord, Your Word says that no harm will come to us; no plague will come near our tent—our home. You will give Your angels order concerning us, to protect us in all our ways.”
Tears are streaming down my face, but I won’t put my Bible nor my hand down to wipe them away. I’m begging God to protect us. I can sense His presence while also the intensity of the attack.
I continue to read as if God is speaking back to me:
“Because she is lovingly devoted to Me, I will deliver you. I will protect you because you know My name.
You called out to Me, and I will answer you. I am with you in your trouble, I will rescue you and give you honor. I will satisfy you and show you My salvation.”
I remind the Lord of these words. I hold Him to His promises.
On set of Disciples in the Moonlight, after filming my scene with Brett.
Brett is still asleep, and I wonder if he’s dreaming. The Lord sometimes speaks to him in his dreams, but it also can be an opportunity for Satan to torment him. He isn’t aware yet that I am fighting for us. I pray that he isn’t being tormented, but that he is at peace.
I lower my right hand down and place my Bible open beside Brett’s head, hoping the power of God’s Word, the Sword, will come off the pages and continue to slice through the heavy oppression.
I go back to dusting. You know, as if I didn’t just go to war. Why strive to be She-Hulk or Wonder Woman? We can fight to be warrior helpmates with a dust rag in one hand and the Sword in the other, shielding our husbands and children from the enemy’s attacks.
The previous year, I had written a three-part series on how to fight our spiritual battles from King Jehoshaphat’s response in 2 Chronicles 20. If you missed those posts and would like further context, you can read:
Part 1: Cancer or Sin - Is there a "magic shield"?
Part 2: You do not have fight this battle...
Part 3: When you think you've lost the battle...
There was another truth in this text that the Lord had been stirring in my heart. But like many of my writings, I needed more time to meditate and pray over it before I speak it out. The Spirit also needed to do His part, and as I said in another post, He has been performing intense surgery on my heart, digging out deep-rooted tumors of sinful heart struggles. I am able to see a bit clearer, increase my understanding, and trust more deeply in what God actually says, even if it is contrary to our culture.
What is this truth?
There’s a little verse tucked in the middle of 2 Chronicles 20. The nation of Judah was about to go to war, and after King Jehoshaphat declared a fast and prayed to God, guess who was present?
“All Judah was standing before the Lord with their infants, their wives, and their children.” (vs. 13, HCSB)
Wait, what?! I read it again. And again. I underlined the verse and in my Bible and wrote in the margins, “LOVE THIS!” I love these nuggets in Scripture where my El Roi whispers, “I see you.”
It hits me deeply as a wife who is trying to stand beside her husband in his war duties in this life, while also as a mom who fights daily to keep the toxins of this world from consuming the souls of my children. The example here is to stand unified, together.
The men of Judah were the ones going out to physically fight, but the women and children were also fighting in spirit, standing before the Lord in fasting and prayer with the men.
The outcome is that the shield of fasting and prayer not only covers the men in battle—it covers their wives, children, and infants at home.
Wow. Just wow.
But what would this look like in our present-day culture?
My second scene in Disciples - you have to see it to understand!
Fast forward from that spiritual battle to another day, when I read in my father-in-law’s Substack about the Kansas City Chiefs' kicker, Harrison Butker, and how his graduation commencement speech received intense backlash.
Butker said to the women, “Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.” He then highlighted his wife and how she “would be the first to say her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.” (Source)
Of course, the NFL had to have a statement that their views do not reflect his views. Apparently social media wasn’t too happy either. How dare he promote the role of homemaker. How dare he suggest that what a woman does at home is more valuable than any academic, professional, or career goals.
I threw my phone down with my blood boiling and my thoughts spiraling. Who does the NFL and all these commentators think they are to have an opinion on whether a woman wants to stay home and have kids? Have they ever been a mother? Have they ever been a homemaker? And why is everyone in a tizzy over this?! Why do they care? What. Are. They. So. Afraid. Of?
You all are actually afraid of some li’l homemakers, who are scrubbing toilets, cooking three square meals a day (plus endless snacks), and washing clothes? You afraid of mothers staying home and raising their children, teaching, training, and disciplining them? You afraid of wives who support their husbands, submit, respect, and honor them above all else?
If this describes you—yes, yes, they are afraid.
I found it funny that one of the twins took random pictures of me cleaning.
One reason on the surface is that the NFL doesn’t care a hoot what a woman does or does not do. They just don’t want to make a bunch of feminists—ahem, I mean females—mad. I mean, the NFL had their biggest female fan base of all time, thanks to the “Taylor Swift effect.” Even if their statements sounded sincere toward women, they are afraid of losing these “Swifties” because that could mean losing more power, money, and attention.
{Tangent: I laughed out loud at the irony of this quote from a journalist: “Women listening in the audience…were made to listen as he promoted the role of homemaker—not as an acceptable choice, but as their duty as a husband’s servant.” (Emphasis mine.)
Women may feel like they are their husbands’ servants by cooking his meals, cleaning up after him, and washing his clothes, yet if they have a career, they most likely have a duty as a “servant” to at least one man in their workplace in some capacity. Sorry, not sorry, but I don’t care what the “job” is, I’d rather choose to be a “servant” all day long to my husband out of love for him than another man in the workforce.
In fact, as the article continued to put Swift as this example of femininity—someone with a successful career who is not married nor has children—the sad truth is that she is not only a servant but a slaveto the entertainment industry. I further prove my point with the intense backlash she received from fans when she got engaged. As Brett and I fight our flesh to follow biblical headship and submission, I am more free as a homemaker, wife, and mother—than she is.}
I had to stop and ask myself why I was getting so heated and in a tizzy over this. Yes, it seems like a personal attack on me since I am a homemaker, but as I took my thoughts to the Lord and recalled to mind Scripture, I realized that if we are being attacked by people with a non-biblical worldview or lack of belief in the inherent Word of God, then that usually means we are actually doing something right. There has to be something deeper going on why our culture is throwing a fit like three-year-old toddler twins (I would know!) about promoting homemaking.
The reason our culture is so afraid is because it’s spiritual—it’s the battle that no one is seeing because they don’t want to see it. Anyone who is not a true believer in Christ and anyone who opposes the family unit, marriage between a man and woman, both spouses sacrificing and submitting to each other, choosing to have children and raise them, and prioritizing the home…these people are aligning themselves on the side of the devil and being used by him because he is very, very afraid of us.
While many think the battle is “out there,” Satan has been on full attack against our homes. He knows that if he can break up marriages, have husbands and dads disengage, wives and mothers prioritize their careers and passions over their families, and leave children to either fend for themselves, babysat by screens, or raised by everyone else but the parents…then he knows he can win.
He’s after our souls and the souls of our children—to kill, steal, and destroy. Just look around at what is happening to our families and children! We wake up every morning to a battle that is staring us right in the face…within our own walls. If I’m not at war against the cancerous toxins and false ideology of this world infiltrating my home, then who will be?
Bella Vista, Arkansas
Over the last few years, the Spirit has made it very clear to me that Brett and I standing together before the Lord and using the most powerful weapons of warfare—prayer and the Sword of the Spirit, the Bible—have the most significant influence over the spiritual war around my family.
I can testify that the Lord heard my cries that day I engaged in war over Brett (and many after), and He answered me, fighting several intense battles in order for Disciples in the Moonlight to be released, and for us to have victory over the wounds we received along the way.
What is special is that there is a character in the film that plays the role of a wife who does not go out on the dangerous mission of smuggling Bibles. Some may have questioned whether that fuels negative stereotypes for women. However, her battle wasn’t “out there”; it was at home on her knees in prayer and with the Bible in her hands. She modeled 2 Chronicles 20:13, fighting for the safety of her husband and his smuggling team and for God’s Word to reach those who desperately needed it.
This is a picture of a woman full of strength and power and value that no one can take away, and more effective than anything else she could have done.
Oh, she’s not “just” a housewife.
Micah Lynn Hanson playing Rachel from Disciples in the Moonlight
Instead of my blood boiling over people’s degrading perspective of my current roles, I now have sorrow for them because they are missing out on this heroic adventure. I once felt inferior, timid, and weak up against certain women, but now I am more confident in my purpose as a wife, mother, and homemaker. If this is you…
Don’t be distracted. Don’t be discouraged. Don’t be deceived. Stand before the Lord in prayer, and receive the power and strength that comes from our God-given, created roles as warrior women to fight the spiritual battles surrounding our families. As we guard our homes, we have the greatest impact on our husbands and children, which then affects the world for good.
With a dust rag in one hand, a baby on the hip, and the Word of God in the other hand…
That’s a battle stance that will slay more than any other.
“You are as much serving God in looking after your own children, and training them up in God’s fear, and minding the house, and making your household a church for God, as you would be if you had been called to lead an army to battle for the Lord of hosts.” - Charles Spurgeon
Find out where you can watch the movie here, or if you subscribe to Angel Studios, watch it here.
