Giving myself up

It's really incredible how we give ourselves up for one another. The Scriptures tell us to build one another up and edify each other and I'm learning that although it is incredibly hard to do, it really is an amazingly wonderful thing. I say this the day after giving up my career in order to stay home to raise our precious daughter. How better to do that than to die to myself, right? My husband has often told me that his primary job is to give himself up for me. For the longest time I've just thought, "How sweet of him for working so hard to follow the Scriptures." I'm realizing though that I'm also to give myself up for him as well. Not only that, I'm to give myself up for my daughter. Now I know that the Scriptures don't blatantly say that for mother's but isn't that what we were made to do? The Bible says were created to be a helpmate to our husbands. What better way to help them than to raise their children? I have to be honest, I have struggled very much with this... The part where I have to give myself up for my family. The truth is, I want it all - I want the wonderful and amazing career with the prestige and wealth. I want the nice house and car (and whatever else I want to buy). But I want to be home with my daughter and be the primary influence in her life and show her what a godly wife and mother looks like. I want my husband to be the breadwinner but I don't want to quit my job. I want to live closer to family but I want to stay in Portland. I'm quickly coming to the realization that I can't have it all and I need to be satisfied with that. As Paul said, "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation...". The secret is Christ. Oh how I long for the day I can honestly make that same statement. For now though, I will continue to pray that God give me the strength I need to press on, the wisdom I need to make the right choices, and the courage I need to follow those choices through. May I always have a thankful heart and appreciate both where I have been and where I am going and may I love my family with the same love that Christ has for me.