Did I ever tell you about our full-size mattress?
Yes, thatâs right. We spent the first four years of our marriage sharing a 20-year-old full-size mattress. Kyle is over 6â tall. It was stupid, but we didnât know you couldâyou knowâsave and buy a new mattress, so for years we tossed and turned on a little full-size mattress because it seemed good enough and we didnât really consider doing anything different.
Then we realized (as most grown-ups do) that if we saved a bit every month, we could save long enough to buy our own mattressâand behold, a queen mattress at that! The night we bought it, we slept almost eight hours straight, and were both totally baffled that such a thing was possible.
Is it totally weird that I started this whole thing off with an illustration about our bed?
Sorry.
Now that youâre good and uncomfortable, Iâll tell you that when Kyle and I got engaged over five years ago, we were asking questions and wrestling with decisions that were a lot like fitting two grown adults (and sometimes a dog) onto a full-size mattress. Whose work should we follow? Where should we live? What was God calling us to? In the fall of 2009, we decided to move to Indianapolisâmy hometownâbecause we believed God had given me the opportunity to do what I really loved: minister to middle and high school students and serve the local church. It was a risk for Kyle, because he moved with no job prospects or connections, but he still made a (pretty huge) sacrificial decision for me.
That first year was full of complex questions, crappy part-time jobs, and late night conversations. We wrestled a lot over calling and giftedness, questioning if we had made the wrong decision. We also prayed. A lot. Near the end of that year, Kyle was offered a full-time job that he now loves. And over the past four years, Iâve watched him completely come alive and spill over with passion. But Iâd be leaving out a big part of this story if I didnât tell you that over the last 15 months weâve found ourselves in familiar territory ⊠full of late night conversations about calling and work, and now thereâs a beautiful, little person added in the mix.
If you know me personally, it wonât be a surprise to hear that of the two of us, my personality can be a little on theâwhatâs the wordâcommanding side. Up until recently, one of my top five strengths in Strengths Finder was âcommand.â (I retook it this past fall and all but one and changed. Apparently I am very affected by circumstances.) I push, hustle, and strive. I jump first and think later. I say âyesâ without considering the implications on our family life and often find myself with ten too many things on one plate. And it usually lands us in a place of burnout and exhaustion.
So when we had our son and our priorities started shifting and shuffling, we found ourselves a little tangled up in logistics. I was striving again, trying to push forward and do everything and then some, becauseâyou knowâthatâs what I do! I thought because I was âonlyâ working 20 hours a week that I needed to âfill inâ all the other hours with more, more, and more. More accomplishing! More doing! More pushing! We can make this work. I can raise a baby, take care of a house, love a family, work, cook meals, volunteer everywhere, lead a small group, be friends with everyone, get to know all my neighbors, read every book in sight, speak in hyperbole and save the world, yeah?
No.Â
Iâm trying to say that word out loud a little more, just as practice. Can you hear me hesitantly whispering it? âNo⊠okay maybe! No⊠no, I canât, wait, yes I can! No, I so wish I could, but I can’t right now.â
My intentions are good. Almost always. I mean well, of course, and say yes for the right reasons. But I often fail to see that making room for two callings means both people have to say no sometimes when they would otherwise say yes. How many times did Kyle say no to what he wanted or needed in our early days of ministry together? So many. The weeks he went to middle school camp with me, sacrificing time to research, prepare, or rest … the weekends he spent helping me prepare sermons, or came early to help me set up or tear down … the nights he opened our home to people when he was–frankly–exhausted. There are too many to count, and he did it gladly. We both did. Student ministry was hard, to be sure, but it was also so rewarding and so much fun.
(Here’s proof, by the way, that we rocked out the lanyards and backpacks together.)

Before we found out I was pregnant, we were both starting to feel the tension of two callings in one house. And when Iâm completely honest, a lot of it had to do with meâoverextending myself with a sinfully large view of my own capabilities. I failed to see that God was divinely preparing me for this time⊠to slow down, to be a mother, to make a house a home, work a little more behind the scenes, and to learn how to be a more present wife.
Iâm not saying Iâm giving up or bowing out. I believe motherhood and calling can go together, that positions of influence arenât just reserved for those without logistical challenges, and that there is space for passion and child-rearing. I donât know what it all looks like yet, but that’s for another day. I just can’t shake it, though–right now, for us personally, itâs time to make room for two callings. And up until the past year, itâs been a little crowded.
Itâs been a huge identity shift, I would be lying if I didn’t admit that. But I really believe God has me here and that I have something to learn that otherwise I wouldn’t. I can see now–with a little breathing room–that the incredible gift of motherhood is preparing me for ministry in ways I never dreamed. I’m learning how to love people more deeply because I now know everyone is someone elseâs child. Every person has a story, a background, a family, a mother. I knew that before, of course, but now I feel it in my bones. And I have this extraordinary little boy, and I couldnât love him more. I get a front row seat to his growth and development, and I get to help shape and mold this tiny, fascinating person. But that has also meant I need to slow down and say no to some people and opportunities where I would otherwise say yes. Because if I say yes now, I will sacrifice too much and spend my energy in ways I canât regenerate for the places I actually need to be.
So weâre in brand new territory againâand whatâs in front of me now is huge: a home I get to make a place of respite and joy, a son I get to raise, and a husband I get to support and love. And Iâm so grateful for Jesusâwho in every season so patiently unearths the prideful parts of me that seek status over His kingdom. Iâm thankful for a God who graciously calls me to surrender my will and my pride, and now it’s time to make room for two.