The Traveling Husband
Copyright 2007 Heaven Ministries - Angie Lewis

Does your husband’s job often take him out of town on business? Some husband’s have to go out of town because their job requires it, and even some women must travel because of their career. It is not always a good thing for marriage when a family man must be out of town a lot. When I was a young mother at home with small children my husband, being self-employed, was out of town, months at a time. I felt lonely and abandoned by him, and I would cry my eyes out every time he left. Things have sure changed now; I welcome the opportunity to have some free time just to myself.

It is never a good thing to leave a young mother with small children home alone for extended periods of time – it can cause all kinds of weird feelings and emotions for a young women who is tending to small children on her own, without any moral or emotional support from her husband, and especially if she does not have any extended family living in the area. Negative feelings towards being left behind while your husband works out of town can cause other issues to arise in the marriage as well. 

Don’t get me wrong, just because a husband goes out of town on work related issues does not always mean the wife is going to get herself into trouble or become depressed, but it does mean that you had better both decide beforehand if she is ready to be left home alone with the children while husband is away on business. Is she spiritually ready to tackle her emotions in the proper ways? What is best for the marriage? Will a young mother become resentful or sore over her husband’s absence? 

Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle. (Proverbs 23:4-5 NIV)

Some young mothers when left home alone and with small children, who do not have any spiritual understanding, may dabble in drugs and or alcohol to keep herself occupied. For me, I started drinking. I never put two and two together that the reason I started drinking was out of loneliness and boredom, but that is what triggered my drinking. The problem with that was, I had a prevalence to develop alcoholism, which I did. 

Am I blaming my husband being away on business for my addiction? Of course not, it would have been something else that would have offset my drinking, sooner or later. Thank God, that was just another phase in my life, that with the help of God I overcame. 

Your situation may be different than mine. A young woman may go out and shop all day long, racking up debt, causing financial problems. Or she may meet another man who gives her the emotional and moral support she is craving in her husbands absence. If a husband is gone for extended amounts of time, both the husband and wife may become tempted to be with other people for emotional, sexual, and loneliness reasons. It happens all the time with couples, even when they are Christian. 

So the most important concern for young married couples is, before you even begin to think of how much money you’re going to earn is thoroughly discuss the issue, of a husband being away from home, even if it is only for a few days at a time. What will the ramifications be of such a decision?

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. (James 1:5 NIV)