I felt led to write this for all the pastoral teams and their congregants today.  As the wife of a pastor, I know that pastoring is an exceedingly hard job.  I was given a "How to Support Your Pastor" sheet by someone a while back...and it had all great stuff on it, but it all just talked about the man of God...leaving out the woman of God.  There may be some pastors' wives who send their husbands off to do the ministry and just sit home and pray for them while they are out there... but this wife of a pastor definitely doesn't.  My husband and I have been called together to pastor.  We both work side by side in the ministry as a team.  Always have and always will.  We both face the same challenges... excitement... heartache... and victories.  As we work together side by side... some days I have to admit are challenging; to not only feel the weight of your own family's burdens, but to feel the weight of many families' burdens on top of trying to administrate a church body and reach out to a hurting community especially with all that is happening in the world today.

Today, I had an HWA family member contact me, and just say that they would cry with me and stand with me in prayer for something.  I can't even begin to say how much that means to this wife of a pastor.  To know that people within your congregation have as much care for you...as you have for them.  

I found this blog article that I thought was good...even though just directed mainly toward the man of God instead of also to the woman of God called by his side. http://www.victorious.org/blesspastor.htm  If you want to see victory, growth, and blessing within your church and your own life, these are the three main things I would say to do: 1.) pray for your pastor and His wife, and stand with them.  Don't just make suggestions about what can be done to sustain and grow those within and without the church... but back it up with helpful action in line with the vision of the pastoral team.  2.) Grab onto the vision that God has placed before your pastors...and help them to run with it.  3.)...and most of all, testify publicly to what God has done and is doing for you at your church.  It glorifies God...and it encourages your pastor.  Be a blessing!

“And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake...” (1 Thes 5:12-13)

Today my thoughts are on how we live life based on temporary things without realizing that one day all these things will pass away...and it could happen in the blink of an eye.  I've experienced it...I've seen it firsthand.

Our health...our friendships...our loved ones...our material possessions are all just very temporary things.  We don't have power in ourselves to make any of it last...no matter how much we think we do.  This world rains on the just and the unjust...it is not a respecter of persons.  The one who was given dominion over this sinful world when Adam fell takes with abandon...and does not give back.

The only one who can trump the ruler of this world is Jesus...He trumps him for all eternity...and Jesus says in Matthew 6:19-21 says, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Know and recognize before it's too late that all here on earth is temporary.  Set your sights on eternity...set your sights on the ultimate prize, and live your life based on that.  As the enemy takes with abandon, all the more we should love and serve others with abandon...helping each other to run and finish the race well.  Store up your treasures in Heaven...because...in the blink of an eye.

I was going to post something entirely different today, but realized I'd just be posting out of my own bitterness... so decided, bitterness aside, I'm just going to post about life...cause life is happening.  The day is fast approaching where I'm getting ready to move my whole family yet again, and we are focusing on painting, packing, and cleaning.  Ughhh again and again...I hate this aspect so much and want it over quickly. There are some days when I would just love to be in the place where I could have a sense of stability.  I'm growing weary of change...but in all this continual change, I know that God is doing a new thing...taking me to a new level to be used in a greater way for His glory.  He's moving us closer to our church body so that we don't have to commute such a long distance...but it's still wearisome...the moving process...still wearisome.

So I have to stand on two scriptures today, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9  and Psalm 91:1-2, "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, 'My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!'"…

I encourage you today that when life...that's it...when life...  Keep pressing in and on.  There's a purpose and a plan that will grow you if you don't give in or give up.  Life!

 

This wife of a pastor is going to have a very human moment here, and it may or may not speak to someone...it may continue to get people all up in arms...but I have to share this. So if you would, humor and bear with me on this one.  A couple days ago... a "friend" of my brother Paul posted a pic of himself with a huge bottle of alcohol...and my little brother standing next to him.  Man that picture tore out my heart...knowing that just one year and two days prior... my little brother had been at a 4th of July pool party with that same "friend," had fainted in the pool due to a heart arrythmia, and had drowned because all the people at that party had been drinking so much that not one noticed that he was drowning until it was too late.  The drowning, however, didn't kill my brother because they were able to resuscitate him, but damage was done.  In the end, it ultimately was the gross incompetence and malpractice of the hospital that took his life...but the alcohol consumption by all involved that night was definitely one of the major catalysts that put him in the hospital to begin with.  When I saw the picture, my heart hurt, and I reshared it to make people aware that on the 4th, when they were partying, if they drank, they should do so responsibly because a life could depend on it. Well...people came out of the woodwork with nastiness... even my own family. I'm not a judgmental person by any stretch of the imagination.  ...and I didn't say people shouldn't drink...just that if they do, they should do it responsibly. Why? Because my brother might still be with us had people done that to begin with. I can honestly say that I have never seen drunkenness accomplish or do anything good for anyone.

I know we can't and shouldn't condemn ourselves or others... we can't turn back time...we can't take away an accident or mistake...but we CAN and SHOULD learn from it.  If we don't learn from things that happen in life, then what is the point.  My little brother lost his life a year ago...and it hurts my heart when I see how little of an impact it had on changing the life of any of the people involved that night or obviously on family that keep cheering on and encouraging the partying behavior of those who were involved. This thing...this horrible thing...impacted me...It forever changed my life and my perspective.  Since my post, people have either been making disparaging remarks about my character or posting scriptures to try to condemn me and make me feel guilty for feeling and reacting the way I have about the whole situation. I'm on the receiving end from those in the world and from those who claim to not be of this world.  It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood.  Well let me share this with you...I don't feel guilty for doing this or saying this but rather...I hurt...and I don't want anyone else to hurt like I hurt if I can do anything to help it. I have so many fond memories of my little brother, but they are overshadowed by what occurred and by not seeing change in lives of those involved after the fact.  At some point in life, we have to own up to responsibility. We have to learn, grow, and consider how our decisions affect other people.  Hopefully my decision to share all this will speak to someone out there...hopefully they'll get that what we do in this life truly does have an impact on others...not just ourselves. 

Unlike some, I don't use the scriptures to condemn other people and have a real hard time with people who do... but I do want to leave you with this thought from Philippians 2:3-4...(not to condemn...because, really what good would that do...but rather to make people think about decisions they are getting ready to make), "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others."  

I won't sit quietly and watch this happen to someone else if it's in my power to do something about it.  
I'm posting this and will take the flack for this reason...and this reason alone...I'm looking out for the interest of life... I'm speaking out to and for those who will be impacted by the decisions made by others.  I want my little brother's life and death to have meant something...to not have been in vain but rather to have an impact that is far reaching.  My heart and hope is that one day those involved in this tragedy will understand and grow...and for those who are faced with similar decisions, I implore you to make better choices.  This was and is for Paul.  Love you forever little buddy!