A Gift for Your Pastor's Wife. . .

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows."

~ II Corinthians 1:3-5

This has been my "Life Verse" for many years . . . even before becoming a pastor's wife. And over the last few years, I've learned something: Most people in ministry have similar convictions. And . . . sometimes those people who have made God's Kingdom their life's work become so busy in their obedience to the work of their church or ministry, that they become a stranger to the God of their work.

Ministry pulls at its servants both positively and negatively in terms of our own spiritual walk. Satan attacks ministry in the most unsuspecting ways and through the most unsuspecting people. It is not easy work. Obedience to God's call brings great reward, unspeakable joy, untold heartache, indescribable sorrow, and an immense void filled only by solitude. The solitude is hard to find . . . .

"But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed."

~ Luke 5:16

And now. . . because Kate asked :-)

One of the best Christmas gifts you could give your pastor's wife -- and her husband! -- is to let them know how much you appreciate the sacrifices made and difficulties faced - most of them completely unbeknownst to those around them. AND that you understand the need for solitude and refreshment for the soul.

Bless your pastor's family this year with a simple Christmas card expressing these sentiments in your own words.

And as for those great gift ideas:

(. . . and yes, they're all books. What ministry family doesn't love books?)

Celebration of Disciplines by Richard Foster
Resting Places by Jane Rubietta
Quiet Places by Jane Rubietta
Come Closer by Jane Rubietta
Solitude and Silence by Ruth Haley Barton
Too Busy Not To Pray by Bill Hybels

More Good Gift Ideas HERE.

And finally. . . For the creative gifters: An appropriate and beautiful quote from Max Lucado to fit into you Christmas gift this year. . . On Obedience:

“You’ve stood where Joseph stood. Caught between what God says and what makes sense. You’ve done what he told you to do only to wonder if it was him speaking in the first place.” … “If you are asking what Joseph asked, let me urge you to do what Joseph did. Obey. That’s what he did. He obeyed. He obeyed when the angel called. He obeyed when Mary explained. He obeyed when God sent.”
~ Max Lucado

From “Joseph’s Prayer" in The Heart of Christmas

~ Esthermay Bentley-Goossen

©2008 The Heart of a Pastor's Wife

6:09 PM | 19 comments | Read More

A Mirror. . . Or a LIGHT!

“There are two ways of spreading light; to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”

~Edith Wharton

Before I became a pastor’s wife, I was a perfect Christian and “light before all men.”

(You may chuckle now.)

Seriously though, I thought I had risen to the challenge to be a holy presence in the world. We’re all perfect at something…until tapping into human experience makes us . . .well, human! Becoming a pastor’s wife made me human!

A decade ago, I was committed to letting my light shine everywhere I went. I was captivated by Jesus’ imperative in the Sermon on the Mount: “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds. . . ” (Matthew 5:16) The powerful truth in that child’s song, “This Little Light of Mine,” was something I desperately wanted to live.

I had made a commitment to be a reflection of God in my own life. I wanted so badly for people to "see my good deeds,” and be drawn to Jesus as a result of it.

Fast Forward: 2005. My husband is in full-time ministry, I’m the pastor’s wife and I’m knocked flat on my butt in the realization that most of the people in the church (let alone the world) really don’t care about being drawn to and finding hope through the saving grace of Jesus Christ, but by every other possible way to meet their needs except for salvation! And – in my situation – the “good deeds” were only a point of contention. I was doing better in my secular career at bringing people to Jesus than I was in the setting of a church! What was I doing wrong!?

I became a little sulky and cynical and more than a slightly angry toward the trend of the evangelical church to be less about God’s Word and its message of Salvation and more about meeting people’s “needs” through modernized human intelligence, popular psychology, pseudo-philosophies, psychopharmacology, and (of course) good deeds. (That's just not God's Plan!)

The whole thing caused me pause. Was I really being the light that pointed to Jesus that I had wanted so desperately to be years earlier? Obviously not. God's Word is perfect. It must be me that has the definition of light confused with something else. . . .

Here is that Truth: Simply reflecting (or mirroring) God’s work in my life was doing little to expand the Kingdom. Hoping for others to somehow come to Christ as a result of seeing my “good deeds” wasn’t just the stuff of chuckles -- but fall down laughing hysterics. And my error in thinking is just a small piece of a far greater flaw in the thinking of the Church today.

Scripture does not tell us to mirror God’s Love and His Plan of Salvation. It tells us to be the actual light that points people to Christ:

Jesus said to his disciples:

"Ye are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a lamp, and put it under the bushel, but on the stand; and it shineth unto all that are in the house. Even so let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

Matthew 5:14-16

The mirrored reflection of a lighthouse in the waters of the coastline waters will do nothing to bring a ship into a harbor. It is the actual light that brings the ship into safety.

The moon reflects the light of the sun -- and as beautiful as it is -- it isn’t a very bright light.

The reflection of my favorite scented candle on the small mirror-trivet I place it on is pretty to look at, but it's not the actual flame . . . the reflection of any light does not provide the same illumination or warmth as the actual light.

As Christians, we are not called to be mirrors! We are called to be a LIGHT. . . . brighter and more brilliant and intense than ever in a world that is dying from lack of knowledge and understanding! A world where most Christians are more interested in their "good deeds" than they are being an actual light to bring people to Jesus!

Being a light is not about reflecting or mirroring anything! Being a light means BEING A LIGHT that points people to the Truth of God's Word and the Truth of Salvation. Our good deeds are just that: good deeds. They do little to actually present the Truth.

Yes . . . Even in churches!

The name Christ means “the anointed One,” so each Christian should be a person marked by the truth and love of God -- not and echo or mirror of it -- but an actual light. . .

Yes . . . there are two ways to spread light – you can be a mirror and reflect what might (or might not) bring others to a saving faith in Jesus. Or you can be the actual light that Christ call us to be.

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

~ Romans 1:16

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

~ 2 Corinthians 4:4

. . . That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world . . .

~ Philippians 2:15-16

~ Esthermay Bentley-Goossen

Bonnie is this week's Hostess for In Other Words. Visit her at Ink It Blog

12:28 AM | 11 comments | Read More

Conformity. . . In The Church?!

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. "

- Romans 12:2

As soon as you throw out the word 'worldly' you've got as many definitions for it as hearers of it. It's important to know precisely what "worldliness" is.

As a girl, I was taught that worldliness included such things as smoking, drinking, dancing, and playing cards. I never did these things -- was never tempted to do these things -- and I felt good about myself was self-righteous. As I got older and my circle of friends grew bigger, I recognized (in my own thinking) that worldliness also included swearing, going to "raunchy" movies, gossiping, and wearing clothing that were "fashionable" but not necessarily modest.

Fast forward a few decades: Today, my list is full up and sated with far more descriptive behaviors.

But this is not what Romans 12:2 is about. To think of worldliness in only these terms is to trivialize what is a far more serious -- and far more subtle -- problem.

The word "world," in Romans 12:2 is actually "age" (aion, meaning, "this present age" in contrast to "the age to come"); and "do not conform," is a compound word having at its root in the word "scheme."

A re-write of the verse might go something like this:

"Do not let the post-modern culture in which you now live force you into its scheme of thinking and behaving."

In the context of Romans Chapter 2, the Apostle Paul is telling Christians that they need to be changed from within to be increasingly like Jesus. And is doing this, the world's ideas will be of no interest because Christians will be able to test and approve what God's will is.

The chief problem in the evangelical church today is that we have been increasingly conformed to the world's patterns. You name it: music, evangelism, preaching, bible-study, small-groups. . . Everything has to be "appealing" and perceived as exciting and new and refreshing!

In my early thirties, I begin to believe that being a part of "church" wasn't so much about being a new person that had been reborn of the Holy Spirit, but that it had more to do with being in "unity" with others. Or better yet: "Community!"

Unity had been (and still is!) mistaken for Truth. (i.e. what God's Word actually says and instructs us to be doing as true believers.) "Unity" had become synonymous with "Truth." And I believed the lie. (And this was early in the new-evangelical movement.)

For many years, I was uncomfortable with this thinking. I couldn't really pin down precisely why, I just wasn't comfortable in my church. And even more than that: I just wasn't comfortable before Jesus when I was alone -- away from the "Community."

It took many years (of studying God's Word) for me to pin down my awkwardness before Him and understand the Truth. God's Word doesn't really have that much to say about "unity" and "community" in the sense that the evangelical church identifies it today. It has everything to say about how a true believer acts and thinks and shares and interacts with the world.

The post-modern culture had forced me into its scheme of thinking and behaving.

I believed the lies:

I believed that simply fellowshipping with other Christians made me a church-member-in-good-standing.

I believed that plain old Bible-Study was boring and irrelevant to my life. I believed that studying and discussing books written by Christian authors was far more applicable to my life.

I believed that bringing Christian Contemporary Music into the church was relevant because it would draw people who might not otherwise come to church. I believed that playing the old Hymns was a turn-off to non-Christians and they wouldn't come to church if we played them.

I believed that making allowances for people who differed slightly in the way of "Salvation" was okay since they were probably on their way to true salvation by just being part of "Community."

And each of these are ways that the church has tried to be relevant to the culture.

Some churches try really hard to find ways. Some churches have committees just to discuss new ideas.

But each new idea is simply another way that the church has been forced into the world's scheme of thinking and behaving. They are all ways that the Truth of God's Word has been sacrificed in order to get more people to attend church.

Is this the reason we have churches? . . .To get as many people through the doors as we can?

By doing this, the church has created a continuity with the world instead of a separateness from the world. Being separate from the world is commanded in God's Word!

The church - as a body - has become "conformed!"

On a global scale, our post-modern world holds "unity" and "community" as the ultimate goal for world peace. If you understand even a small piece of eschatology, you know there is no "world peace."

But it is this "world peace" mindset that encourages socialism, big-government, multiculturalism , relativism, tolerance, etc. in our culture. These schemes are being pushed on us. Sometimes by the church itself!

Even "Christian" agendas (such as The Purpose Driven Church, P.E.A.C.E , 40 Days of Community, multicultural outreach, etc., etc., etc,.) that define "unity" in the sense of a spirituality that transcends all faiths and cultures are manufactured to usher in a new global community where peace will be achieved by consensus and synthesis. (Wrong!)

I am not a pessimist. Really!

My passion - my calling - my purpose - is that Christians be grounded in God's Word. . . . To understand that God's heart is not necessarily what today's churches are dispensing.

I believed the lie myself for many many years!

The saddest part of telling "my story" is that so many professing Christians just don't "get it." They get angry and indignant when this is shown or told to them.

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. "
- Romans 12:2

- Esthermay Bentley-Goossen

© Copyright 2008 The Heart of a Pastor's Wife

6:14 PM | 6 comments | Read More

Confronting Fundamentalism

I am thankful today for the Blogosphere where all of us are utterly free to express ourselves and agree or disagree with others in the community. We each have the unreserved right to write what we feel and moderate comments however we see fit in keeping with the spirit of our own blog.

The Heart of a Pastor’s Wife received this comment following Tuesday’s Post, “Hanging Christians. . . ”

. . . Don't you think Christians need to let up a little on preaching about sin and start emphasizing more love and acceptance of people who don't believe exactly like we think they should? Not everything is a sin! God is the final judge. Preaching about sin only makes people angry and drives them away from the church. Isn’t God the final judge? I just think that Christians need to learn more about love and acceptance and compassion. Christ was all these things.

With all proper respect to this commenter (who happens to maintain a perfectly attractive and purposeful blog), I disagree.

And in offering an explanation to a comment that I chose otherwise not to publish, I am calling attention to an issue that has effectively altered the Church over the last several decades.

First I should point out that I am not prancing through my church and neighborhood preaching to and labeling everyone I see a "sinner." (My husband did require that I take "Christian Diplomacy 101" as a pastor's wife.)

That said, I do fall into the “Fundamentalist” category when it comes to evangelical labels.

What exactly is a “Fundamentalist?” One meaning the dictionary gives is "one who is immovable from [her] beliefs."

Sadly, the trend over the last 20 years in the “evangelical” church is to lean away from the absolute Truth of God’s Word and the meaning of the term “Fundamentalist” has undergone a change in meaning.

Used to be that the term "fundamental" by definition, meant not only believing in and sharing the Gospel of Christ -- but also pointing out err. That is, showing others -- by the use of Scripture -- that we are by our very nature – intrinsically, inherently and naturally -- sinners.

But the evangelical movement has leaned away from the absolute Truth of God’s Word and has chosen instead to offer the Gospel of Love/Acceptance/Tolerance. The thinking is that to call someone a sinner might offend them. (Oh MY!)

To a Fundamentalist, this sacrifices the Truth of Salvation! And thereby the Truth of Scripture.

How can anyone come to a true faith in Jesus Christ without first seeing their sinful nature and their great need of salvation? The Book of Romans is very clear - and very much addresses sin in full -- and previous to -- the introduction of Grace and Love.

The Gospel of Love and Acceptance alone does NOT offer eternal salvation.

Today, the word “Fundamentalist” is often used as a term of mockery and ridicule – even contempt – against those who still believe that God’s Word is the absolute final authority on all things --including the portions that address behaviors that offend God.

The term “Fundamentalist” is also loosely interpreted to describe anyone who expresses any kind of belief in the teachings of the Bible.

So you can see that there is a collaborative effort made by both the secular media and some “Christians” to smear “Fundamentalists” with the image of being unloving, intolerant, unkind, judgmental, snobbish and unattractive. …All because Fundamentalists believe God’s Word is genuine, accurate and all-inclusive.

When the Apostle Paul was leaving the church in Ephesus, where he had ministered for three years, he reminded the Christians there, “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” (Acts 20:27) What he was saying was, “I have spoken the truth of God’s Good News to you. I spoke the whole truth. I left nothing out. I gave you all the facts.

Sounds a lot like,” Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?”

Works well in the state and federal court systems.

Not so well in all churches.

The whole counsel of scripture includes a great deal about sin. If you really examine the major themes of the New Testament, you would find a great number of passages addressing people (including “Christians") who are not living as True Believers.

The entire Old Testament is a chronicle – the complete story – of mankind's sin against God. Beginning in the Garden of Eden and narrated right up to the destruction and rebuilding of the temple in The Book of Nehemiah.

Proverbs and Psalm are abounding with cautions and warnings and reprimands.

The entire New Testament in confrontive in nature. Every New Testament Epistle was written to a local church body with problems. (See I and II Corinthians, James, I and II Peter.)

Turn to the Gospels: In Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Jesus confronted people with Truth. Remember the Woman at the Well. (John 4:1-42) Jesus confronted her. He did it, of course, with abundant compassion, concern and kindness. But he did not offer that compassion, concern and kindness by itself. Had he done that, she would have walked away believing she was "okay in HIS sight." And she was not. He confronted her sin.

Remember Zacchaeus (Luke 19)? Remember Nicodemus (John 3)? How about the scathing rebuke of the Pharisees in Matthew 23?

As a writer with discernment, I fall on the side of "confrontive" rather than "tolerant and accepting." I never want anything I’ve written to be misconstrued. I never want anyone to misinterpret Scripture based on something I’ve written. A misunderstanding of God’s Word can/will have eternal consequences.

As a Christian Counselor, I recognize and appreciate that working with people is a delicate zone that love must guide.

Confronting in Love. What a calling!

It is not a bad thing to be a fundamentalist!

I am thankful that God's Words as revealed in the Bible are just as true today as when they were first spoken by chosen men of God under divine inspiration.

I am thankful that the solutions God provides in His Word are suitable for all the problems we face today.

I am thankful to be counted as one who believes in the absolute inerrant reliability of God’s Word.

- Esthermay Bentley-Goossen

© Copyright 2008 The Heart of a Pastor's Wife

1:06 AM | 15 comments | Read More

It's Not About Me. . .

This week's Cafe' Chat meme (http://www.internetcafedevotions.com) is:

The catchphrase “It’s not about me” has become quite popular in our current world today. What does that phrase mean to you in your personal life? Explain.

For Christians, this phrase will take on different meaning at almost every turn of one's spiritual walk. As a Christian in ministry, this phrase has taken on a definite and distinct implication for me over the past few years.

Those in ministry (and those who follow and support those in ministry) know that Satan has over and over again used well-meaning church members to tear down God’s Church. Whenever and wherever God is at serious work changing lives, Satan gets nervous and takes his crack at destroying the work. III John 9-11 gives the account of one such individual in the New Testament church named Diotrephes:

I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us. So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, gossiping maliciously about us. Not satisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church. Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.

When those of us in ministry come under attack, the assault becomes -- to a certain extent -- very personal. When an individual in our church (we'll allow her to remain anonymous) sent my husband a e-mail last Spring letting us know that she did not think we were even saved, we took it personally. When my face was scribbled out of our family’s church directory photo and stuffed it in the prayer-request box, we took it personally.

The attacks and assaults previous to this and following were many. They all came from a very small group of troubled and frustrated women who have long been a problem in the church. The attacks were personal. And they continue to the present. Many people have encouraged us to file criminal charges against one particular individual whose identity is known. Law enforcement has defined the actions as “harassing” and “criminal.” To date, we have not filed charges.

You could say – with complete accuracy -- that we were not at peace about the situation.

Isaiah 26:3 says: You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.

So. . . was my mind on Him? Probably not. Was I making the situation all "about me?" Probably yes. John MacArthur illuminates this verse about perfect peace in a way that really got me thinking: “A fixed disposition of trust in the Lord brings a peace that that the wicked can never know. Such reliance precludes double mindedness and serving two masters.”

Isaiah 48:22 says, “There is no peace," says the LORD, "for the wicked."
The idea is repeated in Isaiah 57:21: "There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked."

James 1:6-8 says, “But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does."

Matthew 6:24: "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other."

WOW! By refusing to feel peace about the situation and allowing myself to forsake the stillness and serenity of fully trusting in God, was I bordering on “wicked?” Was my reaction to these women -- our Diotrophes' -- and thier immature, wayward and hateful behavior just as imperfect and appalling to God? Was I making it all "about me?"

In two words: Yes. Absolutely!

We all know people who are not “at peace.” We probably don’t use that terminology in describing them. We more likely refer to them as troubled, distressed, anxious, unsettled, etc. Scripture is neither this benign nor benevolent in its description of those who are not “at peace.”

“A fixed disposition of trust in the Lord brings a peace that that the wicked can never know.”

Bottom line: God's Word tells us that if we are not a peace, we are wicked. We are allowing the Wicked-One to rule our thinking, our attitude, and our reaction to circumstances.

Several days ago, I happened to run into one of the individuals who attacked my husband and whose malicious gossip has and will continue to have widespread effects on his ministry and the church’s reputation -- one of our Diotrephes'. To my surprise, I was not bitter when I caught sight of her.

On the other hand, she was obviously taken back at my presence. She made a swift and rushed exit in such haste that it created a slight spectacle in the convenience store. Strangers surrounding us gave puzzled glances, glimpsing at me and then back at her. She did give me a fleeting look and muttered something, but she was unmistakably anxious and uneasy. She was obviously not at peace. It was at that moment, I realized that the personal attacks on my husband, me, our ministry, and the church were no longer “about me.”

As someone in ministry, the phrase "It's not about me" suddenly took on definite and distinct implication and I was taken back to my own personal testimony and call to ministry.

My passion, my calling, my burden, my ministry is and has been for many years . . . women: Christian women and women church-members alike (the two are NOT always mutually exclusive) need a better understanding of God's plan for them. They need to be grounded in God’s Word – to fully understand their place and their role in family, society and church life in terms of what God says. His Word is very clear on the issue. This has become all too important in a time in church history when the "new evangelical" movement has seriously side-stepped God’s Word as the absolute final authority on all things.

How, as a Christian -- and a Christian in ministry with a burden for women! -- could I possibly make Satan's attacks (via troubled women) about ME?

"It's not about me!" It's about God's church. It's about fulfilling our calling to bring people to the Cross of Christ. It's about allowing people to see themselves in the light of God's Word. If this causes Satan to become flustered and attack, we should know we've done our job. And done it well!

"It's not about me." It's about praying for the Diotrephes' in our ministry -- praying that they will see themselves in the light of God's Word -- that they will come to the Cross of Christ -- that they will see their wicked ways -- and that they will find Perfect Peace.

- Esthermay Bentley-Goossen

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1:00 PM | 16 comments | Read More

Blinded "Believers"

My Mark was inspired on Sunday. His words from the pulpit were passionate – they were anointed – and spoken with conviction. If there was a soft heart present, there had to be some recognition of sin and a stirring to turn over to Christ: everything! And my prayer is that there was such an experience. I never limit God’s ability to change anyone!

If a pastor’s wife can live off of her husband’s excitement over preaching God’s Word, I needed no physical food on Sunday. I was touched as we greeted people at the door and moved to hear affirmation from spiritually mature Christians how much they love the preaching! But then. . .

During a brief expedition through the building to find my insubordinate two-year-old, I overheard two precious souls openly criticizing – not Mark’s words, but – the words of Scripture. And in doing so, making their pastor appear as though he is preaching some out-of-step gospel that simply does not apply to the world today – and most especially this church after all it’s gone through. It irritated me – and I know it infuriates God when people disregard His Word as inapplicable!

II Corinthians 4:4 does say, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel. . .” Not surprisingly, the god of this world has also blinded the eyes of so called “Christians.” I wonder sometimes how many people in churches today are even saved! It has to break God’s heart. Lukewarm Christians may fill the pews of churches. They may work like bees to earn their righteousness, but – sadly --they will not populate heaven. There are days I yearn for Christ’s return for no other reason than that He take the true Church away with Him.

This is not a very compassionate side of this pastor’s wife. And without full context of Mark's sermon or the mornings events, I'm sure I seem even more critial. (http://goossengrapevine.blogspot.com/2007/03/i-n-first-three-chapters-of-romans-paul.html) Any other pastor’s wives have these kinds of Sunday morning experiences? I Corinthians 4:1-5 is for us!

“So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Not it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s heart. At that time each will receive his praise form God.”

- Esthermay

12:47 PM | 0 comments | Read More

Bossy Women & The Pen...

Years ago, I had a friend who was a pastor’s wife. I remember her telling me that the thing she hated the most about being a pastor’s wife was how powerful and bossy women in the church would command her husband around and she felt powerless to do anything about it without looking like a *#&@!. (Yes, that’s what she said.) I thought I understood her at the time.

Fast-forward a decade (or two!). I think I finally get it! I haven’t personally experience the thing with bossy women, but I do see my Mark pulled and drawn in many different directions and toward many different people and ministries within the church. I do have a tendency to be a bit protective and perhaps annoyed that I am no longer the only woman of influence in his life besides his mother. God will deal with me on this.

Ministry wives really do need to control both their emotions and their tongues, and in my case -- the pen. A writer at heart, my journals and computer screen have always been somewhat surreptitious spots to reflect, to process and to pray. Up till now, I wrote without rules. As a pastor’s wife, it may be necessary to implement rules. Good grief, someone from the church may actually read my words!! I could be phony and compose sweet harmonious snippets on the splendor of life as a pastor’s wife. (Right!) I won’t be doing that.

My words – as they have always been - are a means to repent, grow and experience God’s presence and grace. Hopefully, reading it will allot the reader a sense of God’s faithfulness and deliverance as prayers are answered and situations are changed over time. More than anything, I write as a way to quiet my heart and become more like Christ. Which – for those who know me well – will be my greatest challenge in ministry. Next on the list will be keeping the pen still concerning all the bossy women.

4:10 PM | 1 comments | Read More