Even Pastor’s Wives Don’t Get It Right Sometimes

I’m gonna tell you something that might shock you. Are you ready?

Sometimes I don’t listen when God speaks to me.

I’ll let that sink in for a minute. Yes even a pastor’s wife- who is in full time ministry, who leads praise and worship, who teaches Bible School, who counsels people, and I could go on and on- doesn’t get it right sometimes!

This morning I woke up early. 6:30am. Which I know isn’t early for some of you, but it’s summer and I get to go into the office a little later, plus I went to bed really late the night before. So back to my story.

6:30am, I wake up. And I’m talking wide awake, bright eyed and bushy tailed, could’ve gotten up and taken on the whole world kind of waking up. I looked at my phone to see what time it was and saw how early it was. I didn’t feel like I needed to go back to sleep so contemplated just getting up and starting my day. Then I heard that still small voice saying, “Go downstairs and pray for a little while.”

And guess what? I didn’t. I laid in bed, and didn’t even go back to sleep, but just laid there and thought about nothing for at least an hour.

It hit me about 15 hours later. After I had a stressful day. After I felt completely overwhelmed and a bit panicky at everything I still needed to accomplish. After I almost had a nervous breakdown. After I got mad at my kids. After I felt like an utter failure. Hmmmm maybe I should’ve gotten up and prayed this morning.

I’m not saying anything would’ve been different if I had, but I’m pretty sure I would’ve been able to handle it better. My heavenly Father was trying to prepare me for what was coming and I like a dummy didn’t listen.

Lamentations 3:22-23 in the Message Bible says-

^22-23God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!

Thankfully I get a do over tomorrow. So I’m not gonna beat myself up over it, I’m just gonna get it right next time.And you better believe when He speaks, I’m am going to listen and obey!

Leading and Loving It!

For about a year and a half I’ve been involved with a fabulous organization called Leading and Loving It. It is a group that  connects pastor’s wives and women in ministry both virtually through their online community and in person through local events and a yearly 3 day retreat. A year ago I began participating in a virtual community group. We met once a month and also interacted through social networking.

Last week I had the opportunity to take it a step further and host a local event, a Leading Ladies Luncheon.

There were 8 ladies that attended (besides myself) and it was certainly God-ordained.  Since I opened it up to not only Pastor’s Wives, but also to Women in Ministry we had a group with a mixture of ministry roles. 4 Senior Pastor’s wives (3 of them church planters), 2 women in supportive ministry, a missionary and a lady who runs a Women’s resource center. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and I know that the ladies were uplifted and encouraged. They are excited about getting together again soon!

As we were all introducing ourselves, it was the lady who runs the women’s resource center’s turn and as she began talking about her ministry, the presence of God descended in the room. Several of the women began to cry as she spoke about how they help young ladies who are considering abortion make the choice to have their babies, how they help single mothers learn how to parent their children, as she talked about how even when they had great needs, they always saw God come through for them. Her beautiful spirit and passion for what she does touched each of us! The ladies that are in this area are excited about coming together to reach out to the women in this community and the ladies that live in other areas are equally excited about what they can do where they live!

When I first planned this event I thought it would just be to strengthen each other, but God’s plan is so much better. Not only were we encouraged, but we were sparked to reach the community in a greater way together. If there was no other reason for this event today, I believe it was to connect us. I meant to get a group photo with everyone, but we were all so enthralled with the conversation that we literally talked until everyone had to make a mad dash to get back to their day!

For me personally, I have been looking for something our women’s ministry could do to make a difference in the lives of women outside the church. It turns out the pregnancy resource center is right down the street, only 2 minutes from our church facility. We have a single mom’s ministry that the director was excited about integrating her single mom’s into, and on Saturday she came and spoke to our women about ways we could get more involved in what they are doing for women in our community.

I am so very thankful for the vision of Leading and Loving It, and the opportunity to join with them in connecting Pastor’s wives and women in ministry. I am already looking forward to hosting another local event as well as a virtual community group in the fall.

If you are a pastor’s wife, I whole-heartedly encourage you to get connected with this group. It will be a great blessing to your life!

From My Heart

Lamentations 3:22-24 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
We will get back to the love study tomorrow, but I wanted to take a minute to share from my heart. As we have been studying love- what it is and what it does, I have been confronted by my own inabilities and shortcomings. When broken down, characteristic by characteristic, it becomes so clear that even though I think I walk in love most of the time that I actually have a lot of room to grow. I think of the way I respond to my husband when he makes me mad. I know, I’m a pastor’s wife. I’m not supposed to get angry with my husband, or frustrated with my children. I ‘m supposed to be patient and kind all the time, right?  Wrong! Even as I am writing this morning, my three year old son has woken up early and interrupted the only quiet time I get to myself all day, and guess what? I have to fight to not be annoyed.
Today’s passage has been running through my head since last night. How thankful I am that the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. Regardless of my faults, flaws and problems, His love never ends towards me. Whether or not I choose to walk in love, when I am obeying Him and when I don’t listen to His voice, He never stops believing in me and showing me His unconditional, unfailing love. What a reason for me to be extra conscious of the love that I show to others! The next part of the verse says His mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning. The King James says His compassions fail not. I like to say, His mercies are new every moment. I once saw the word new defined as replacing or supplementing something of the same kind that already exists. Every moment of every day God replaces the kindness and forgiveness He already feels towards us with new compassion and understanding. The sympathy, concern and consideration that He shows us will never stop, because it’s not based upon our performance, what we do, or how we act, but rather upon His character, His promises to us, and the incredible love He feels toward us. Don’t believe me? Look at Romans 8:5 But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us. Even if we never received Him as our Lord and Savior, He would still love us. What an amazing thing to meditate on today!
The last part of our passage says “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” Rather than focus on our shortcomings, we need to instead reflect on His goodness. When we concentrate on who He is instead of what we are, our natural response will be to try to be more like Him. For example I mentioned how I had to fight being irritated with my son this morning, but as I continued to explore the goodness of God, His compassion welled up on the inside of me. I was immediately quickened to repent and instead of being bothered and aggravated, I instead felt nothing but love and joy. I challenge you today to take some time to think about how wonderful God is to you. Meditate on His goodness, mercy and love and see if you extend His kind of love to the people in your life.