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| Just me! |
My husband was a youth pastor for nearly 7 years. Then, God called him to plant a church on the shoreline of Connecticut. We started our church in a hotel conference room with just a handful of people in 1999, and now, nearly 13 years later and only to God's glory, we have a steady attendance of 120 people who love to study God’s Word and seek to serve Him in practical ways.
Being a pastor’s wife has stretched me in ways I never imagined and sometimes I wish my husband just had a “normal” job. However, I am humbled and honored that God has chosen me for the task of being our pastor’s help meet and being the wife of a pastor has very rewarding benefits, so I’m pretty sure I don’t want “normal.”
As a church planter's wife, I have worn many hats, and become a “Jacqueline-of-all-trades, master of none!” I have cleaned church toilets, learned all about event planning, led children's choirs, become an impromptu hostess, become a self-taught graphic designer, and prepared meals for people who were sick or caring for sick loved ones. I have held a baby in one hand and flash cards in another as I tended the nursery and taught Sunday School at the same time. Because I make an attempt at playing the piano, that role fell to me when we started our church. I have been very humbled by the kind comments of our church people who tell me I am a wonderful pianist and that they love to hear me play. Those comments always seem to come on a day when I have felt like I was all thumbs and hit some really bad notes or weird chords!
I have been known to play the piano for the service, then because we had no nursery workers, gather all the babies and children and take them to the nursery; then just in time for the closing hymn, return all the little ones to their mammas and scurry back to the piano, hopefully prepared with the right song! When I was expecting, I was very sick with not just morning sickness, but all day, all night, 9-month-long sickness. I would play for the beginning of the service, run to the restroom and lose my breakfast, and then come back and finish the service! Oh, dear me! I have given the “mean mommy look” to more than one of my kids as they misbehaved on the front row in the middle of a hymn and hoped that I didn’t lose my place in the song …and really hoped that no one except my child saw that look!
I have been placed into teaching and speaking roles not because I am good at it - that is not my gift- but, simply because I am the pastor’s wife. I am honored each time I am asked to teach God’s Word, but I’d like to know where it is written that a pastor’s wife is supposed to be able to speak as well as or even better than her husband? I guess that just comes with joining the "Pastor's Wives Club." One thing that I have learned when I speak is to just be real with people. I appreciate when I hear ladies speak from their heart and are just transparent with their audience. I am a crier, so I have learned how to cry and talk at the same time and still not give the "ugly cry face!" It really is a skill!
We are a regular family with needs and struggles, but we are seeking to honor the Lord with our lives and respond to each difficulty with grace. I am blessed beyond what I deserve. I stumble and have victories in my walk with the Lord just like any other Christian – I just happened to be married to the pastor.
