I said I do

Adventures of a Pastor's Wife #1

I said I do to my preacher husband. A bit naively I might add. I had NO idea what adventures and interesting things I would experience being the wife of a pastor! I have been married to a preacher (in the making) for 8 years (we were married while my husband was still in college for ministry) and we have been in active ministry for 5 years with an unplanned but God sent 2 1/2 year sabbatical. We have just returned to ministering this past August and it feels overwhelming good to be back in the ministry. I had no idea what I was getting myself into! And honestly in the very early years I learned some hard lessons and had my share of embarrassing interesting moments. (Still do: ) I wish to share with you the joys and heart aches I experience as a pastor's wife. I hope you will find it interesting!
Here are a few things that have happened in the last month here at Henderson Maryland. These things are true and told from an honest and humble heart. I have changed some of the names for the sake of privacy.
1. I washed a young man's feet.
I heard the children talking outside the front door. They know they are not to go around to the front of the house so I went to remind them to go play in the back yard. There he was, over 6 feet tall holding a can of Mountain Dew in his hand. He had ratty jeans on and a dirty white t-shirt. The children were all gathered around him and when she saw me, Karagen came running up to me and said "Mommy, his feet are bleeding!" I looked and sure enough they were. He had walked from his house to mine, up and down the road some and who knows where else in his pitifully clad feet! He had socks on, but they were tattered and torn and dirty and bloody. He was shaking, his whole body! I found out through a neighbor kid that his grandmother had told him not to go outside and that he did not want to listen to her, so she took his shoes and he went out anyway, without them! I had him sit down on the porch and he sat there whimpering. By now I realized he wasn't all there, was precious in God's sight. Meanwhile we were trying to figure out what was going on and finally did. I went and got our first aid kit, a kind neighbor lady brought rubber gloves and my husband brought a bowl of water. His feet were filthy, blistered and bloody. My heart was crying inside for him. While I was washing his feet, his grandmother came over in her vehicle, got out and yelled at him. We saw what was coming and sent the children into the house as quickly as we could. Here is what she said: "You see George, you are just trying to get attention! Are you happy now that you have everyone babying you? Look at all the trouble you have caused!" I tried to calm her down, but she kept on. Finally when she had said her peace, I told her we understood and that we would finish his feet and then my husband would drive him home. She left in a huff and a cloud of gravel dust. I finished his feet, washing them and cleansing them while he shivered and whimpered in pain. After his feet were cleaned he limped over to the van my husband had pulled around for him and Jonathan took him home.
2. I shared the gospel with a hungry soul.
Shelly is a sweet and open soul. She loves to talk and is honest and outgoing. Right away she and I "clicked". I love when that happens as it is so much easier to talk to someone when it does! We were having trouble getting our children enrolled in school due to lack of proof of residency. She is a substitute teacher at the elementary school and offered to take me in and help me get them enrolled. She drove me in and then made some phone calls and took me around to several different places to complete the paper work. After several hours she brought me home and when we were in front of the parsonage I asked her quite bluntly if she was born again. She was very honest and told me no, then asked me what it meant. We talked for several minutes and then I went into the house. I did pray for her and hoped that she would soon make her decision for Christ. That night (unknown to me, but not to God!) she went home and she and her 9 year old daughter asked Jesus into their hearts! I take NO credit for this; the one who gets all the credit is Jesus! And then sweet Ellen, an older lady who is Shelly's neighbor and also attends our church) and asked her for 8 months to come to church and then, that very day I talked to her in the car, Ellen gave Shelly a Bible with the sinners prayer in it! That was the prayer that Shelly and her daughter prayed. I will never forget Shelly asking me "You mean I don't have to get saved in church?"
3. Connecting with people on a new level.
I have never experienced letting my light shine in quite the way I have here. I seem to have endless ways to let it shine, without ever saying a word sometimes! Today while Jonathan and I were in Wal-Mart (on a long overdue date) we met a manager in the outdoors and hunting section. And she lives just a few miles from us here in Henderson, drives past our house on her way to and from work, and knew right where we lived. She has had a hard past and she opened up to me! Wow!
We have a lot of Spanish people around here. So much so that the elementary school has several interpreters and our little church even rents out its building to a Spanish group that meets here 3 times a week. We have a little neighbor boy Eswardo (spelling?) and he is here all the time quite often! We have been able to minister to that little boy a lot! I have sent over homemade muffins for him and his family and he loves to play with our kids.

I love the adventure of being a pastor's wife; it adds so much zest to my life. It also keeps me up on my toes and down on my knees, and always… always with a prayer in my heart!