Preacher’s Wife Teaching Life

My goodness so much has happened in the last 5-6 months. In the past 6 months, we've been gracefully asked to move from our homes for renovations two times. We've seen the grace of God through people with giving hearts and have had a time of restoration that we really needed. We moved to a very nice house right outside our home town with no chance of affordable internet and we chose to save money and not have cable. Doing this made us feel disconnected from our world in many ways but also provided a time for my husband and I to grow in our relationship together and with God. Through prayer, we discovered wounds we never knew we had and through healing, we've grown and matured in our walk with Him. Our time in that house is up so we moved our stuff into storage and are staying with my husband's mom and step dad for the next couple weeks until our future home is ready. If you are a friend of ours, you've seen we've been building a "cabin" on our land.

Growing up it seemed like we (Christians) were taught to "just keep believing" to "just have faith" or to "keep trying." We were taught to basically stuff it. God has been revealing to me over the past couple months that it is ok to feel emotions towards him. It's ok to get mad, get sad, get disappointed about that things that upset you. It is when we start saying things to God like, "YOU did this" or "YOU didn't do that" or "if YOU would just do what I wanted" that we've crossed the fine line from having emotions to accusing God of wronging us. God has never wronged us; he provides, loves, and suffers for us. Be open about how you feel towards God but don't place false blame and accusations against him. Thank him for the blessings he has given you and trust that everything will turn out just the way he wants it.

A lot of times I struggle with the things God has promised Jarrod and I not happening. I get upset because he hasn't given me what I deserve. He hasn't given me what he said he'd give me. I was praying about this Sunday and God brought this to my mind: Faith is not expecting something you think God owes you. God owes you nothing. Faith is waiting on what he has promised he will provide for you. Knowing that you will be provided for and you will not need anything more than what he's given you.  Be careful to not get believing in God's promises confused with wondering why the heck he hasn't given you something you  think you deserve. Remind yourself daily what he's already provided in your life and thank him for it. Our God is an awesome God and knows exactly what you need when you need it.

My pastor/husband asked the church to ask Jesus for an encouraging word and to send it to him for the next sermon. As I was prompting the congregation via email to remember to take time from their busy weeks and do this, I realized that I needed to take my own advice. God gave me this word: Gun shots fired in the distance and my dog was terrified. Shaking uncontrollably and hiding under my feet. I picked him up, set him on the bed, covered him in my pajamas, told him he was safe, and prayed out loud for him. The dog didn’t know I was praying. He could hear me but he doesn’t know my words or what I’m saying but immediately after I said, “amen” he stopped trembling and laid his head down to sleep. Continue to pray for those who don’t know you are praying. Never give up hope in God hearing your prayers for this person. Jesus never gives up looking for the one lost sheep…we can be more like him and never stop praying for one lost soul. Don't grow weary of pursuing God about this pers