Preacher’s Wife Teaching Life

We got this kitten a year or so ago. My mom found her on the side of the road in the rain on her way to our house and brought her to me. She's a beautiful calico kitten that looks malnourished, dirty, and sopping wet. Of course I adopted her! We fattened her up, kept her safe at night, and gave her lots of love. Later we got more kittens from my mom and dad's farm - they were all from the same litter and you could tell they were a family unit. Fast forward to current time...I was sitting on the porch, watching the cats interact with each other and I realize Rory, the calico, has assumed the role of queen bee of my little kitty family. She rules the roost and it's clear she does. All she has to do is LOOK at the others when they are misbehaving and they shrink away in fear. I love Rory's success story. She went from being a literal street rat and rose up to be the Queen of them all. With love, care and acceptance, she's totally immersed herself with the others and...

I know this girl from high school who was...let's say less than nice to me. And I have to confess that maybe I wasn't very nice back to her. I think we resolved in our minds that we just didn't like each other (for who knows what reason 16 year old girls choose) and stayed away from each other as much as possible while trash talking each other at the same time. We graduated, went to college, graduated again (not at the same time), and guess what? Our paths crossed again. We were put in a situation that was awkward given our background and were forced to talk to each other and work together. And do you know what happened? She spoke up and said, "I think we knew each other in high school..." and I said, "yeahhh kind of." And she said, "I don't think we were very nice to each other." I replied, "no not really." God prompted us both at that time to agree that our tiff was stupid and high school brings out the worst in people and we fo...

I hear from different denominations in Christianity about what being saved means, whether it expires, and how to maintain it. Salvation to me is an initial acceptance and faith in Jesus Christ, verbal confirmation in your choice, and an ongoing relationship to keep the wheels spinning smoothly. For example, a couple weekends ago, I got some bad news in the mail and immediately went into panic mode. I started crying, freaking out and going into these impossible scenarios in my head about how our world was going to end (drama queen, I know). Deep in my heart I knew that God is bigger than any of my problems and that everything would work out fine because it ALWAYS DOES. (What's that saying? 90% of the things we worry about end up never happening.) Despite my devout belief that God is bigger than my problems, I had this sudden attack of voices in my head about how stupid I was, how this was my fault, how we were never going to get it fixed, that we would go into debt and lose everyt...

This weekend was our church's annual progressive dinner/ ornament exchange Christmas party. It was fantastic. It was loads of fun, more people show up every year, and every single person I talked to had a good time. It's a time for the people in the church to celebrate Jesus as a body and bring friends outside the church to show them this love and celebration. My husband and I went home in good moods and crashed in bed after a night of what we call "herding cats". I guess I shouldn't be surprised that after such a joy filled, spiritually packed night of celebrating Jesus' birth together that we suffered from terrible dreams and bad thoughts. Not because I'm a pessimist (because I'm not) but because when the evil one witnesses something like this, he seeks to destroy what was built. I awoke suddenly at 4 am with a constant stream of bad thoughts about the party. All of a sudden I was plagued with worries about what we should have done, how we could have...

If you've been following me, you know we just finished studying the book of Joshua. Our church is headed into the book of Ephesians to study the attributes of Christ. Follow along as we read through the chapters and try to find these attributes yourself as I teach about them. The first attribute of Christ is that he is our entrance. Entrance to what? The entrance to a life with meaning and purpose. To a life with joy and thanksgiving. In the unbelieving mind, the highest power in your life is yourself. You never experience true love and everything is hinged on what you can and can't do. These cans and can'ts are decided by strongholds, personal victories, and fear. The life of the unbeliever is defeating and has no real purpose or joy. Your life is driven by addictions, sickness, and an unending attempt to find happiness. Now is the time to read EPHESIANS 1 . I ask before you read it to pray and request God to open your mind and heart to what he wants you to learn. Be p...

I come from a small town in the south where it's quite normal to be married and have children by the time you're 25. My parents have been married for 42 years and my grandparents for 66 years. Marriage is something I dreamed and prayed about my entire life, but it seems like more and more I'm the minority in this. I hear people say they don't believe in marriage or that it is an outdated tradition that people don't do anymore. Some in my generation and the generations after me feel like it's somewhat normal to just live together forever - or until they get sick of each other - have a couple kids and call it good. I've heard people say things like, "it's just a piece of paper," or "why would I commit myself to one person forever?" and so on. Obviously as a married (7 years at the end of this month!) Christian from the south I have a stance on this. Now don't get offended...if you know me, you know I'm accepting of everyone an...

Giving can be such a touchy subject when brought up at church. It's usually followed up by a tablespoon of guilt and a dash of shame. My hope is that in this post, you feel no guilt or shame but hope and gratitude and motivation. God has blessed you in more ways than you can count and I hope that this post is a reminder of those blessings. I have countless stories about how God has provided for us and more stories about him providing for other people around us. His provision is literally everywhere and sometimes we don't even see it. His love for us is so immense that our humanly brains can't even comprehend it. One way he shows his love is in his provision. Provision comes in many forms: jobs, houses, cars, food, family, time, money, resources, wisdom, creativity, etc. Like in any relationship we are familiar with, when something is received, usually you like to give back. It's a natural response that stems from a feeling that swells up inside our hearts called grati...

My dad and I have been working together for a long time, illustrating his sermons with words and pictures in a way that others may understand. I remember being a little girl and helping my dad at this new found contraption called a computer by using words, shapes, and clip art to articulate what God was telling him. I think its kind of funny that as an adult, I sort of do the same thing for my husband in the form of a blog. He hears from God, I listen through a God filter and try to write, in more simple terms, what his sermon means in the form of a blog post. I add pictures to my posts, not to make my posts more appealing (although it helps), but to help the reader's brain connect what the meaning behind the words is. It might be part of my DNA...it might be a learned habit. We've learned from science that DNA stores biological information and is passed from adults to their offspring. Basically, the average person knows that DNA comes from our parents and it's what makes...

This week we covered Joshua 24 . Basically, Joshua reflects on all that's happened and tells the people to remember God. ( Joshua:14, 15 ) This post is a quick and dry summary of allllll my previous posts (which are linked into the points listed below): 1) God established a leader in Joshua; Moses was a powerful leader and his he passed his mantle to Joshua, like a spiritual inheritance. ---> His first responsibility was to come under authority. ------> Each leader has a leader to come under. Even the highest power on Earth has to submit to someone, namely God. Coming under authority by submitting to their guidance is of utmost importance to your well being. 2) A partnership with the Lord is established. ---> God does his part first and then humans need to do their part. For example, God sent a hail storm in Joshua 10 and the people still had to fight the battle with those remaining. ---> God has an opinion about his dominion and we could do well t...

In one of my earlier posts this week , I talked about living a spiritual life as opposed to being caught up in a physical world. When you get down to it, you might be left scratching your head, wondering what that actually means. While I'm young and still learning, let me offer you some tips: 1) Fall in love with God and...everyone! Read how in my previous post . 2) Have an interactive relationship with God. Make praying throughout your day a priority and don't always do all the talking. Listen a little bit and watch God reveal new and exciting things to you. Find new ways to pray and include it in your daily routine. 3) Say "no" to bad things around you. We are all tempted everyday by anger, greed, lust, and other temptations. Don't be weak! Say "no" and live the good life. If you fall into something before you even realized you said "yes", get out! Pray, repent, and ask Jesus to bring you back on track. 4) Do what God tells you to ...

In my previous post , I ended by talking a little bit about falling in love with God. You know that little verse about loving one another that we all know and probably say more than we actually do? Well, it's a really good verse and something we should live our lives by but let me tell you a secret...you can't love someone else if you don't love yourself. And let me tell you something else...you can't love yourself if you don't love God. Here's why: If you've ever fallen in love, you know the beginning stages are really exciting. There's the unknown, the flirting, and LOTS of compliments. It feels good right? Falling in love with God is kind of the same...but maybe a little different. ;) When you let yourself fall in love with God and you open your ears and heart to listen to him, he tells you all these really great things. If you ask, he will tell you how much he LOVES you, adores you, thinks you're precious, and he uses some really cool complimen...

My husband's passion for hearing God and sharing his words is inspiring. The knowledge God gives him to articulate to his people is astounding. It amazes me that my husband holds these spiritual words within him and nearly bursts with excitement on Sunday trying to get it all out to a physical world. Which brings up Joshua 23. This chapter is Joshua's final charge to the leaders and future generations. What is a charge? It's kind of like issuing a challenge and a warning all at the same time. At weddings, the minister charges the couple with the responsibility associated with marriage...in Joshua, he is charging the leaders to beware of the physical world around them. They've driven out the big tribes from the Promised Land but a few stragglers still remain and Joshua warns the leaders to avoid any entanglements with them. Temptation is sure to be present among these stragglers and they would be wise to remember all God has done for them. He said: 6 “Be very strong;...

This weekend, my sisters, my mom and I went on a girls weekend in the metroplex. We had a lot of fun and it was nice to have a weekend with just females...especially females I really love. I left my boys (my husband and doggy) at home to have a man's weekend. They rented movies, laid in bed, and did whatever boys do when they are left to themselves...? I also kind of left a few chores at the house that I hoped would be finished when I got home but I didn't really say anything about it on my way out. Needless to say, when I got home the house was in...an undesirable state. To their credit, I got home earlier than expected and they didn't get the last minute time they were counting on to clean up. I walked in the door, and saw all the little messes left behind (laundry, dishes, dirty floor, etc) and was just SO not happy. I started doing that mad cleaning thing where you're just tearing through the house putting things away, throwing dirty clothes in the basket, slamming ...

Were you ever a subject of a rumor? Did something ever get spread around about you like wildfire and you didn’t have the tools to put it out? The thing about rumors, gossip, and slander is that if the originator would have just asked you about it, you probably could have put a stop to it. It was probably something so minor that could have been cleared up in the matter of one conversation. Instead, people went around trying to solve your problems, trying to say what THEY would have done and what YOU should have done…when all they had to do was ask. They build up a case against you and sometimes even formulate a plan to fix you or your problem. Most of the time with gossip, it’s an issue you and one other person can work out between the two of you before God…if you’re willing. That’s where Joshua 22 comes in. We had a special Sunday this week with baby dedications and a personal testimony so Joshua 22 will be spread out over two weeks. This week, God wants to deal with gossip and hono...

My hubby started last Sunday's sermon with a hilarious recounting of the paintball excursion he participated in with some of the guys from church. He is ex military so he's no stranger to this sort of atmosphere and has experience in rocking courses like the one provided at the paintball park. HOWEVER, it has been many moon since his military days AND the guys he was participating with weren't necessarily military trained - great teammates and loads of fun but there was an obvious miscommunication when my hubby reverted back to military lingo. He told the story of the different levels provided at this course, the over zealous 12 years olds wanting to dominate this thing, and his inability to communicate properly with his teammates. He detailed this place that everyone wanted to get to so they could take cover and not get shot. A place of refuge that could allow them to have a one up on the other players. A safe place. We're to a place in Joshua where all the tribes ar...

When you're waiting in line for something REALLY awesome, do you: a) push your way to the front to make sure you get what's yours? b) wait patiently in line while watching the crazies elbow each other for something we're all going to get anyway? c) wait until someone buys it for you so you don't have to deal with the effort? Joshua 14-19 tells a story of these three types of receivers as he lines out the allotment of the land. Again in these chapters, there are a lot of names and places that can make your head spin but Pastor Dad (David) was able, through God's revelation, to line up these chapters in a much more relevant way. We are to the point where Joshua is getting old and is losing a little steam. He still believes in the promise and wants to move on but is not as able to. Caleb came in with fresh energy and reminded Joshua to allot the land to its respective owners. So by Caleb's prodding, they explore the land, allot it to appropriate tribes, and...

I went into my first year of teaching high school math totally green, inexperienced, and super stoked about my new adventure as an adult at the ripe age of freshly 22. I had a couple classes of 9th grade Algebra students who are still very dear to my heart. On one of their first tests, I did everything I thought I could to prepare them, which included giving them a different version of the actual test for their review. They did the review in class and I helped them with it and I was confident I had prepared them properly for the test. I gave out the test the next day, graded it, and was SHOCKED that 90% of my students failed. I was livid! I was so mad that they hadn't taken advantage of the help I'd given them - the leg up on being totally prepared for this test and I took it out on them. I yelled at them and told them how disappointed I was. I exclaimed how LUCKY they were to be given the test ahead of time and how silly it was of them to not appreciate it. My outburst was met...

Wouldn't it be fun to go back and live life knowing what you know now? To experience life a second time, knowing the end and that everything turned out just fine? Well, we can't go back. So let's go FORWARD knowing we will be victorious through God! Let's move forward knowing that we come out better, stronger, healthier people! Live your life with joy in the Lord and enthusiasm in who he's made you to be. Get excited about the daily grind and consider it a blessing. Each day is a day you won't get back and get to relive, so live like it matters. Get excited about God's purpose and timing because it is perfect!

Remember that time you looked back over your life and wondered, "what if?". Remember when you tried to picture how your life could have been if you'd made a different choice? I have lots of those times...not necessarily in regret but in pure wonderment. I try to imagine what type of person I'd be, what kind of job I'd have, and what my life would be like in general if I had chosen differently at crucial times in my life. I am in all ways grateful for what I did choose but I still can't help but think about it (let me clarify here by saying I have made bad choices in life, I just don't feel regret over my big decisions). However, I do know plenty of people who have regrets...who wish they'd chosen differently. For these people, this post might be beneficial to read. Last Sunday, our church did something special and different. In celebration of our brothers in Christ (Church of the Nazarene), we showed up for their 75th anniversary to surprise them and...

Jarrod and I like to attend these pastor conferences in the city about once a year. A couple years ago, the pastor of the church felt like his son had a word from God for the people in attendance. His son was in his mid-teens and stood awkwardly at the front with a Bible wearing jeans, a T-shirt, and converse shoes. He timidly relayed the message God gave him and we could all feel the anointing on him but knew he had some growing to do (don’t we all?!). Now let’s fast forward a couple years to this last weekend at the youth conference. This young boy, who so timidly spoke years ago as an emerging pastor, has now come fully into his gifting as an adult. He stood up at the front with a presence of God’s power and a witty, dynamic personality. He held the audience captive for his humorous stories and powerful words from God. It is easy to see he is OWNING his gift. He’s taken possession of what God has given him and is walking fully in it as a confident, Spirit filled speaker. It isn’t ha...

I have to give a shout out to my husband for helping me write this one. He gave me the story at the beginning of this post and edited some of the rough spots in my writing. I'm so blessed to have this man in my life and am grateful for all he does for me... It’s a Thursday morning and to most people this day will begin and end without any pomp or circumstance. Most people are currently taking their children to school, arriving early to work, dragging themselves out of bed etc. But the Pastors of Stephenville, TX have arrived early for the National Day of Prayer. This year, it is Grace Fellowship Church’s (our church) job to open the National Day of Prayer, in prayer, and introduce the Mayor of Stephenville. Something is different about today. On most National DOPs, a city official will nervously step out on the front steps of the county courthouse and declare the start to the National DOP. This day is different because God will win a major victory today, in my city, and I will b...