Preacher’s Wife Teaching Life

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;...