Preacher’s Wife Teaching Life

Sun kissed and fully rested, teachers walk into the school building for in-service and the start of school full of zen and good vibes. Now let me ask how long you think all those good vibes are going to last? Come on...we all know that teachers are notorious for drama. gossip and COMPLAINING. BUT with Jesus fresh on the mind, you can steer clear of that this year. This year, let’s approach each situation with prayer first and action later. Here are my tips for a more pleasant work environment... Avoid Drama: STEP AWAY from the he said, she said game and mind your own business. If someone wants to talk to you about an offense towards someone else or takes competitiveness a little too far, emotionally back away. Change the subject or even say, “I’d rather not talk about that.” Old habits die hard so when you’re alerted to drama ask God to help you back away.  Proverbs 21:23 “Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble.” Stop Gossiping: If w

In recent months, I have switched my regular posting to Instagram. There’s not a huge reason for the switch other than the fact that it is easier and more convenient. Since the switch, I’ve been posting short and sweet posts every day. If you’d like to stay updated on the every day life of this preacher’s wife, follow @preacherswife_jessica . I’m not abandoing this avenue of posting completely, but I will post more rarely here. A lot has changed over the summer and I may not have the time required to keep up with my normal weekly posts on this website. I am, however, still posting on instragram regularly. So what has changed? I got a new responsibility at work that I am very excited about! I’ll be the community college liaison with the high school math teachers for our College Prep course. I know it will be hard work but I think I’m well suited to meet the needs of the schools we partner with. I’m also going back to school! I’ll be starting a masters degree in the fall so tha

Going off the 🏕 grid is really in right now, right? A lot of people are buying 🌳 land, getting a tiny home and moving towards the simple, slow life. It’s exciting and exhilarating and dreams are coming true everyday for people who hope to be self sustained.  Going in faith on a 🗣🙏🏼 word of God is kind of the same feeling. He gives us a vision, a word or a dream that is irresistible. It’s exciting and exhilarating as we think about what He has for us and what it will look like. Our dreams come true as we see His word unfold right in front of us. What we don’t realize when we get started is the 😳 opposition that inevitably pops up along the way. For example, when people dream about living the simple life in the country they see 🌤 sunrises and sunsets with ☕️ coffee on the front porch in a white rocking chair. They see quiet, peaceful evenings spent with the family in the yard. They see baby 🐐 goats and 🐱 kittens frolicking in the barn. That IS a reality of a dream co

There's nothing like a little 😁 joy to change the way you feel about things! 😄 Joy from God brings 💡 light to a dark place. Anxiety, depression and oppression make for a dark mix of discouragement and pessimism. When we take a moment to 🙏🏼🗣 talk to God, He shows us those places in our lives where we can be 🙌🏼 thankful and have 😆 joy. Joy brings hope and 👏🏻 encouragement! Joy leads to 🙋🏻‍♀️ faith and trust that God is eternally good. Even if your situation isn’t 🤷🏻‍♀️ changing, God is changing ➡️ you ⬅️ through your trials. He is making you 💪🏻 stronger and better fit to face what’s coming (good or bad!). Our original 🐐🐐 mini goats took a long time to reproduce, and we 🙏 prayed for a  time for them to be fruitful. God answered our 🙏🏼 prayers and ✖️ multiplied our herd. We went from two mini goats to seven mini goats in less than two years! While we were waiting for God to 🤷🏻‍♀️ answer our prayers, our goats were getting 💪🏻 strong and healthy. Our

My 👩🏻 mom was 🤱🏻 adopted and while she 🤦🏻‍♀️ struggled with the rejection of her birth parents giving her up, she was also 🙏🏼 grateful to be CHOSEN by a ❤️ loving, stable mom. To the mom who chose her, she wasn’t an accident, she wasn’t a mistake and she wasn’t a burden. No. She was chosen. She was desired. She was wanted. She was cherished.  God 🙌🏼 chose us! He CHOSE to ✝️ send His son to save us so that we could be adopted into His family. That’s who we are to God. We are chosen, wanted, desired and cherished.  In my 🙏 prayer time, I often beg and 🤮 cry out. This makes me feel ☹️ lonely, unwanted and slightly rejected. It's the times that I am 🤫 quiet, still and patient that I hear 🙌🏼 God the most clearly. Those are the times when He has the most room to comfort me the way I should be comforted. It's those times that I come away from our conversations feeling built up and restored.  As I make some 🤔 decisions about my future, it's so comfo

🐰Easter usually brings thoughts of 🐰bunnies, 🐣eggs and tons of 🍭candy. There’s nothing like watching 👶🏻kids’ excitement as they find little 💵treasures out in the yard and explain with 😁delight what they found. For me, part of the joy of Easter is watching their faces 💡light up. But mostly, I enjoy Easter because I love to celebrate my freedom through Jesus. Jesus took on a huge ⛓burden so that we could be set ✝️free. Luke 12:50 says, “I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished.” Sin had left a stain that no amount of sacrifices could 💦clean. To wash the stain away, Jesus took on our sin and it ☠️died with him on the cross. When he rose from the dead, we were made 🌈new through him.  “Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame.” The pain he experienced was worth what God was doing through him. He knew joy awaited the next chapter of his journey. What was the 😁jo

Whether you're at the ⛰ highest point in your life or the ⚓️ lowest valley, God has already 🔨 worked out something for your 🌺 good.   There's no need to 🤨worry about what comes next as long as you 🙏pray about your future and 🙋🏻‍♀️seek God in your decisions. Have 🌈hope as you figure out His intricate plan for your life.  “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” R omans 8:28   Part of His intricate plan is new opportunities! If you’re at the end of your 🎣rope, you're in a 👍good spot! When you've reached the end of 🤦🏻‍♀️yourself, the only (and best) option left is God.  Whether you've run out of 💡ideas, 💵money, 🤭options or ⏰time, God already had something 🤲prepared for you. Last year, I was working part ⏱time as a junior college 📐math teacher. We had reached a point where we were out of 💵money and 💡ideas but my school was

My favorite way to get rest is to curl up in my 🛋 recliner with a ☕️ homemade caramel macchiato , my 🐶 yorkie and a good devotional or the 📖 Bible. To me, hot ☕️ coffee means I have to sit down and take about 20-30 minutes to enjoy. It’s a forced rest time for me that I desperately need every single day. Part of my unwinding includes reading God’s word. His word lights my path and gives me the wisdom and hope I need.  • Mark 6:31-32 says, “Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and 🛏 rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many 😝 people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to 🥖 eat. So they left by 🛶 boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone.” • Following Jesus’ example and resting in a 🤫 quiet place just makes sense. How do you prefer to find rest? … At 💒 church, my hubby called a time for 😴 restoration through 🙏🏼 prayer. Taking the time to shut down the 🧠 thoughts and outside 🌎 world wa

Aren’t we so blessed to live surrounded by God’s 🌼 artwork 🌼 ? One of my favorite things to do is go 🌸 outside 🌸 and enjoy 🌳 nature 🌿 as God made it.  • We love living in the 🌻 country 🌻 and looking out over His beautiful 🌵 handiwork 🌵 every day. You can feel it on your 😀 skin, smell it with your 🌼 nose and 👀 see it with your eyes.  • He is incredible in all His splendor. For example, do you know how your 😀 senses can 💥 spark 💥 memories? The 👃 smell of cinnamon reminds me of Christmas, the 🎵 song, "Lucky" reminds me of my wedding day, and the feel of 👖 sweat pants reminds me of high school track.  · God's 🌻 goodness 🌻 is more powerful than all our senses combined. · A bad thought or memory can be wiped 💦 clean 💦 with his truth. An already good memory can be made 🍎 sweeter 🍓 with his perspective.  · Within the last year, God has changed the way I feel about going to the 👁 eye doctor. I used to dread going because I

In the weeks that have passed since I’ve last written, I have been learning so much. Mostly, I’m learning about thankfulness. I talked about this around Thanksgiving and how I didn’t want to use one holiday to be thankful...I wanted to practice being thankful everyday. Since then, I’ve been receiving some lessons in this area.  What I’ve realized is that I DO indeed have a lot to be thankful for! While I don’t have EVERYTHING I’ve asked for, I certainly have everything I need and so much more. As I look over the course of my life, it’s easy for me to see how well taken care of I am by God, my family, my friends and my husband. I often times take the things that are part of my “normal” for granted. For example, electricity!  A couple weeks ago, the county I live in had an ice storm that caused trees to snap and power lines to fall to the ground. With the power lines went the internet and the cell phone towers also froze over. My whole world crashed! I knew I relied on these thi

God has been so patient to teach me new lessons every day on how to bring light into every situation. Sure, sometimes someone else is bringing light to me, but even that is teaching me a lesson. I want to share what I've learned so far on this topic. Despite your age, education, job title, hair color or personality type, YOU can bring light to anyone God sets in front of you. As a matter of fact, God wants you to! In Matthew 5:16 it says: In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Here are some practical ways to be deLIGHTful no matter where you are or who you are with: 1) SMILE! Every time you see someone, smile! There's nothing like seeing a bright, happy face when you approach someone. A smile has the ability to break down barriers, change the atmosphere and start a friendship. Something so simple can truly change someone 's day or become the highlight of his/her da

Anxiety is something we all feel at least once in our lives. Some of us feel it every day; some of us feel it seasonally. Whatever category you fall under, I'm sure you know what I mean when I refer to the feeling of anxiety. We played "Lucky" at our wedding because the words spoke to both of us. I've talked a lot about ways the prevent anxiety and how prayer is a guaranteed way to get away from anxious feelings. In this post, I'm talking about another method to escape anxiety: worshiping Jesus through songs. Songs and prayer work in the same way: they both bring our focus to something other than our problems. Songs and praise bring our eyes up to the God and serve as a reminder of who is in charge. The one advantage that songs have over prayer is the emotional connection we have to certain lyrics or tunes. Think about your favorite song...do you have it? Why is it your favorite song? What does it remind you of? What time in your life did you hear that

Have you ever had to tell someone the truth but you were afraid it would hurt them? I hate having to give constructive criticism, but there's a way to make it much less painful. It's called a compliment sandwich. I learned this technique in my first year o f teaching and it has helped me in every area of my life. The neat part is that Jesus does it too, so I know it's an approved method. Jesus does this in Revelation. Here's an example: To the angel [ a ]  of the church in Ephesus  write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand  and walks among the seven golden lampstands.   2  I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested  those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.   3  You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name,  and have not grown weary.   4  Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at fi