Preacher’s Wife Teaching Life

Maybe you've been married 3 years, 10 years, 30 years, or are just hoping to be married someday. Either way, every relationship gets to a point where life gets in the way and time with your spouse takes the back seat. I can't express the importance of not letting that happen. Today, I'm sharing with you some ways to prioritize your relationship despite the busy-ness of life. Why is prioritizing your relationship important? Why can't it just rest on the back burner? The largest reason why I think it shouldn't sit on the back burner is because your marriage mirrors God's relationship to the church. His bride (the church) is His greatest love. He doesn't forget it, push it aside or leave it for another day. God makes His bride a priority. He spends time with His bride, He talks to His bride, and He protects His bride at all cost. God's desire is for our marriages to be treated with the same tender care. He wants your spouse to be a priority. He wants us...

Negativity is a nasty thing. It creeps in and takes over our thought processes to a point that can be paralyzing. Being negative becomes a habit that is so hard to break that we don't even want to try. It's a comfortable rut that we sit in and complain about. We spread negativity around like a stomach bug and think it's normal. So how do we get out? How can we dig ourselves out of the rut and change our bad habit of being negative? I know one way: through Jesus. Here are four easy steps to being a more positive person: FIRST: You have to be alerted to your negative words and thoughts. Start each day asking Jesus to alert you when these thoughts develop and especially when those thoughts become words. SECOND: Ask Jesus to reveal the source of these thoughts and squash it like a bug! Get rid of it! You don't want a lying source sitting around in your thoughts. THIRD: Ask Jesus to be the source of your new thoughts: the truth that covers over the place where the...

A fun part of my story! Free Cowboys tickets! Have you ever felt that sting of jealousy when you look at someone else? The sting of pain that happens when they have something you don't.You wonder why your life looks different and maybe even wonder what you did wrong. I feel this way sometimes when I look at people. I think, "they have 3 kids, she drives a new car, he has a bigger house, she's getting her master's degree, she's more creative than me..." I've been noticing that these thoughts lead to a dark place of depression and inferiority. Even though I know all about perspective and that people might look at my life the same way as I look at someone else's, I still can't help but compare myself. My love story with Jarrod is so cool! God has been talking to me a lot about this lately. He's been telling me that just because my story is different, that doesn't mean that my story is inferior to another person's story. Each one ...

I wrote in an earlier post about our dog, Troop . He went to live with Jesus and we were devastated by the loss. He was my little buddy and we did everything together. Because of that, I’m still getting over missing him. Every day gets easier, but I can’t help but notice his absence when just a month ago he was so present. We have an 8 by 8 chain link fence in the shade with a dog house that we used for him when we went to work (otherwise, he was running around or in the house). Our good friend has Troop’s brother and would like for him to breed a female so we can have another puppy. She innocently asked if she could borrow our cage so that she could have a place for the dogs to do their thing. Jarrod and I were discussing this and I quickly responded with a harsh “NO.” If she had been standing there, she would have walked away with a nub. I had lots of excuses to justify my “no,” but my reaction was a sign of where my heart was.  My sweet husband noticed something was obvious...

You know when you go to the cabinet and pull out a cup? It looks clean, but then you look inside and realize it's dirty. My guess is you throw back into the sink or dishwasher to clean it up properly. Jesus addresses this issue with the Pharisees in Luke 11:37-41 . They get upset with Jesus when he comes to dinner because he didn't wash his hands like the rest of them. Jesus rebukes them saying "you Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy..." He also points out that God made the inside as well as the outside, and he encourages them to clean both. So, what does a "dirty cup" look like in us? When we are dirty on this inside, the fruit produced is not from God. The filth might come out in the form of greed, doubt, blame, victimization, anger, anxiety, depression, hatred, worthlessness, shame, etc. When you notice this fruit in your life, be alerted to the fact that you need a Jesus bath. A clean c...

God showed me a little bit about our identity through my understanding of mathematics. It may seem scary at first, but I'll explain it so stick with me :) I'll start with a simple example to explain what God is saying in the above graphic. 1*3 = 3, right? Yes. 1 is the identity for multiplication because it is the only number that won't change the characteristics of other numbers. 1*4 = 4 1*5 = 5 and so on. Jesus is a Christian's true identity so: Jesus * you = YOU He is the only factor that can produce the true you. The you without the hitch hikers that jump on your mind and heart from the troubles of this world, your upbringing and your worry for the future. . My husband and I have been focusing our mornings on spending more time with God. He prefers an unhindered quiet time of soaking, praying and reading while I enjoy time on the sofa with coffee, puppies, reading and praying. I love to see how the word applies to my life and also how it provides e...

If you’ve followed my page on Facebook , then you’ve seen the “how-to” videos my husband and I prepared. Staying true to the blog format, I’d like to write out what we spoke about in those videos. In between making those videos, on our way out of the driveway, we ran over one of our kittens. I was forced to walk out my own teachings yet again as we faced a tragedy beyond our control.  My husband and I know enough to understand that we don’t have to wallow in our pit of despair; we know hope is available to us and that we want it. My husband lined out a 4 step plan to find hope and we walked it out together as we mourned the loss of our kitten. Step 1: Acknowledge Him as God- This simply involves addressing him and acknowledging that he is real and his presence is known in your world. {Proverbs 3:6 - In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will makes your paths straight.} Step 2: Worship Him -  Let your worship, praises and thanksgiving flow out of your mout...

A couple months ago, our agriculture exemption was in jeopardy because we didn’t have cows in the time frame that the state regulations require. At the time, cows were at an all time high buying cost so it was impossible for us to scrounge up money and get the 4 required cows for our acreage. We went nuts searching for some way to keep our exemption other than cows. We looked into planting stuff, a wildlife reserve and even a butterfly exhibit (no kidding…LOL). We exhausted every solution trying to find a way around not having cows. During this problem, my husband’s dad called and expressed he had too many cows for his land and needed a place to put them. He wondered if he could let us “borrow” them for an indefinite time. God has such an amazing way of working things out at the perfect time. We have cows, our land is ag exempt and we love the partnership that has developed with my father-in-law. Part of human nature is to get into messy situations, whether it be on purpose or by ...

In a world of social media, quick news reports and the web at our fingertips, a lot of bad news and negative information gets funneled into our minds. There’s not really a way around it and it would be stupid to shut yourself off from being aware of current events. Staying positive and encouraged becomes a rarity in a place crowded with negative thoughts. Being negative becomes a way of life, a habit, a mind-set; God wants us to be the light, the good, the hopeful, the encouraging in the midst of all the dark. He also wants us to be strategic about what we expose ourselves to as we shine our light from within. But we must also be conscious of being self-focused or self-centered in our strategies. To become rightfully aligned, we need to become people of peace, with a peace that comes from the Holy Spirit living inside us and being Christ-centered. Psalms 120:6-7 says: I’m tired of living among people who hate peace. I search for peace; but when I speak of peace, they want war! ...