Preacher’s Wife Teaching Life

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...

This year we were awarded a whole extra day of the year to work/play/pray/sleep/whatever! It just so happened that this leap day was  a BEAUTIFUL day in Texas (see picture --->), so our extra day was quite a blessing. We wanted to use this extra day as an opportunity to take a LEAP of faith. We felt like a leap of faith entailed praying and asking God what he wanted us to do - a challenge of sorts - and then doing it! We wanted to get out of our boxes and allow God to ask anything of us. While praying all month about our leap of faith, we've been simultaneously praying about a vision for our church and in our personal lives. It's not surprising that these things we've been praying about coincide. You might know a little of our history but I'll give you a refresher if you don't. My dad was the pastor of our small church for about 20 years when my husband felt the call through countless prophetic words that he was to be a preacher and that his ministry was in p...

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 ...

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...