Preacher’s Wife Teaching Life

Driving down I-20, I couldn't help but notice how frustrated I was as I timed how long it took me to drive to my new job. I *get the privilege* of spending two days a week in a town 45 minutes from my home and all I felt was dread on the drive over there. Why would I feel dread when God led me here, gave me this opportunity and told me to find joy in the process? Because my heart wasn't on the same page as my mouth.  The car is parked during the making of this picture. When God gave me this opportunity, it came with the stipulation that I would have to commute twice a week. He asked me if I would be willing to do that and I said with my thoughts, "yes, Lord!" while my heart was saying, "I don't like this!" **insert stomping foot and pouting lip** God set up this perfect job  that I would thoroughly enjoy, not take up too much of my time in the ministry and allow me to reach more people. I took one small aspect that I didn't like about my n...

As I read through my Beginner’s Bible at age 6, I first believed that Jesus is real and God is the King. I could feel in my heart that the stories in the Bible were truth and I knew without a doubt that Jesus lived. I grew up going to Sunday school, VBS, reading the Bible and praying before meals. I learned how to live a life that was pleasing to God and I tried to be good. As I got older I started having questions that no one could answer; I had questions that were best answered by someone with higher knowledge. That was when my dad encouraged me to ask God those unanswerable questions. That notion was foreign to me. If I asked, how would he answer? How would I know it’s God speaking? Will I hear a voice? Will I see Him? My dad prompted me to just ask and I would know.  Once I learned what He sounded like (a gut feeling, a new genius thought, a Bible passage or a physical sign), I began regularly asking Him questions about my direction in life and things that caused anxiety....

God sure has been saying a lot and saying it clearly to me lately in my time set aside for him.The peace I feel throughout each day comes from time spent resting in his presence and listening to his plans and hopes. He told me today that my hopes and his plans are very closely aligned. He said I've lived a life walking closely to him, and the things I dream about and hope for are the things he plans for me to have. Going into my day knowing that certainly changes the way I view the day that unfolds. The small hardships or harsh words that used to crumble me are brushed away with the knowledge that God is pleased with me. The distractions of life are pushed aside as I remember the plans he has for me. I'm telling you, it's a different quality of life than the one of worry and anxiety I used to live. This little guy is one of my dreams come true. There is an indescribable feeling of fulfillment that comes from experiencing his love and hearing his thoughts about me an...

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...

At 6 years old, I knew in my heart that Jesus was real and I accepted him as my savior and God as my Father. At 11 years old, my dad taught me how to open my heart and hear from God. When I was faced with unanswered questions or problems we didn’t have a solution to, I would seek him and await a response. At that point in my life, my parents were hoping to buy a house sitting on a lot of land that seemed like a dream come true to me. I asked my dad if he thought we would get approved for the land and he wasn’t sure so he referred me to God. This was foreign to me at the time but he encouraged me through it and I was 90% sure I had heard from God. I was a beginner in hearing the voice of God and wasn’t positive if what I heard was God’s voice or my own hopes answering back. Not long after that, confirmation came when the contract went through on that house and we moved in shortly after. This was pivotal in learning the process of interacting with God. He has an opinion and wants to tal...

At 6 years old, I knew in my heart that Jesus was real and I accepted him as my savior and God as my Father. At 11 years old, my dad taught me how to open my heart and hear from God. When I was faced with unanswered questions or problems we didn’t have a solution to, I would seek him and await a response. At that point in my life, my parents were hoping to buy a house sitting on a lot of land that seemed like a dream come true to me. I asked my dad if he thought we would get approved for the land and he wasn’t sure so he referred me to God. This was foreign to me at the time but he encouraged me through it and I was 90% sure I had heard from God. I was a beginner in hearing the voice of God and wasn’t positive if what I heard was God’s voice or my own hopes answering back. Not long after that, confirmation came when the contract went through on that house and we moved in shortly after. This was pivotal in learning the process of interacting with God. He has an opinion and wants to tal...

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...

We live on a beginner farm with a couple cows, mini goats, cats, and one dog. Our herds are growing and I always hoped my husband could have a dog by his side as he works the cows alone. Our dog, Sergeant, has been an “only child” for eight years so we’ve been hesitant to rock the boat and bring another dog into the equation. He’s pretty spoiled and a little territorial of me and his toys. Even though he’s never displayed aggressive behavior to any person, he has shown signs of fear in the presence of other dogs. My parents’ Australian shepherds had puppies and we fell in love with one of the male, red tri-color puppies but we really didn’t want to make a rash decision based on cute factor. So what did we do? What we always do…we prayed. We went before the Lord together and asked if we should get this dog. To which he replied……silence. We didn’t feel a push in either direction so we rephrased the question and asked again. We said, “we want this puppy so the question is: what do yo...

My husband told this story last Sunday about our house and how anyone is welcome inside it. We've got a nice big open kitchen/dining/living area that we keep picked up and clean and a beautiful guest suite where people can stay the night. But there's this other part of our house that we usually keep shut off. It's our master suite...which is a mirror image of the guest suite but it's ours. We keep it shut off because of guns but also mostly because when people come over, we shove all the clutter (mail, purses, dirty socks, random shoes, etc) into our bedroom. I also have a repulsion to putting clean laundry away so I have stacks of clothes I dig through until I get fed up enough to put it all away. Hey, don't judge me...we all have that clutter drawer/room in our lives. Our bathroom stays pretty clean except for the laundry basket and maybe some pajamas on the floor. Well recently, I've felt a deep desire to remedy this dirty room. I hate that I'm embarras...

I love the picture to the right, taken by a friend in the church. It's the perfect picture of God's light shining down on his church. The symbolism of it is perfect: the church is soaking up God's light and charging its people inside to do God's work. I don't know about you but I always feel refreshed and recharged after connecting with a body of believers. Our light gets "re-brightened" and we are energized to keep going. God wants us to take His light out to the people - His church (the light bearers) is not to be confined by four walls and our own preconceived notions. I think a lot of Christians are afraid to be " the light of the world " for fear of being judged or cast out socially. God wants us to hand over our fear of looking stupid and get desperate for him to change our lives. To rid ourselves of this fear, we have to open our hearts to what God desires and ask him to fill us with his light and wisdom in its place. When you open your...

Every time Pastor Doug White comes speak to our church, it's like a fire hose of great information (he's our apostolic leader which means he leads our leaders). I wrote it all down but it's kind of a lot so I'm going to forward his three main thoughts on to you. The points leave a pretty big impact so I don't need much extra fluff :) 1) Just because everything is in chaos does not mean God left the scene. ( Psalm 37:5 and Psalm 55:22 ). Whenever you feel the most alone in this world, know that God is drawing nearer to you. Reach out and grab his presence (metaphorically of course...you probably won't make it out alive if you actually touched God. The power would be too much for you...like a light saber on steroids). 2) God's solution to our problems may surprise us. God has no problem getting to you even though you may have trouble getting to him. For example, we were homeless for a time and were contemplating living in a tent on the land we are payin...

Back in the Bible times, temples were built as Holy places where people could go to find God. Since Jesus died on the cross for our sins and essentially our acceptance into God's family, we are now able to access God through the Holy Spirit within us. So basically, our bodies became a temple of God. Get it? It's still a place where people can go to find God...we are like little mobile temples. Isn't that cool? The process to building the temple within you is really quite simple...ok maybe it's hard sometimes but really all you have to do it say "yes", which gives God permission to invade your heart. Sounds scary but it's not. I promise. This nice little step by step is provided by the President of the Ministerial Alliance, Pastor Curt. I love how simply he lays God's word out and presents it. I added a little of my interpretation to fatten it up for the blog but the basis is from him (which I'm sure he got through revelation from God). PART O...

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...