I recently wrote a blog on trusting God. A day after I wrote it, the question came to my mind “who do you trust in this world?” As a woman in ministry and a pastor’s wife, I have often thought about this. I have talked with other pastors’ wives about who our people are. Back when I was a newly married pastor’s wife, I didn’t fully comprehend the complexities of ministry. I was young. We moved to a place I didn’t know anyone and I wanted friends. I didn’t understand the import

I love my morning coffee. It is just about my favorite thing. Many times I go to bed at night thinking of how I can’t wait to wake up to my morning cup. When I go away I need to know where the best local coffee shop is and I look at the reviews online. When I plan a vacation I envision where I will be sipping that cup of joe. I am overly attached to my coffee. I put low fat half and half in it and that’s it. No sugar and no sweetened creamers. Since this is the delight

Ever think back to a really hard time in your life that you thank God that He brought you through it AND that you never have to go back to it? That is how I think of my marriage, well, the early years of it as we navigated a new ministry. Yikes! That sounds terrible - doesn't it? But I promised complete honesty in this blog from day one - so there it is. The good, the bad, the ugly. Our marriage and our lives in ministry had a messy beginning and I do not want to go back

God never changes. As I sit in church today I am reminded of that wonderful truth.  Even when our world is chaotic and always moving, we have an anchor.  God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Ministry is always changing.  Sometimes it's good and other times it's not so good. Today I am thinking about how I respond to the times where it is not so good. Ministry can change for us even when we don’t want it to.  We have expectations of what we want in our church and m

It has been one year since the shock and pain rocked us. 2019 was painful. One year later my husband and I walked on a beautiful beach in Sarasota. We reflected on the hurt, the challenges of the year, and also we marveled at the way the Lord ordained our steps. Seeing how He opened doors and made a way has made us so thankful. No doubt He redeemed things and placed us where He called us. Which is so exciting. Although that is true, we both agreed that it doesn’t remove

Recently someone quoted to me "God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called". Oh how I love that. In our different ministries I have found myself trying to fit a mold. Not the same mold every time. It is always different. I felt I needed to be different in order to fill my calling and to be qualified to fit a position in this ministry. When we were young youth pastors I would want to act young and hip (do people even say that anymore?? Certainly not ones that

“We were so close to being one of those casualties. We were ready to walk away and God redeemed that.” This may come as a shock - but I don't know everything there is to know about ministry. Neither does anyone on the Joy For Ministry team. I don't have all the answers. But I do know that we can learn from others! Periodically, we are going to be interviewing “seasoned” women in ministry. Women who have been around long enough to pour their wisdom and experience into ot

There are few things I love more in life than doing ministry with my family.  I love God.  I love my husband and kids.  I love many things.  High on that list is ministry.  Caring for people, outreach, serving in church, serving others, and reaching out to the lost and hurting makes my heart leap.  It breathes life into me.  It is what I want to do every day. I know there are so many of us out there - pastors’ wives and ministry families that feel the same way.  Recently, I h

There are songs that have made a huge impact on me at very specific times in my life. Some I don't want to listen to because they remind me of a painful time. Others bring such joy and awe of the things God has done. I love worship music. That is all I listen to. Not because I am super spiritual but because it ministers to my soul in a way that nothing else does. The song that has been on repeat the past 3 months is by Bethel called the Goodness of God. Maybe you know i

I was so excited to write a post on defensiveness. I have worked and reworked this post a few times. I think I am not ready to write it. It is stirring up angst within me. I find myself being....kind of defensive. The one thing I don’t want to compromise on is being honest and genuine about the hard stuff in ministry. I want to show the ministry I love and also be upfront with the hard times and all the truth that goes with it. So as I was working on this particular pos

I used to think that guarding my heart meant protecting my heart.  Protection from hurt.  Protection from people.  Protection from pain.  For years I was under the assumption that I needed to build a wall so that I wouldn't feel pain so deeply.  The only problem is, I am terrible at building walls.  When I love someone I love whole heartedly.  When I serve I am all in.  I feel things intensely - that is who I am.  If I change that then I change my DNA, and no matter how hard