Sweet Moment in Ministry

Last night I had one of the sweetest moments in ministry. One of our staff wives came up to me after church and, with tears in her eyes, she hugged me and told me that she loved me. What made this so sweet is the fact that even though Randy has pastored other churches, I have not always had the opportunity to be close to the other staff wives. One reason is because we did not have other staff members or because of circumstances we did not develop close friendships. But with this ministry it has been different. The wives have shared some difficult times together, whether it was death of our parents, sickness with our children, problems in ministry. We have also shared some wonderful times as well, like graduations of our children, weddings, showers, grandchildren. How refreshing it has been to share these experiences with other ladies who understand where you are. I am thankful that they don't judge or critique, but just listen and understand.

I have had the enormous blessing of being a part of a several of ministers and wives conferences for the state. I have met dozens of ladies, just like you, who are in the same boat that I am in. Even though we live in different parts of the state, with different churches and members, we all share basically the same things. As we have visited between sessions we have laughed hysterically and sometimes cried our eyes out. It has always felt "safe" discussing whatever was going on in our lives because we knew the unique circumstances in ministry.

I encourage you to find someone you can share your heart with, either on your own staff, or perhaps another staff wife in the state. Use this blog to find someone you can talk to and get to know. It really does help when you have someone that "sticks closer than a brother."