You Are Not Alone. . .

We ate our lunch as she talked. She poured out her heart as her food slowly got cold. The waitress brought us refills for our watered-down beverages.

As she shared I realized that I had lost count of all the minister's wives I have had similar conversations with. Some have taken place over the phone or through emails. Others while we got our exercise in walking the neighborhood in the early hours of the morning or sipped lattes with hushed voices in the local Starbucks.

The situations were all similar. The names varied and the time frames involved were different, yet the feelings were the same. As long as we serve our heavenly Father in a fallen world, we will have these experiences. They are a part of what ties us together into our unique sorority of being a minister's wife.

The main thing I wanted my friend and sister to know when we got up from that table was that she wasn't alone. I could relate. I know, all-too-well, how lonely it feels when "they" seem so powerful and big and pushy.

I understand the urge to stand on a pew and tell a few people a thing or two. I can relate to the desire to justify and defend my husband to "those" that are accusing. As I finished one of her sentences and nodded in agreement to her frustration, she seemed to relax in just knowing that I knew - what she was feeling, what she was going through.

Dear sister, you are not alone.