a long obedience in the same direction
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wanting what i have (part two).
One of my very favorite things is when speakers or writers are practical, so I’m going to give you a few straightforward, practical ways that I’m learning the habit of being content. 1. Be a good steward of my stuff. It sounds silly but I’ve found that when I’m discontent about my house, just about the best possible solution in the moment is to stop and clean my house. When there are piles everywhere and the kitchen floor is covered with crumbs and the laundry’s overflowing and none of the beds are made, I find myself beginning to complain more about my house in general: There isn’t enough space . . . Everything’s…
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wanting what i have (part one).
In the name of transparency, after my house progress post a couple weeks ago — and with the Christmas-shopping-season almost upon us — I want to share what I’m learning about contentment. The joy of having our first very-own home is a perfect example of how my gifts and desires can be very good, but how they can also turn bad and have an unhealthy hold over me. One of my desires is for beauty. I love beautiful things. I love color and texture and the way the light falls across surfaces. I love cozy, unique-yet-inviting spaces. I enjoy nice clothes and shoes too, but I’d choose to spend money…
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a transparent life.
Yesterday morning I stood up in front of a group of women and publicly spoke about my journey with depression and anxiety. I spoke about that dark, dark summer last year after we returned from South Asia. I spoke of what it’s like to experience the suffocating weight of depression and a crippling anxiety disorder and my process of needing medical help to bring me to a place of stability. I described what life and ministry look like now on a daily basis living with my illness, how it still affects almost every decision I make. And I also spoke about God’s personal care and love to me. About the…
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words to a suffering me.
Lately I’ve been thinking back on where our family was a year ago. We were living in the great In-Between. We had a calling, but the door to it was shut in our faces. We had a job, but it was stopped short, like running full force ahead and suddenly finding yourself reeling at the edge of a cliff. We had a home, but it was sitting empty, thousands of miles away. And what stretched before us was a great blank. A year ago I was in the darkest season of my life. I was depressed. I was confused. I felt the silence of God bearing down on me like a…
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some thoughts from my personal vacation.
Our stay here in Lititz has come to an end. It’s flown by and it’s been restful and good. When I left home I wasn’t rested. I was worn out and stressed and wasting way too much time on the internet. Several days before our trip, David and I took a date to Real Mexico, and over juicy-hot barbacoa beef tacos had a talk about My Role In Ministry. I guess I feel like I’m having an identity crisis of sorts. Who am I? What should I be doing? What shouldn’t I be doing? How do I love my family well and love our new church well right now? It’s…
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nine years.
We did our premarital counseling with Jeff Philpott, my pastor from Sandhills Community Church. I remember sitting with him and talking about marriage several evenings amidst our whirlwind of college classes and writing papers and part-time jobs. Jeff had just celebrated ten years with his wife Michelle. Back then it was impossible for me to imagine David and I celebrating one year of marriage, much less ten. One thing Jeff said stood out in particular to me. He said, “You know, over time those giddy, head-over-heels feelings that comprise all of what Hollywood calls ‘love’ change. It’s not that they totally go away, but they fade into something much deeper.…
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the truth about support-raising.
When people learn about the kind of ministries we’ve been involved in one of the most-repeated remarks we hear is, “I just could never do a job where I have to raise support.” I understand that. Throughout our early years of marriage, as we looked and prayed and planned to go overseas, it was the thing I feared the most. All that money . . . And we had the added bonus of beginning our fund-raising journey in 2009, one of the worst years for our nation’s economy in recent history. The prospect was overwhelming. And now it’s 2013 and a big part of David’s job in this season involves…
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the pastor’s wife, part two.
In part one of this post, I shared the story of my journey to becoming a pastor’s wife. So God is giving me more and more of this freedom, this peace with the person He made me to be, this desire to be used by Him. What does that look like in our church plant? Who am I going to be and what am I going to do now that I’m a pastor’s wife? I’d say that my biggest passion for the church is relationships and community. To me, this is at the core of who the Church, who the Bride of Christ is. This is why we’re called the…
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the pastor’s wife, part one.
So now it seems I’m a pastor’s wife. The reality is still just beginning to sink in and lately several friends have asked the question, “What do you think your gifts as a pastor’s wife are?” It’s a great question, and I plan to answer it here on the blog. But I want to start by telling you a story of my “growing into” the role of a pastor’s wife. I think it’s important to tell because it took a whole lot of work on God’s part—a lot of struggle and correction and love and learning—to bring me to where I am today. It’s a story that’s still being written. …
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the non-new year’s resolution.
Happy New Year! At this moment, New Year’s Resolution lists are being posted across the internet world. I love New Year’s resolutions. I love reading them. I love making them. Keeping them is of course another story (I can’t tell you how many exercise and read-through-the-Bible-in-year plans I’ve started—and have kept with until well into February). I already have dozens of ideas brewing for 2013, ideas that involve more early-morning quiet times with God, more made-from-scratch food (which should definitely involve but not be limited to a sourdough starter), less dairy and gluten, better household organization tactics, more creative blog posts, new birthday traditions for our family, perhaps a 10K…