I ran a couple marathons a few months back.  I decided to take some time off running since life is busy, we moved houses, and my body was just tired.  It has been a few months now and its time to get back into the training.   I have ran a bit here and there, but nothing like when I am training for a race.  I am a little excited about running again, I miss the burn of a long run, I miss the sweat of hills, and I miss the feeling in my lungs of being in good shape.  I feel like my tummy has a little extra bulge and I think I have put on a pound or two, ok, yes I have.  I sat down a few days ago and mapped out a training schedule for all my races into the fall.  My running partner says she is ready to speed things us, and why not?  Last year I was coming off a pregnancy and she was starting running for the very first time.  This year we are professionals(lol), we have no excuses!

What does the Bible say about exercise?  How does exercise relate to a Christ-centered home? Does God require us to exercise?  These are questions I have been asked, these are questions I myself have asked.  Well, the only times I see exercising in the Scripture is relating to running the race of faith and enduring to the end.  It is used as an analogy as we are running the race of the life as followers of Christ.  I believe in my life exercise relates to a Christ-centered home, but that does not mean that non-exercising parents are any less Christ-centered.  Does that make any sense? Let me explain.  I believe that my duty as a mother is to be as healthy as I can for several reasons.  One reason is for the sake of feeling better and having more energy to do my job as a mother.  When I am not exercising I feel tired, less quick on the draw, and I don’t sleep as well.  Does God require us to exercise?  Well, the Bible never tells us to exercise, it is not in the ten commandments, and we don’t read of Noah having a treadmill on the ark.  What we do see throughout Scripture is men and women living very active lifestyles.  We read of long journeys the people have to travel to get from place to place with all their children, belongings and animals.  Ruth was gleaning in the fields, the Proverbs 31 woman spins wool, brings food from afar, and plants a vineyard.  Men and women back then just worked very hard.  In our society we drive everywhere, we fight for the closest parking space, we buy all our food, we have dishwashers, washing machines, and elevators.  We often sit down all day, hours watching television, we hire maids, we eat all day, and we are a nation and a society that hardly knows what hard physical work is.  I am not suggesting at all that we must exercise to look good, attract attention, or appease anyone.  I am merely stating that we should strive, no matter our body stature, to be the healthiest we can be for the glory of God.

I do believe that in todays’ time we should seek to be as active and healthy as possible.  I think the church, the bride of Christ, should be working hard to be as healthy as possible.  We should honor Christ in our eating habits, we should honor Christ in our parenting, we should honor Christ with our bodies.   I have many personal reasons for running, exercising and eating healthy, but I will not share those today.  I have had the privilege to see many people change their lives by taking better care of their bodies.  I have seen people come off medications, sleep better, have more energy, and be more motivated to serve Christ and serve their families.  My job is to motivate, encourage, and be an example to live for Christ.  I am not trying to live longer, because my days are numbered by the Lord, but I can be more pro-active against the enemy and not allow him to keep me down.  It does not matter how out of shape you are, how much weight you may have gained, or how bad your health is, there are things we can all do to get moving!

So out come the running shoes, the running clothes, the stop watch and the chalk (only my running pals know what that means!)  Here I come to pound the pavement again.  May the Lord be glorified as I seek to honor Him with my body, soul and mind.  1 Thes. 5:23 “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“SIN-It will keep you longer than you are willing to stay, and it will cost you more than you are willing to pay.”  This is a saying my former pastor used to say quite often.

In my Bible study I came across Lot.  Wow, such a sad story of a man and his family caught up in the world.  As I struggle with my own pull to the world, it seems lately I have come across several verses that have been encouraging.  In our Sunday School study through James, we read last week verse 1:27, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”  This world does spot us.  This world sucks us in, lies to us, beats us up, and spits us out with nothing left but ugly scars.  James is compelling us to keep ourselves from the world. Paul tells us we are at war within ourselves to live holy in Romans 7, basically that little red devil in one ear telling you to do evil, and the little white angel in the other ear telling you to do good.  We are constantly battling our flesh to sin.

Here in Genesis you have a man named Lot.  He was Abraham’s nephew.  Abraham loved Lot, mentored Lot, took care of Lot.  Abraham was like a father to Lot, and Lot saw God do many wonderful things through Abraham.  Lot saw Abraham at his weak times, like when he lied to Pharoah about Sarah being his sister because he was fearful, but Lot saw God do mighty things in Abraham’s life.  When God brought Abraham and his entire entourage, including Lot and his family, into the land of Canaan, it was too many people to dwell together.  Abraham had the right to tell Lot and his people to move to the far side of the land, giving Abraham and his people, animals and crops the best of the land flowing with water and green pastures.  Instead, he did the self-less thing and gave Lot a choice.  Lot chose the best land, but with that land came living on the side which faced a wicked, terrible city.

Lot not only chose the best land for his family to dwell, but he pitched his tent toward Sodom. “Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other.  Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom.  But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the LORD.” Gen 13:11-13

Lot chose the side of the land facing Sodom, then he pitched his tent as far as Sodom, then before long he lived inside Sodom. “They also took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.” Gen. 14:12

You probably know where the rest of the story goes.  Abraham pulls some strings with the Lord, begs God to save Lot and the “righteous” in the city, and the Lord agrees.  When the angels find Lot to warn him to flee the city, he is living among the most wicked men history has ever known.  These men were so wicked, lustful, and worldly, they tried to sexually assault the angels that had come to warn Lot.  Lot alone could not keep the men away, and the angels had to strike the men with blindness to keep them away.  Lot even tried to give his virgin daughters to the men to keep them away from the angels.  What message did this send to his daughters?  Girls, go let these men have their way with you sexually while we protect these men of the Lord.

Lot goes to plead with his married daughters about leaving the city, but their husbands do not take him seriously.  He takes too much time, probably pleading with them to flee, and the angel of the Lord removes Lot, his wife, and two unmarried daughters from the city.  Lot is told to flee to the mountains, not look behind, and go fast.  Instead, he begs to flee to another wicked city and begs the angel not to destroy that city too.  The angel agrees and Lot and his family flee.  His wife, in her disobedience, turns around to consider the punishment about to come on the city.  There are several reasons she could have turned around, she probably couldn’t help but cry out for her other daughters that did not flee,  she could have not believed destruction was really coming and turned to see if the angels were telling the truth, or she could have turned around not believing that there really are any serious consequences for sin.  Either way she disobeyed and lost her life that day.

Lot is left with only two daughters.  He flees to the mountains now with the small fragments of valuables he has left.  His daughters have an idea.  They get their father drunk, and both get pregnant to carry heirs for their father.  These girls had been spotted by the world their father raised them in.  Lot and his family are a very sad story.  This is a story of what happens when the world sucks you in.  At first it is fun, at first it is appealing, but in the end you lose it all.  Lot lost everything precious.  We must be pitching our tent far from Sodom, we must be clinging to the Word, we must be saturating our lives with people that are giving us godly counsel and wisdom.  We must not think on sin, look at sin, participate in sin, and love sin.  We must flee from sin, not look back, and trust Him.

Sin kept Lot longer than he wanted to stay, and cost him more than he was willing to pay.

“Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?  knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.  For he who has died has been freed from sin”Romans 6

“Prone to Wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.  Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.”  Come Thou Fount

I received a letter in the mail today from my sweet friend that lost her daughter just a couple of months ago.  Her daughter was my age, and her two children were the same ages as two of my young children.  The two grandchildren bring her comfort, but she is hurting.  I sat down with her letter, and tried my very best to give her some comfort.  I think our worst fear from the day we become parents is to have to say good-bye a child.  I lost three babies briefly after conception, but I could not fathom having to spend over thirty years raising a daughter, giving her away in marriage, watching her birth babies, and seeing her suffer a young death.  I know the death of a spouse, the death of a parent and the death of a grandparent are a natural phase most all of us will face at some time in our lives, but the loss of a child is by far the most painful.  If we live long lives it is a blessing, but with that comes seeing many friends and family members pass away.  Josh’s grandmother is almost eighty, and I have had several conversations with her before about how many loved ones she has buried.

I asked the Lord to give me some words of comfort for my friend.  It seems I am always at a loss for words, and my philosophy for funeral homes is that it is best to be there, offer hugs, spend much time in prayer for the hurting, and speak as little as possible.

King David lost a child.  His son was not a newborn, and had spent time in David’s home.  The Lord caused the son to become ill.  David spent seven days pleading, fasting and praying for God to heal the child.  When the child died, David got up, cleaned himself off and his first act was going to the temple and worshipping God.  “When David saw that his servants were whispering, David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” And they said, “He is dead.”  So David arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the LORD and worshipped.”  2 Samuel 12:19-20

Job lost all of his first set of children in one day.  He suffered greatly during the loss of his children.  The loss of his ten children was much greater than the loss of his wealth and health.  He cursed the day he was born.  He was in great grief.  His wife and friends did not offer him much comfort.  Job shows us that it is okay to grieve, it is okay to question, it is okay to be weak.  We must learn through Job’s example that God is not hidden, God knows all, God controls all, and God has a plan.  God blessed Job by multiplying his wealth, granting him new children, and allowing him to see his former children again in eternity.

Naomi also lost her husband and sons in battle.  She had two daughter-in-laws with her grieving.  I can imagine the knock that came at the door announcing the battle cry of death.  Naomi suffered greatly and her loss was enormous.  Her adult sons were taken and left her with no heirs.  She had no one left, yet God never left her side.  He gave her a wonderful, loyal daughter-in-law that took an oath to never leave her side.  She praised Him and her daughter-in-law embraced the God she worshiped.  God gave Naomi a grandson and an heir and healed her grief.

I believe anyone that says we cannot cry, grieve, and greatly mourn our loss here on earth is a liar.  According to our biblical fathers we can learn how to grieve.  We must grieve with God, not apart from Him.  We must worship through our grief.  We must meditate on his Word through our grief.  We must trust God that He will heal, and that our time of grief will come to an end.  It will end in part here on earth, but it will ultimately end when we are with Jesus.

For those of us that have never experienced this kind of loss we must understand that things change in the blink of an eye.  We do not know the road God is preparing for us to walk.  We must make sure that our faith is solid and our foundation is secure in Christ.  When things crumble He will be our ground to stand on.  We must bear the burdens of those we love and surround those walking this road with prayer, love and support.  My prayer for my sweet friend is that she will be able to build an altar to the Lord and worship Him through her grief.  I pray that many will see her faith and fall on their knees in repentance to Him.  Nothing God does is in vain and he brings everything to His purpose and glory in His children.

King David sings a song of praise in Psalm 30:4  “Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.   For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1-13  “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
What gain has the worker from his toil?
I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live;
also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil–this is God’s gift to man.”

Currently I am writing a Bible Study for my children.  My husband and I catechise them, do Scripture memory with them, and we have read to them from dozens of children’s Bibles their whole life.  I have had trouble finding good children’s curriculum that adequately portrays Christ in the Bible starting with Creation.  It is one thing to teach my children about animal sacrifices and that Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, but how are they to understand what that really means unless they start from the beginning.  I want them to know these fathers starting with Adam, and know the main characters that lead all the way to Jesus.  I want them to know all the stories, not just the pretty and popular ones.  I am tired of the story of Noah being portrayed as a beautiful story of a man building a boat, obeying God, and rescuing his family and the animals from the big flood.  Rather, I want my children to see that this is a horrible story of God’s harsh judgment, that all people, animals, plants and birds died in this catastrophe as punishment for sin.  I want my children to see the Providential hand of God on Noah and through this obedient, chosen vessel, God was preserving His bloodline.  As I write this study, God is working me over.  God is showing me things I really never connected before.  God is teaching me about my role as a woman, wife and mother.  Starting with Eve, she is the one that the serpent was able to deceive first, then Eve persuaded her husband.  Did the enemy know that she was weaker and that perhaps she had a way to persuade her man?  Can the beauty and grandeor of a woman sometimes cause the man that loves her to fall away from obedience to Holy God?  I do think so. I skip from Eve to Sarah.  She was past the age of child-bearing, and she thought it was a good idea to have her husband lie with her maidservant and get her pregnant, then they would have an heir.  She presented this plan to her husband, and he agreed.  Once again we see a pattern here of the woman persuading her husband to sin.  Next we go to Lot and his wife.  They were spared from God’s terrible judgment.  When the two angels of the Lord came to visit him in that wicked city, they came to warn them to get out quickly before the fire fell.  Lot was taking too much time, but after he was taken away from the city,  the angels told him to flee to the mountains with his family.  Rather than just taking the instructions and leaving in thankful obedience for their lives, Lot begs the angels to spare the wicked city of Zoar and to let them dwell there.  The angel agrees to not destroy that city too, and lets Lot and his family flee there.  It was just moments later that his wife disobeys, turns around like she was told not to, and she looses her life.  Next it says that Lot and his two daughters fled to the mountains.  This makes me think that they only went to that wicked city because of Lot’s wife, otherwise why would he have left after her death.

As I ponder on this pattern of some of the most faithful men- some even noted in Hebrews 11 as examples of those with great faith- fell pray to their women.  I have began to examine closely my obedience and yielding to the Lord and my response to how I handle my husband.  Have I ever persuaded my husband to do something that was not the wisest thing? Absolutely.  I can look back so many times in our marriage and see where I may have begged for something that was not the best for us.  I know as a pastor’s wife I am in a hot seat.  I must make sure that my decisions are covered in prayer and that my husband ultimately makes all the decisions.  I have to back down and let him lead in all things.  I remember when this really first came- I will get all personal here for a moment.  We had been married only a few months and we were packing our things to head to seminary soon.  I had found out I was pregnant and we had deliberately tried not too.  I was so upset thinking Josh was going to be mad at me and that this was somehow my fault.  He laughed when he saw how silly it was that I was upset.  He was so happy, then I became happy.  After I lost that baby, Josh informed me, with love of course, that we were going back to our original plan of waiting a few years to get pregnant until we moved and settled in the new state.  I was broken.  God had opened my heart to becoming a mother and now that door slammed shut in my face, not only by death, but now by my husband.  I begged him on several occasions to trust God and let us try again.  I used God and His providence on many of my begging episodes.  I had times of pouting and sorrow but I also knew that we were in no position financially and facing this big move to be pregnant.  I knew in my heart it was not the right time.  We had to move, find jobs, get insurance, and possibly buy a home.  God gave me grace during that time to trust Him.  I will always remember the moment when I came home from my job to our little home after a very long day.  Josh told me he was ready to give it to the Lord.  I was so happy and ready myself.  Nine months later baby Karis was born into our family.  She was born two years and three days after our miscarriage.  God knew best.  Not only was I glad we waited on the Lord, but our marriage grew during those two years.  I learned through that time exactly how it was that God was leading our family through Josh.

In our almost ten years of marriage and sixteen years of being in love, God has melted my heart to my husbands.  Through every financial situation, every move, every pregnancy, every church, every house purchase (4 now), and every big life decision, God has allowed us to be in unity.  We were both usaved when God brought us together.  I can see now how God brought us together, molded our hearts for one another, and has given me the respect for him that makes me want to follow and trust him.  I know he seeks the face of God, I know he prays for me, I know he only wants the best for our family.

Do I always trust my husband?   I think he is the best leader in all definitions of the word.  God has gifted him and blessed him so much.  I have little trouble following him and trusting his guidance.  I am not the perfect wife, there are many times God uses my husband to correct me.    These are things to consider before ever marrying, if you can’t see yourself following, obeying and trusting this man, please do not ever marry him.  If he never prays for you, prays with you, and is not constantly seeking the face of God, then it will be almost impossible to live a life of complete submission, obedience and trust in him as a wife.  I was very naive to these things before marriage, so it is only by the grace of God He called us and blessed us.  So what are you to do if it is too late, you are already married to a man that does not lead your family in the way of the cross?  I am not sure how well I would do if I had a husband that wasn’t a good, strong leader, or if I had a husband that did not love Jesus.  To those women that have a husband they cannot trust, I have no other words for you but to keep following.  The Bible only tells us to be submissive and obey.  When a husband is weak in leadership, it does not dismiss this command to the wife. Our first leader and head is Jesus Christ.  We do know this, if we live our lives as wives in complete subjection to Him, we never know what good things are to come.  I have seen God do life-changing miracles in a man. He did it in the Bible, He is still doing it today.

As for me, I will be on guard to encourage my husband, stand behind him proudly, and  Josh never having to choose between my desires and God’s plan for our lives.  If I want God to bless my family, and I do, then I must learn from the examples of Eve, Sarah, and Lot’s wife!

Ephesians 5:22-23 “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.”

Genesis 3:16  “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

1 Peter 3:1  “Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;”

Genesis 3:17  “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;”

One of my greatest passions is health and fitness.  I try my best to feed my family healthy and live out a healthy active lifestyle in front of my them.  In this society it is really difficult to keep eating healthy and natural foods.  Most of the meat and dairy industry is filled with hormones and steroids,  most of our produce is filled with pesticides and fertilizers, and our boxed, cans and frozen foods are processed to the point of almost being completely artificial.  So what are we to do about this cheap nasty food?  My solution is taking one day a month to drive to a special store in the big city to buy good, natural food.  I take time to stop by a produce stand here in town and get locally, naturally grown produce.    I have found this solution to be inexpensive, just more time consuming.  I have done several posts before on label reading.  One of my major label “poison” ingredient is partially-hydrogenated oils.  It is found in many foods.  This ingredient is called trans fat to the consumer.  So how do companies label their food on the front in big eye-catching letters, “NO TRANS FAT”, yet looking at the ingredient list the number two or three ingredient is partially hydrogenated ______ oil. The answer is, the company has lied to you.  Yes, they have lied, thinking you are dumb, and they got your money in exchange for nasty trans fat.  How have they lied?  The government has made laws on food nutrition labels, these laws protect us and most of them are very beneficial.  One regulation they have put on these companies is that if it has less then one gram, they can put  a zero.  So if it has .9 grams per serving, they can put a 0.  What these genius companies have done, rather than taking the nasty oils out, have lowered their serving size on the labels to reduce the amount of these oils per serving to just below 1 gram per serving.  For example, if whip cream had 1.5 grams of trans fat per 2 teaspoons before this law, they could reduce the portion size to one teaspoon, then it only has .75 per serving, so they can put a zero on the label since it now has below 1 gram per serving.  They only changed the label, not the food.  They can put on the front “NO TRANS FAT”, when really it should read, “TRANS FAT IS IN THIS PRODUCT!”

So what is the big deal about this trans fat anyway?  Well, it is a big deal.  A few years ago you probably remember a law suit against McDonald’s for a person being obese.  Actually, this law suit helped you and I, and all who eat at restaurants.  They were using cheap, man-made oils (made in a laboratory) that our bodies cannot use and store naturally.  Since it was not a natural vegetable oil, peanut oil, or other natural oil, our bodies store it as trash and it is almost impossible to get your body rid of it.  After this lawsuit, restaurants have to use natural oils now.  This is why places such as Chick-fil-A have prided themselves for using peanut oil.  Although fat is still very much present in fried foods, a natural oil is used, stored, and excreted naturally.

So next time you are shopping for the most important thing you will ever buy- food- then please read your labels carefully.  Cheap food usually produces expensive results.  The results are weight gain, fatigue, and even more serious side effects.  When I dated Josh, my husband, he loved cars.  He drove expensive mustangs and muscle cars.  He taught me to use only synthetic oil in my oil changes.  After we married, he required it.  It costs about double a normal oil change, but the clean synthetic oil keeps your engine clean, free and running nicely.  In the long run we save money because it causes the engine to run longer and more efficient.  Why would we ever treat our bodies differently.  If we feed our children and ourselves better foods, we will save money and heartache in the long run.

I just found out a couple of days ago that my coffee caramel machiatto creamer has this junk in it.  Bummer.  It is found in a lot of dairy product: margarine, ice cream, whip cream, and more!  It is now against the law for a restaurant to cook with it.

I was saved at the age of twenty-one.  Most people think of their twenty-first year of life and remember their first drink, “legal” drink that is.  For me life was not like that.  I have pretty much been a good girl all my life.  When I think of my twenty-first year of life I think of how Great God is.  I think of how my life drastically changed that year.  God placed within me a new desire, a new spirit, and a new life.  I got engaged shortly after and married the love of my life, my best friend.  He was also recently saved and called into the ministry.  He knew without a doubt his ministry was preaching and pastoring.  I was in shock at how much life was changing.  We both went from living life on our own, having all these hopes and dreams of our future, to packing up and moving away from all those dreams.  We eagerly started our new life at seminary and I thought it would be a time of four years for me to learn how to become a pastor’s wife.  I had great plans of taking some classes to learn what a pastor’s wife is what she is supposed to do.  Josh nor I had a pastor in our family that we observed, so this was all new to us.  Little did I know, but God called me to be a pastor’s wife just 4 months after moving to school.  I remember being so intimidated.  I had a few books on being a pastors wife, but I needed classes, I needed a mentor, I needed someone to tell me what in the world I was supposed to do.  I had none of that.  We moved an hour away from the seminary to be near the church and ministry, I had no one!  My husband, who is my greatest mentor, was new himself.  He had mentors, he had professors, he had pastor friends- I only had Josh and God!

Josh told me to be myself.  I have always been a people-person.  I have never had trouble meeting new people, starting friendships, or talking.  My mother used to say that I never met a stranger.  Times were much different when I was a child, but I used to view the grocery store as my social time.  At six years old I would walk the aisles, away from mom, and meet new people, find people we knew, and have a good time talking to people.  When I was in grade school, my only trouble was talking.  I was hardly ever disciplined for anything else.  Josh gave me the best advice he could have ever given me.  He told me to not try to be anybody special, just be myself.  He told me to love the people, get to know them, and spend time with them.  That is what I did.  The first thing we noticed about these people at this new little church- they were not like us.  These people were very different from any other people we had known.  Not so much in a bad way, just very different.  I had these people in my home, I visited their home, I thrusted myself into their lives, and let them into my own.

I started teaching a ladies Sunday school class and I had eight women that came.  These eight women God used to teach me, break me, mold me, and shape me for the rest of my life.  I still pray regularly for these women.  Three out of the eight of them had spent time in battered women’s shelters.  They all came from different situations.  They all had very real, very hard struggles going on in their lives.  Who was I to have the privilege into their lives?  Who was I to be their teacher?  We all dug into God’s Word together.  I would study my lessons for hours each week, and I was so excited and eager to share with them on Sunday morning what God had just taught me too.  We all learned together.  I also bonded with some older women in the church.  I was honored to hold sweet Eva as her husband took his last breath in front of us.  I sat with a lady eight hours in the hospital in the middle of the night while they ran every test then performed emergency surgery, all while her husband was out of town.  I was able to share life with these people.  They rejoiced as God gave us our first child, as we had miscarriages, as we grew as a family, and they were with us through all life’s ups and downs. These people became part of our lives in every way.  Did it happen over night?  No, it happened with each trial and experience.  It happened all over four years.

So was I anything special or did I perform many wonderful tasks as their pastor’s wife?  Absolutely not.  I was no one special, I wasn’t  talented, I was no one great.  I was me.  I was inexperienced in every sense of the word.  I look back now and I am so thankful that I did not spend my time in a classroom learning ministry.  I am so thankful for the education my husband received because he teaches and preaches God’s Word better, I am not dissing school.  What I am saying is that God used that little church to teach me great things.  Do I know everything about ministry?  Am I the perfect pastor’s wife?  Absolutely not!  I still have plenty to learn, and boy am I learning- mostly the hard way!  Most days I want to quit because I am not perfect, but then God reminds me through His Word that He makes us perfect, He gives us wisdom.  It’s all about Him!  If anyone makes a good pastor’s wife, it is the one who has made the most mistakes.

“Thank you Father for saving me when I was twenty-one.  Thank you for calling me and equipping me.  Thank you for taking a filthy wretch and making her your child.  Once Your enemy, I am now seated at your table, Jesus thank you.”

James 1:4-6  “But let patience have [her] perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all [men] liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.  But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.”

Our first year of marriage we had not moved off to seminary yet.  Josh was preaching every opportunity he was given.  His cousin was a chaplin in a jail about an hour away, and each time he invited Josh to preach at the jail we went.  Josh would preach and I would sing.  Last night brought back many memories of that year.  I stepped into the jail, with my “chapel staff” badge on.  Those huge metal doors clanging behind me, it was so loud I jumped- every time!  First we were in the women’s barracks.   As the women poured in the little chapel room my heart began to sink.  Some of these girls were your typical hard-looking women, but a few of these girls were so soft and pretty.  One particular girl was so pretty, long blonde hair, she looked fresh and had a beautiful smile.  When my eye focused below her neck, the jumpsuit she was wearing hardly seemed right.  What had this young, twenty-something done to be in here?

We were at the jail for about five hours and we got to speak and present to three groups among the general population of men and women, and one group of trustees.  We were able to share with them the Easter story in an amazing presentation.  They all seemed to love it and be very receptive to the Gospel message.   It seems as if most people without their freedom want to call upon a higher power to come to their rescue.  Well, that is exactly what Christ does.  We are all born “behind bars” so to speak.  We are all slaves and in bondage to our sin.  That is what I saw last night, I saw the punishment being served for sin, I saw what I deserve.  I deserve to spend  my life and eternity in punishment for my sin.  Only by the grace of God am I not behind those physical bars, but I know how it feels to be behind them spiritually.  I remember the very day I was set free, and for my gratitude and thankfulness I will serve Christ and tell others the message of the Gospel as long as I have breath.

The first words of the first song I sang is when the girls began crying.  Hands immediately went to cover their faces.  By the end of the service some were audibly weeping.  Even among the men there were emotional respondings to the Gospel.  My prayer is that God will use His Word to change their lives.  I pray that He will truly do a miracle inside each one of them.  I pray that God will use the time spent in jail to capture their attention, convict them of their wicked ways, and change their lives completely.  Unfortunately, most prisoners have jail house religion.  They repent, call on God and talk big talk, yet once they get out, their lives are the same as before, no change, no God.

Once a doctor went to a village in Africa to perform a surgery on the eyes of the blind.  This surgery allowed the blind to receive their vision back.  One particular man received this surgery and when he woke up he could see.  He was so excited he jumped up and ran out of the building.  The doctor thought that was a strange reaction, since the man did not even say thank you.  Time had passed and the doctor received a knock at the door.  When he opened the door, much to his surprise, was the same man.  He had with him a rope with many blind men holding on to it.  He had went out to find all other blind men to come to receive this same healing surgery he had experienced.  This is how our desire for the Savior should be.  Those who have heard the Gospel, repented to Holy God, relied on Him for cleansing of sins, and had the guilt of sin forever removed, will never be the same.  For those last night that truly have been forgiven, cleansed and redeemed, the test will come when they get out.  Will they go back to life as normal and forget God?  Will they give God all the credit then never follow Him in obedience with their lives?  If so, that is not salvation at all.  Will they faithfully serve Him, will they be finding those that are in need of Christ and bring them to the Savior for redemption?  That is my prayer.  This is a new ministry for me, and all day those faces have been on my mind- I can’t wait until next Thursday!!

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.   For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,  and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,  and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.  For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.   Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.  For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”    2 Peter 1:3-11 ESV