Removing the Weirdness

By Becky Hunter, February 21, 2008

Sometimes being a pastor’s wife is just weird. That is especially the case if we assume we know what others might be expecting of us and why they are expecting it. It is all too easy to slip into slight paranoia if we impose our assumptions on the congregation members’ interactions with us.

Do the people with whom we worship and serve really expect more from us than they do from themselves or do they, perhaps, hope our engagement with them and affirmation of them will breathe new life into their personal relationship with Jesus? Does the lady in the third row from the back really “hold your feet to the fire” to get you more involved in her efforts just because you are the pastor’s wife or because she needs someone she deems valuable to encourage her? Does the demanding young lady, who doesn’t even show up for worship most weekends, beg you to mentor her because she just wants to know what makes you tick or is she looking to appropriate leadership to take her to the next level of her spiritual journey? Are those people who are planning a weekend conference begging for your help so they can blame you if it flops or because they admire what you can bring to the process? Or maybe we feel isolated from the people in our church family. Is that because they have shut us out or because we behaved in ways that make it difficult for them to reach out and include us?

Do we want to hide sometimes? Most definitely. Should we hide… no. God tells us not to. We are in a position of great responsibility and opportunity. Yes there are trials and heart aches, to ignore those would be silly, but we also have exciting moments and great victories. Let’s cheer one another on as we run this race as conquerors!

Among the ways we can remove weirdness: Prayer. We can pray for each other as we sit down in our worship services each weekend. Hundreds of pastors’ wives scattered all over the world are already lifting up your needs to the Lord as they begin worship this and every weekend. Join them. Pray for pastors’ wives to be effective in ministry in their homes, churches and communities. Additionally, if you need a time of refreshment and renewed perspective, please visit www.gpwn.tv and click on “Conferences.” There are some great ones coming up choose one that best suits you!