Just me.....

....being a pastor wife, I am me, JUST ME. At Walmart, volunteering at school, cheering at sporting events. I am me, when I am teaching children (my passion) at church or singing in the choir. (w/same passion) I am me from the very first time we meet.

I believe that I do no more than any other wife would do to support her husband in their positions in society. I am no netter than the working family who goes to our church and has to pay for their Wednesday family meal ticket. I do not take a free ride just b/c of this position that God ordained for me since the day I was born. I am not privy to anything new b/c although I am a pastor's wife, I am also a church member in a community of believers who serve in this community together. I love the fact that my husband takes great care in protecting me from news I need not know so that my perspective of others is not shaded.

I laugh, I cry and yes I make mistakes. I helped raise 2 daughters on a shoestring budget. I cook almost every meal for my family and also cook for others in need. Our home is a home not a museum, so if you are looking for perfection you must go somewhere else. Our doors have been opened to teenagers who ran away from home all the way to businessmen from Japan and missionaries from Germany.

I cannot sing like Sandy Patti nor can I play a piano, however I can give time to be president of said choir. I cannot give a dramatic line by line performance in a Easter program, but I can imagine what Mary the mother of Jesus felt like and act with my whole heart. I can build any set you want for any program from PTA to VBS.

I taught our daughters to serve others w/o expecting anything in return. I told them numerous times to always remember to be a friend first. ("if a person who has mistreated you was on fire and you had a bucket of water, you had better be the first to douse the flame.") Now these young ladies are pastor wives as well. At one church interview our daughter was asked if she felt she could handle the job as pastor wife, her response, "I only know that the examples I have before me is Jesus and my mother and so my answer would have to be, I am very assured of my calling as a wife."

I am inspired that God knew who I was to become before I took my first breath. I am encouraged that my Lord has never given up on me. I am inspired by the 7 churches we have served in and know that I held my head up high, did my best to listen to God and not man and helped others who were in need.