Author: theministrymama

November Family Update

You may be wondering what has happened in my life since my husband and I have stepped out on faith to follow his calling to preach? We spent two months of our summer traveling, we waited two months for our fifth daughter to be born, and have now made a move to a new state.

Moving Toward Ministry

As we traveled those two months across four states and back home we were able to listen to preaching CD’s while we traveled. It was interesting to see God work and speak a specific theme to our hearts, “Move toward ministry.” You see, when you are out of  ministry for a while and you begin thinking of life and its’ choices there can be a big temptation not to go back into ministry. We had been very tired from busy schedules and some hurts that had come along through the years that I know that I battled those thoughts more than my husband has. God keeps confirming in our hearts that although He has not given us a specific place to serve yet that He wants us moving toward ministry.

At the end of July we traveled to my husband’s home state and hometown to attend his cousin’s wedding. While we were there my husband was able to get some good counsel from the pastor he grew up under who gave us some great things to think about and pray about as far as making specific decisions about… what do you think? “Moving toward ministry!”

Taking Care of Family First

We have taken the things his pastor directed us to pray about and felt the Lord was prompting us to follow Him to his home state. We interviewed with a church near my husband’s home church* and after months of waiting for a refinance to go through on their church building they still did not have the finances to bring us on. This was a disappointment we learned only one week before we moved, sometime in August we knew we would move even if we did not work at that church. We made a decision to wait until our daughter was born and stay with the midwife that had cared for my pregnancy. I dealt with some painful kidney problems daily the last months of my pregnancy that kept me from being able to stand or sit very long in an upright position. Looking back we know that was the right decision because our daughter Cinco’s birth was a special experience, better than what we could have asked for. We are now moved and relocated but because of our finances have moved in with my in-laws temporarily.

My husband has acquired a job that has him working with beginning to learn electrical work. While we are waiting on God’s direction our focus has been to provide the means to get into our own home and get settled and through the holidays. We joined my husband’s home church the first Sunday we arrived. Our children have already become involved in the children’s choir, Sunday School classes, and the Wednesday night Bible memorization program. We knew that we needed to plug them in quickly after many months of not being actively involved in church. They are loving it! My husband is taking advantage of opportunities to preach and teach as they are offered to him. Right now my main ministry focus is taking care of nurturing our new baby.

The Unknown Future

Transition is never easy for me and this entire year has been one full of transition. In so many ways I wish that 2016 would be a clean and fresh slate to be able to begin a new year in a new way and not look back at the difficulties 2015 has held for us. Thankfully God’s faithfulness has helped us be able to get through situations of great faith and truly leaning upon Him during the times when we could not understand. We’re still looking at an unknown future! The unknown is both exciting and daunting.

I have not had the title of “music director’s wife” for six months now, but it still seems strange. Titles do not keep us from ministering or equal anything special, it did help me to know my place and role in what I believed God wanted me to do at the time. Walking into a church and just being another church member with no expectations or requirements does not carry the liberating feeling I dreamed of on the busiest of ministry weeks. The church members in our new church are very friendly and welcoming and I know in time God will direct me to a specific place to serve and be a part, it is just going to take time.

I never imagined we would ever get to a place where we would be dependent upon so many other people. Living with my in-laws has been humbling to the independent part of me who wants to stand on her own and be just fine. God has prepared their hearts to help us be obedient to whatever God wants us to do and honestly I could not ask for anything more! They are making this part of the transition easier.

There are so many special stories that are the icing on the cake for our relocation process but I just cannot tell them all in this update. Thank you to those who have prayed for us and taken the time to ask me how things are going. I truly appreciate you! We know God has a plan for us and I can’t wait to tell you our future updates.

*What is a home church? We refer to a home church as being the church you grew up in and went to Bible college from. Our Bible college was in another state and each student would commonly refer to the church they came from as their “home church.”

12 Money Tree & Bouquet Ideas for Your Pastor

Give your pastor a money tree this year for Pastor Appreciation Month!

Money Tree Ideas for Your Pastor

The most requested gift that I have seen from pastors and their wives is cash! It allows the family the freedom to be able to practically spend their money on whatever it is they need OR it allows them the opportunity to pool or save their money for a specific item they have wanted.

Click on the link or the photo to take you to the website responsible for creating these great money trees. Many of them have specific instructions on how to make them. These people have done a great job at helping people like us be able to duplicate this idea and use it!

1. Willow Branch Money Tree in a Vase

by I Heart Crafty Things

2. Hanging Money Tree by The Thriftiness Miss

 

3.  A Money Bouquet with Chocolate Coins

from Making Memories with Your Kids

 

4. Candy and Money Bouquets 

from Candy Gifts & Crafts

Note: This money bouquet does not give instructions.

Money & Kiss Bouquet

 

5. Origami Money Tree by Skip to My Lou

teacher appreciation money tree d

 

6. 3D Money Tree from Amazon*

Cheap baby shower money tree that will hold dollar bills and gift card envelopes.

7. Wooden Money Tree from The Wood Connection Blog

Money Tree

 

8. A Money Christmas Tree by It’s All Rosie

 

9. A Money Tree Christmas Card by Stamping Up North

 

10. Colorful Bouquet by Jenn Balcer

alexabouquet.jpg

11. Foam Board Painted Tree by Plaid

12. Team-Themed Money Topiary at Plays with Needles

Bonus! Money Tree Card Ideas

Just put your money inside a card like these!

Button Tree Card at Made Marion

 Tree Card by Etsy Shop Paperdipity

Masculine Card, Masculine Birthday, Classic Birthday Card, Husband Anniversary, Oak Tree Card, Handstamped Birthday Card, Father Birthday,

 

Another great resource:

The Best Gift Card Trees, Bouquets, and Gift Card Wreath Ideas 

*This article does not contain any affiliate links.

The Pleasure of Corresponding with a Friend

2 Comments

I love letters! Letters have in them a way of communication that transcends many other forms of communication. My friends know that I would rather write a letter, e-mail, or text more than I like talking on the phone. There is something special about the pleasure of corresponding with a friend.

Corresponding with a FriendIn early high school it was spiral notebooks our friends passed between each other writing notes to each other in class. In junior high it was the primary means getting to know the girl who would become my best friend. Writing was my connection to pen pals and places in the United States that I never would have visited or known  had that person not lived there. I had boxes of love letters, notes from friends for many years until I lost them in our apartment fire.  I still treasure cards and notes given to me and hoard them in boxes in my garage. My father and I write to each other regularly from where he is living and it is creating a special bond between us. It is a special art and love in my life.

Read these words written in a love letter by Samuel Johnson to a woman he loved. This part of the letter is about writing letters.

In a man’s letters, you know, madam, his soul lies naked. His letters are only the mirror of his heart. Whatever passes within him is there shown undisguised in its natural progress; nothing is invented, nothing distorted; you see systems in their elements, you discover actions in their motives… This is the pleasure of corresponding with a friend, where doubt and distrust have no place, and everything is said as it is thought. These are the letters by which souls are united, and by which minds naturally in unison move each other as they are moved themselves… I have indeed concealed nothing from you, nor do I ever expect to repent to having thus opened my heart.*

To explain that in my own words, it would just not compare with how it was said by Samuel Johnson. If real life was like it is in a letter, then life would be exactly as it should be, “…nothing invented, nothing distorted…where doubt and distrust have no place, and everything is said as it is thought…”

You have probably always heard of God’s Word being a love letter to us. Withstanding the ages of time and persecution, and be in a book form that I can personally hold and know without a doubt that it is the eternal Word of God, is just a miracle. God promised to preserve His Word throughout generations so that we could all have an opportunity to have the pleasure of reading His correspondence to us as often as we wanted. We should be taking advantage of the freedom we have to have God’s own Word and go to it as often as the Spirit prompts us to read it.

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. Isaiah 40:8

Often when I am going through the habit of regular Bible reading I forget to approach it with the mindset of finding out what God’s letter is going to say to me. The Bible’s valuable content is not read as tenderly as I would handle a handwritten letter from a close friend.

What makes the Bible a unique correspondence? The Bible is THE Living Word penned by men of God directly from the Lord Himself (I Peter 1:21).

The Living Word has so much more meaning than an old letter from a friend. An old letter can only bring back the memories of the past, stirring up feelings in the present. In contrast, the Living Word can speak to you and share love to you about today and stirs up hope for the future. The treasure is that the Living Word is true and pure. We may not always understand it but we should be able to grasp the intent and heart of the God of the Bible.

Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it. Psalm 119:140

God unites the soul to His will as we read the Word.  His letters are a mirror to our soul revealing the sinful heart and directing it to holy living. Reading it as devotedly as a love letter will keep our hearts close to Him.

I want to encourage you to love your Bible, treasure it again and renew your love toward reading it so that you may be able to receive the blessings of its message to your life for today and your future. We all desperately need the pleasure of corresponding with the greatest Friend we will ever have.

*From The World’s Greatest Love Letters Compiled by: Michael Kelahan, 2011