1. I am a United Methodist pastor’s wife.  When we moved a year ago from our past appointment I had to give up my job teaching high school English.  God has taught me a lot about relying on him this past year as I have not been able to find another full-time position. Like always, he has opened up doors I never expected or anticipated.  I recently started my own business as an Independent Beauty Consultant for Mary Kay Cosmetics.  You can check out my webpage here.

2. My boys, Garret and Stephen, are masters of mess and chaos.  It’s always something around our house.  Yesterday I caught my youngest washing out his underwear in the sink because he refuses to poop in the potty and apparently he thought cleaning up himself was the more preferable choice.  This same child also flooded a church bathroom this past Sunday by turning both water faucet’s on full-blast 5 minutes before the start of worship.  Instead of leading singing, I was mopping!!

My oldest is more subtle.  During prayer time one Sunday he decided to body surf under the pews to the front of the sanctuary.  Just as my husband was getting to the Lord’s Prayer Garrett pops out in front of him and says, “Hi Daddy!”

3. I started this blog because I love writing.  Confessions of the Pastor’s Wife is not a tell-all of parsonage living, but rather reflections and experiences of my own journey with God through all of life’s ups and downs.  It is an attempt to help others connect with God and to discover new facets of God for myself.  I am in the process of writing a devotional book which may or may not ever be finished! 🙂  And, I contribute monthly to Seeds of Faith, a wonderful online forum for Christian women throughout the world.

As my youngest has decided to try jumping from the couch to recliner, I should probably end here.  I’m so glad you came to visit me today, and will be by to visit you soon!

Blessings and Peace,
Sara

Driving down the road, only semi-listening to the radio, these words cut through my to-do list and planted themselves right in the center of my brain.  It took me a moment to tune in to what I had heard, but as I rolled the words around in my head and let them drip onto my tongue, I realized the transforming potential of this small prayer. To begin each day with this, as Christian writer and speaker Sheila Walsh does, is a lifestyle choice that requires some major shuffling of priorities for most of us.  To-do lists might be left undone.  Schedules carved into cyberspace might be deleted.  Our five-year plan might not be there five years from now.  Our agendas must be relinquished for God’s agenda; AND, we have to choose to give them up willingly!

“Father, I don’t know where you’re going today, but I’m going with you.”

Can you imagine what the first disciples must have thought when Jesus called to them?  Did Peter have any idea as he was folding away his fishing nets the events to come?  Peter, the rugged fisherman, who said “Father, I don’t know where you’re going today, but I’m going with you.”  Could he have known that he would become “The Rock” on which Christ would build his church, the first of the chosen 12 to recognize Jesus as the Son of God?  Could he have foreseen his spectacular denial of Jesus, chronicled throughout time in all four Gospels, or had a vision of his own bloody death on a cross?  If he had, do you think he would have gone?  Would you?  Would I?

“Father, I don’t know where you’re going today, but I’m going with you.”

I think that this simple prayer embodies all we are to be as Christians.  Our duty, our job, is to follow Christ.  But look carefully at the words above–“Father, I DON’T KNOW where you are going….”  To follow Christ, we have to be willing to take a leap of faith.  We have to be willing to say, “I don’t know” when it comes to the what’s, when’s and where’s of our lives.  We have to live on faith, that “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1)   We have to remember that Jesus did not walk the easy road of comfort and luxury.  Jesus sought out those who were poor, those who were sick, those who were oppressed, those who were weary, those who were “untouchable”, those who were “sinners”.  We have to remember that Jesus challenged the status quo.  He pointed fingers at the institutions (the government and the church) which kept people in bondage, which diminished the value and worth of human beings created in God’s image.

“Father, I don’t know where you’re going today, but I’m going with you.”

This is what I want my prayer be.  This is what I want my life to be.  I want this prayer to be my lifestyle choice.  I want to say to God, “I’M GOING WITH YOU!!” wherever that may be.  And even though the road may be difficult, I’m traveling with my Father.  And there is nowhere else I want to be.

Blessings and Peace,
Sara
 

It’s funny, because although I’ve always cleaned and moisturized my face, I used to think make-up itself was somewhat trivial.  What I failed to realize is that when used correctly, make-up actually brings out the natural beauty God has given each of us in our faces.  It’s true design is to enrich, not to reinvent.  And I’m okay with that, as long as it’s about me bringing forth God’s best in me when I step out of the house and not about me trying to impress others or be someone I’m not.  For as Proverbs 31 reminds us, “Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”

Blessings and Peace,
Sara

The more I read about Susanna Wesley, the more I realize what an astoundingly brilliant mother she was.  I mean, she did raise up John and Charles Wesley, the founder of Methodism and a prolific hymn writer, respectively.  As the mother of about 100 kids (okay, 19), Susanna Wesley had to be organized and efficient, making the most of both time and resources. 

According to reports, each of Susanna’s children got to spend one hour alone with her per week, engaging in whatever activity they so chose.  When Susanna Wesley needed some quiet time she would sit down in a chair and throw her apron up over her head.  When the kids saw Mama hiding behind her own apron, they knew to leave well enough alone!! 🙂

I recently came across Susanna Wesley’s rules for raising children.  Though written some 300 years ago, these rules are completely relevant for raising children today.  As parents, it is important that we actually engage in parenting, and Susanna Wesley did this phenomenally.  So, I’m taking these rules to heart.  Let me know what you think!!

Blessings and Peace,
Sara

Susanna Wesley’s Rules for Raising Children

1. Allow no eating between meals. (Working on this.  It does make dinner a more pleasant experience!)

2. Put all children in bed by eight o’clock. (We try to stick to this.  We need some child-free time to restore our sanity!!)

3. Require them to take medicine without complaining.  (My boys really like taking medicine.  I’m a bit concerned.)

4. Subdue self-will in a child and thus work together with God to save his soul.  (This is where I need Susanna Wesley to come over for coffee and give me a few tips!!  It’s hard to fight that battle day in and day out with stubborn children!)

5. Teach one to pray as soon as he can speak.  (We do this before meals and at bedtime.  There is nothing sweeter than sitting and listening to your children praying.  I guess God must feel the same way! :-))

6. Require all to be still during family worship.  (We use the nursery every Sunday.  And yet, I wonder, is that the best option?  Does anyone practice a family worship time?  What does that look like in your house?)

7. Give them nothing that they cry for and only that which they ask for politely.  (My youngest daily tests me on this!!)

8. To prevent lying, punish no fault which is first confessed and repented of.  (Absolutely brilliant and gives your children a first-hand experience of grace.

9. Never allow a sinful act to go unpunished. (I’m guessing there’s a difference between a fault and a sinful act.)

10. Never punish a child twice for a single offense.  

11. Commend and reward good behavior.  (This is so basic, but I forget it all the time.  I sometimes give more notice to the negative behavior rather than the good.)

12. Any attempt to please, even if poorly performed, should be commended.

13. Preserve property rights, even in the smallest matters.  (“Garrett, that’s Stephen’s Mater.  Give it back to him, please.”

14. Strictly preserve all promises.  (If you don’t, they’ll remind you!!)

15. Require no daughter to work before she can read well.

16. Teach children to fear the rod.  (I think I need to invest in one of those!! :-))

When I was a child, I was terribly afraid of the dark.  I had, and have, a vivid imagination which would produce very real, very terrifying dreams while I slept, usually involving the “big, bad wolf”.  I would wake from my nightmares, heart pounding, ears on point, looking around at all of the objects in my room to make sure all was as it was supposed to be. 

Some nights I would flee from my bed and take shelter in between my parents as they slept.  Other times, my fear would overtake all reason and, sure that some danger lurked within our house, I could not bring myself to step foot out of my bed.  On those occasions, I found myself gazing at the dark sky out my bedroom window waiting for the first glimmer of light that signifies a new day.  I waited for that moment when the blackness would give way to inky blue.  Only then would my heart slow, my body relax, and I could once more rest easily.

Although I have grown out of my childhood fears, there are still moments in my life where I find myself waiting for that first glimpse of morning light.  We all face moments of darkness in our lives, whether it be the loss of a loved one, sickness, unemployment, broken relationships, big decisions or major transitions. Our fear, our sadness, our indecisiveness can all work to paralyze us.  We find ourselves watching for the morning light, because that first glimmer of a new day is our hope for tomorrow. 

My husband is doing a book club series for the summer, and this week’s selection is Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. In this book, author Donald Miller explores the idea that the qualities which make a good story are the same qualities that come together to make a good life.

Life is lived in story, and as Christians, we are called to live a better story.  Donald Miller states that, “A story is based on what people think is important, so when we live a story, we are telling people around us what we think is important.”

Which begs the question….

When you look at your life, what do you see?  Would it make an interesting story?  Would it make a good story?  Is it a story you would want to tell?  Is it a story you would want others to tell?

One of the things that Miller comes back to over and over in his book is that story is about character transformation, and if our lives are a story, then the point of our lives is the journey we take to transformation.  And, we reach that transformation through a series of “inciting” incidents.  “The inciting incident is how you get (characters) to do something. It’s the doorway through which they can’t return, you know. The story takes care of the rest.”

God uses “inciting” incidents in our lives to prompt us to make the changes we need to make in order to live a better story.  These incidents could include the loss of a relationship, loss of a job, gaining of a job, birth of a child, unexpected illness or injury, or, in Miller’s case, the opportunity to turn his life into a screenplay.

God used an inciting incident in Paul’s life as he walked the road to Damascus.  Confident in his role as persecutor of Christians, Paul (then Saul) was brought to his knees by Christ himself and chose, in that moment, to be transformed and to live a better story.

Life is more than schedules, and work, and the day to day grind.  Life is about living a better story.  It is about allowing ourselves to be transformed by our Creator so that we may go out into the world and make a difference, regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves in.  Look at Job, Miller states.  “Job found contentment and even joy, outside the context of comfort, health or stability. He understood the story was not about him, and he cared more about the story then he did about himself.”

It is not an accident then that Jesus spent most of his time teaching through story.  Mark 4:33 states that…