5 Reasons I Hate The Ministry....I mean 5 Reasons I....

I knew the title would lure you in!

For several years now I keep reading articles like "10 Reasons Pastors Leave the Ministry" or "7 Reasons 90% of Pastor's Wives Wish Their Husband Would Leave the Ministry". The other day it was just more than I could take. Have there been days my husband and I have wanted to quit? Yes! There are far more days that I have thanked God for the sweet blessings he has given us. With that said, for several days now I have been thinking about...

 

5 Things I Love about the Ministry...

 

1. My husband's flexible schedule. The Pastor only works two days a week! Right!?! Have you heard that before too? The more appropriate statement would be he's always working. People need their Pastor occasionally at all hours of the night including weekends and even sometimes on his vacation. He is always "on call." Yes, he's the Pastor but has also been the toilet repair man, janitor, light bulb changer, secretary, teacher, etc. One of the glamorous things about being a Pastor is when someone doesn't show up to do it or want to do it, you're the replacement! However, his schedule is usually pretty flexible, especially in the mornings. Most days I am able to homeschool my children because he can watch our little ones while I homeschool our oldest and two of her friends. I can't imagine teaching long division and diagramming sentences while a one year old is screaming at my feet! Although we haven't had a Saturday he hasn't been "working" since I can remember he is able to take Monday's off which we affectionately have named "no alarm clock Monday!"

 

2. It takes a village CHURCH to raise a child! I have read tons of articles on how terrible it is to be a Pastor's kid and maybe at some churches it is. Maybe at some churches members expect more out of the Pastor's kids than at our church but I have never seen anyone be unkind to any of our children including our WILD child, Clay! Yes, I have literally caught him running across the communion table and no one even looked at him or me strange! Although my husband has given me permission to go completely stark raving crazy on anyone that ever mistreats one of our kids, so far we've been good! Why do I love our church because of this kindness? Because our kids love church. When we go home on Sunday they can't wait to get back on Wednesday. When we go home on Wednesday they want to know how many days until Sunday. Since my oldest child is 6, I'm definitely not an expert on raising children but so far I've found that they love what we love and hate what we hate. Oh, and I've noticed they have ears too!

 

3. What other job comes with a moving, building and remodeling crew? Our Church family has helped us move three times in the past six years (I think we're done for a while)! Not only that, several men from the church built an addition on to our house when I was pregnant with our third child and never charged us a dime. When we bought our last house our church family really spoiled us. I would be writing all day if I wrote everything they did, but some of the sweetest things I remember is a couple of ladies that spent several days painting some of our rooms, coming home to new rocking chairs on our porch front porch, and a sweet lady watching our newborn while I unpacked boxes.

 

4. Ms. Smith! No, her name is not really Ms. Smith but since I didn't ask her permission to use her name I'll just call her Ms. Smith! Ms. Smith is the sweetest older lady you will ever meet. You will never hear her say a negative word. Mrs. Smith is not able to do a lot, but she is a prayer warrior for our family. I remember when I was pregnant with my middle son, Clay. Doctors had told us that he could have several chromosomal abnormalities. She cornered me in the bathroom one Sunday and told me "I've been praying about that baby and everything is going to be okay." I believe with all my heart Ms. Smith and prayer warriors like her are the reason we have a wild healthy Clay!

 

5. My BFF! Yes, it's true that close friends in the ministry are very rare. Why? well, you would have to be in the ministry to completely understand that but just trust me! Because of this, it has made the relationship between my husband and I much closer. We both know the reality is we're all we've really got. Friends we thought we would always have turned out to be frenemies! What the devil meant for evil, God meant for good! P.S. Now, don't get me wrong we have been blessed with a few amazing friends too that have stuck by us through the sunshine AND rain.

 

If you're a Pastor's wife or Staff Member's wife I would encourage you to make your own list of things you love. It's always easier to see the glass half empty instead of half full.

When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.