1 D E C A D E || Surviving the Ministry! :)

One decade can be summed up in 120 months, 3562 days or 5256,000 minutes. My ten year of pastor wifing has arrived. Albeit,  with a few more gray hairs and laugh lines, many funny stories and wisdom that comes from making a thousand mistakes!

Our little Potters House Church that I so eagerly wrote about over a decade ago is about to be 10!  T E N!

As we prepare for our ten year celebration, my inner sentimentalist is fighting back tears, nostalgia is in the air and that old fashioned memory is well in swing.

When I look back at pictures it seems like just yesterday, but when I chronicle through the years in my mind, it seems like forever. I look back at that eager beaver PW who thought she knew everything and realize now how little I did know then, and still know now!

Funny how we live life in hindsight.  Wishing we knew then, what we knew now.  So here it is..lessons learned after a decade of ministry!

A M A Z I N G | You  start a church with your husband with this hope, faith and expectation.  But then reality hits, it's you and him, we can't sing, the church has like 4 visitors and it looks more like we are 'playing church' than actually having church.  You wonder how will we get from here to there? I just never realized then, what an amazing church God would gift us with!

A N T I C L I M A T I C || Pioneering is a rollercoaster.  I've heard all the 'pw'stories, but somehow I thought I would be different.  And then somehow my kid gets sick at the end of a powerful conference, or you and your spouse aren't getting along in the midst of revival.  It's such a paradox. The ebbs and flows of ministry are puzzling at times. I have had to learn to adjust when things don't necessarily go as planned, as hoped for or dreamt about.  Learning not to let my high be based on the physical, but Jesus. Whether our church is filled or not, Jesus is the only thing that satisfies and grants the strength to continue the race.

A F R A I D ||| Within the first year of ministry, fear began to grip my heart.  Go through a few trials and a subtle fear  began to creep into my life.  Revival? Church growth? Please Lord No! Because with it comes some sort of new level new devil mantra.  I never expected I would fear God's will.  But I did. Even though He always sustained me, never let my foot fall to the ground, never left me destitute.  Ten years later, I know I have nothing to fear.  I just wish I didn't have to make God prove himself over and over again to believe!

A D A M A N T |||| To support your husband in the ministry for any significant amount of time, you need to adamant.  Adamant that you want to make it, you can make it and you will make it.  Make no room for complacency!  I recently heard at conference to look in the mirror and tell yourself, 'you aren't sending me to hell' kind of adamant.  Adamant that you will make your marriage work, pray consistently and fight this battle of faith. In reality, it won't be all sunshine and lolipops. Rain, showers and storms do come.  If you don't have an adamant,  fighting spirit against those things, the devil can and will take you out. 

So here's to my tenure...and many many more.  I count it the greatest privilege on earth that God would use my life to play a small part at advancing His will on the earth.  I don't say that for sayings sake, but when you come from where I have and fast forward a decade later...all you can do is give God glory! 

I recently asked my friend Sara King what she thought was the key to making it long term in the ministry, her answer 'Keep your heart right''

Here's to Ten Years in the Ministry!

Tucson Conference 2009
The beginning of Destiny