The Rest of the Week

Well, last week was fun and full. The first few weeks of May are just full of activities for us...we've had a bunch of church things going on, which has been great. I've realized that I really enjoy my husband's job! I've always been happy to be a minister's wife, but when we were first married, my role in that looked a lot different than it does now. He started out in college and singles ministry, and I loved being a part of that. My role in ministering to the college girls at our church then was clear to understand and was something I was very passionate about, in a ministry that my husband and I participated in very much together. Joel's current role is in small groups ministry, adult education, with involvement and leadership in several other areas of church ministry as well. It's such a perfect fit for him, he enjoys it a lot, and I enjoy that he enjoys it! It just doesn't come with a tag-along role for me. Which is fine. I wasn't hired; he was. But I'm just saying it was a big transition for me when he moved away from college ministry. What my own personal ministry looked like changed so much. I haven't stopped to think about it a ton in the last couple of years, in terms of how I feel about my role transition, because it has been so clear that God has led my husband to the perfect place of ministry for this season in our lives and maybe always. But there have been times I've struggled to understand my place in it and what my support of him needed to be. Because his needs for support (in his ministry) are way different than they were in the beginning of our marriage. Anyway, I'm saying all of this because this weekend has been pretty full of church activity and we've had numerous "events" to do, and it just hit me this week how much I LOVE where we are and what my husband is doing. The role for me is different, yes, but I realize how comfortable I've become with that. I've been blessed to be given this time where my support of him happens mainly within our home and, on occasion (like what happened a lot this weekend), I get to participate with him in all the church things. And that may just include attendance sometimes. Not actual sharing of leadership. But I'm becoming increasingly ok with that. It also frees me up to explore other opportunities God has in store for me and to really have time to seek where God wants to develop new ministry for me. I don't know if y'all feel this way sometimes....but there's just this feeling I get when I sense God about to do something new in my life, or that He's working to bring a new realm of ministry to me. And that's what I've been seeking lately. Clarity of vision. I feel like I'm in the beginning stages of something new, but I don't really know what that new thing is just yet. He's just starting to stir some things around in my heart to shift my burden and passion to a new need. And I'm liking it. It is exciting to me to know that He's doing something...and that I don't even have to have it all figured out right now. But thoughts of it, however vague, have been running through my head this week.

One of the more exciting things of the week though was that my friend Shelly had her baby Wednesday evening, and oh my goodness, did it ever make me more ready to have Parker here!! Congratulations to Michael and Shelly on the arrival of Piper Reese! Here is the beautiful mama with her beautiful baby (and her jealous friend!) -


I was at the hospital with her a couple of different times, and I thought it would be such perfect timing for my water to break while I was there. I would already be there, I could be there at the same time as a friend, and I even saw my doctor already at the hospital one of those times. How convenient that would be! But God didn't agree with me. My water stayed unbroken. And my uterus non-contracted. But I know His timing really is perfect, and as excited as I am to meet my little girl, I am enjoying these last days with just Jonah. He's been pretty sweet lately.

By the way, he had his first opportunity to take cover from a tornado on Friday morning. Jonah and I were at home and when the sirens went off, we pulled a mattress into our hallway and had quite the little adventure. It really was exciting to him. He keeps talking about "tornader storms" as he calls them, even though he has no clue what a tornado really is. In his mind, it just seemed fun and exciting and different for us to sit in the dark in our hallway with a mattress! I always learn something when I take time to see things through his little perspective - I love that he had no idea to be afraid of a big storm. We so often learn fear, but I love that he didn't really know to be fearful yet. I'm not ignoring the existence of the sin nature, but a lot of times we base our reactions on how we see others respond to a circumstance or experience and through that, we formulate our ideas of what is normal . And through the whole (short) experience in the hallway Friday morning, I realized how much responsibility God has given me to model TRUST to my child. And how powerful that example really is. I just wonder how many times I miss those opportunities and I let him learn worry and fear from me instead. Well, speaking of the precious guy, he needed to be put down for a nap about 45 minutes ago, and I think his mommy needs one too!