Serving Side by Side

  To Truly Love, Intentionally An Encouragement for Ministry Wives as 2025 Comes to an End As 2025 comes to an end, my heart feels stirred to encourage you, dear ministry wife, to love. Not a rushed love. Not a forced love. But a true, intentional love. This does not mean we need to go outside hugging everyone with wild, free hugs. Love does not have to be loud or public to be real. Love is often quiet, steady, and deeply intentional. God has already placed people around you. The ones He has sent into your life, your home, your church, your season. Those are the people we are called to love well. To truly see them. To truly care. Scripture reminds us so clearly “He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: to do what is right, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8 To love faithfulness. To love mercy. This kind of love does not reduce people to numbers, burdens, or job descriptions. It does not see someone as another task...

Still Speaking Truth, Still Walking Humbly Hi, fellow ministry wives 🤍 I’m leaving this here for posterity, with a cup of coffee in hand and my Bible open. Not long ago, my husband was called into the office to explain a Bible verse I shared on my personal Facebook page. I was simply making my way through the book of Proverbs. Rich, wise, practical, and sometimes a little too honest. Proverbs has a way of doing that. It doesn’t whisper. It teaches, it trains, and every now and then, it lovingly steps on our toes. So let me be clear, gently and calmly. I am not a passive aggressive person. If something needs to be said, I will say it to you, not about you. Not rudely. Not harshly. Not with an agenda tucked behind a verse. I do not write Scripture aiming it at someone like a dart. I do not post with a name in mind. That simply is not my heart. I write what the Lord places on my heart. If I am reading Scripture and feel convicted, I share it. God’s Word does not exist for decoration. It...

Still Faithful. Still Tired. Still Loved. Hi my ministry wives 🤍 It has been forever since I posted here. Not because I did not care and not because I ran out of words. Life just happened. I got busy. Busier than I wanted to be. Busier than I should have been. You know how it goes. I can do that. Oh yes, I can add that too. Wait, I should probably do that as well. And honestly, I enjoyed most of it. I am grateful for the opportunities, the people, the serving, the yeses. Truly. But somewhere along the way, I looked around and realized that some of my things, the quiet things, the life giving things, were left behind. Not intentionally. Just slowly. Then comes that uncomfortable moment when you realize you do not even remember what you like anymore. Not what is useful. Not what serves others. Not what fills a need. But what you enjoy. Maybe it is sitting quietly and reading a book. Not a book to learn from. Not a book to study. Just a fun book. As women and especially as ministry wives...

  Breaking Free from Unrealistic Expectations as a Ministry Wife Happy New Year, dear sisters!    As we step into 2025, let’s embrace this fresh start by breaking free from the unrealistic expectations that may have weighed us down in the past. This is a time to refocus on God’s calling for our lives, prioritize our families, and find renewed joy in serving Him. Have you ever felt the weight of expectations pressing down on you and your children? In ministry, it’s easy to feel like you’re under a magnifying glass. People sometimes expect us to be everything to everyone, and our children to fit an unspoken mold of perfection. Yet, God never calls us to be anyone but who He created us to be. Our first ministry is our family:  Scripture reminds us of our priorities “But if anyone does not provide for his own, especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” (1 Timothy 5:8) Our first ministry is our home, our spouse an...

Merry Christmas, Ministry Wives: Finding Joy in the Far Places Dear Sisters in Ministry, Merry Christmas to you, wherever you may be serving! For some, this season might look like bustling church events, multiple Christmas Eve services, and finding time to care for your own family in the midst of it all. But for others, it may feel vastly different, serving in a place far from home, where Christmas is not widely celebrated, and the traditions we often take for granted are unfamiliar or even absent. When my husband and I served in Japan, where many people still didn’t know the real meaning of Christmas, the season carried a unique beauty. We didn’t have a church on every corner like here in the United States, but we had something deeply meaningful, a powerful sense of togetherness among the believers. We would gather to celebrate, inviting friends who didn’t yet believe, sharing the love of Christ through warm meals, music, and fellowship. This simplicity and intentionality offered a pe...

Happy Thanksgiving week, dear sisters in Christ! Today, I just want to tell you how deeply thankful I am for each of you. I know there have been moments when you’ve felt invisible, forgotten, backstabbed, or judged, the kind of pain that serving others can uniquely bring. But please remember this: you are loved, you are His beloved. Scripture reminds us of this truth: "The LORD your God is among you, a warrior who saves. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will be quiet in His love. He will delight in you with singing." (Zephaniah 3:17) Walking with the Lord is no ordinary journey. It touches every part of your life, your heart, your family, and your very being. It’s no wonder the pain cuts so deeply when challenges come. But here’s the beauty: serving Him also brings indescribable joy. Joy in following, in trusting, and in loving others for His glory. It’s the kind of joy that Jesus spoke of: "I have spoken these things to you so that my joy may be in you and yo...

Transitioning from one church to another can feel like an emotional minefield, can’t it? In some cases, people we loved and thought would be in our lives forever seem to vanish. Suddenly, we’re unfriended on social media, ignored in messages, and spoken about in ways we’d never expected. It’s painful, almost like we’re strangers or, worse, like we’ve become enemies. But I believe God allows these transitions to draw us closer to Him, especially when we feel the hurt of separation. People’s reactions may reflect their own pain, confusion, or misunderstanding of our journey. And while it’s tempting to feel resentment or to try to explain ourselves to everyone, the truth is, God knows our hearts and our motives. He knows when we have done everything we could to leave graciously, to preserve peace, and to remain humble. Romans 12:18 reminds us, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” When people unfollow or disconnect, it may reveal that the relationship was mo...