The Funny Life of the Pastor's Wife

"Your only job as the Pastor's wife is to sleep with the Pastor!" A disgruntled congregant snapped  at me once. My willing husband responded, "Sounds good to me!" Oh dear.

Hilarious! But not really. We Pastors' wives hear comments I am sure other wives never hear. Who ever sneered at the plumber's wife that her only job is to sleep with the plumber? I mean, really?

Pastors' wives live in a world many outside that world cannot understand. But we get it, don't we girls? We understand that life in a fishbowl has blessings and heartaches.

If we let it, life in the parsonage can get us down.

Some pastors' wives seem stuck in the "poor me" mode. Blogs and magazine articles affirm the miserable life of the Pastor's wife.   This should not be so. 

If any wife should know joy in her marriage and calling, shouldn't it be the ministry wife?

I love to laugh! Perhaps I laugh too much. Years ago I was told,  "You are the only pastor's wife I know who laughs." Well, that is not the case, for I know many PW's who laugh, but none who make me laugh as much as Rhonda Rhea.

I met Rhonda last summer at the Advanced Writers and Speakers Conference. 

Rhonda Rhea is the author of Join the Insanity: Crazy-Fun Life in the Pastors' Wives Club. Oh my. You must read her book. Join the Insanity is the best book for PW's I've ever read (and I think I've read them all!) She tells it like it is as a Pastor's wife and then gives right-on scriptural truth of how God expects a woman who walks in obedience to God's call on her life to respond. 

You'll laugh all the way through this funny, yet deep, and honest help for the girls in the parsonage.

Here are quotes from Insanity that I underlined:

"When your husband is meeting the urgent need du jour at church, it can feel as if the church gets first dibs on him and the wife gets whatever's left. How do we deal?"

"Once it becomes all about what we're giving up, we lose sight of the ministry."

" When we get to heaven, I don't think our name tags will say Pastors Wife on them anywhere. I think the name tag will likely just read His."

Purchase Join the Insanity at http://www.amazon.com/Join-Insanity-Crazy-Fun-Pastors-Wives/dp/1596693975/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1445222292&sr=8-1&keywords=join+the+insanity

Check out Rhonda Rhea's website at www.RhondaRhea.com/rr.

An elder once chastised me with his frown-filled face, "Why are you so happy all the time?" I guess he wasn't aware of Isaiah 35:10 (NIV): ". . . everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away." That is my prayer for you dear ladies. Don't lose your joy. 

Being married to a Pastor is an amazing blessing from God. He chose you to be married to one He called to service. What a privilege.

On this Pastor's Appreciation Month, please remember you are much more than a PW. Your name tag reads "HIS!"

Splashes of Serenity and joy to all you dear sweet PW's who do so much more than sleep with the Pastor,

A Tribute to the Pastor's Wife

This photo was taken the night of Dan's installation as District Superintendent in the Christian and Missionary Alliance. That night I changed roles from being a Pastor's wife to being a Pastor's wife to Pastors' wives.

I love the women who serve so sacrificially with their husbands. I pray for them because I know what a wonderful blessing it is to be called by God and yet....

I know what it is like to cry with your man. There are nights you don’t sleep because your Pastor husband beside you is tossing and turning and sweating in agony over unresolved church conflict. There are times you pray for your children until you have no words left. I know you have trouble and you feel all alone unable to share your heart with anyone. Those are the dark days in the parsonage....

I also know there are days when SON shines through the Parsonage windows. Who can fathom the joy of lost sheep being found when your husband preaches a life-saving message? How awesome of God to provide for your needs over and above what you asked or imagined. What satisfaction knowing God uses you and your husband to care for His Flock, to weep with those who weep and to rejoice with those who rejoice. Could anything be more meaningful than leading the lost to eternity? It’s worth it. Your life and your ministry matter.

I found this poem which I felt describes life in the parsonage pretty well. On this Clergy Appreciation Month, I honor Pastors' wives and thank you for your obedience to God's call.

THE PASTOR’S WIFE

There is one person in our Church

Who knows our Pastor’s life.

Who weeps and smiles and prays with Him,

And that’s the Pastor’s wife!

The crowd has seen him in his strength,

While bearing God’s Sharp Sword

As underneath God’s banner’s folds

He faced the devil’s horde.

But deep within her heart she knows

That scarce an hour before

She helped him pray the glory down

Behind the closet door!

She heard him groaning in his soul

When bitter raged the strife.

As, hand in hand she knelt with him,

For she’s the Pastor’s Wife.

You tell your tales of Preachers brave

Who marched across the world

And changed the course of history

By burning words they hurled

And I will tell how back of each

Some woman lived her life

Who wept with him and smiled with him,

She was the Pastor’s Wife!

~Author Unknown

Praying not for a Splash of Serenity, but a sweet-flowing Stream of Serenity as you serve God, your husband, your family, your church, and your world.

Elaine