Tough Times for ALL to See…

Amanda on March 21st, 2009

How do you handle tough times when it feels like everyone is watching? From marriage to kids…it can be a hard place to be, when all eyes are on you.
Mindy had a great post…

Hi.
I was curious to know if there are other YM wives that have dealt with the death/illness of a child/infertility while in ministry? This is something that my husband and I have gone through. Due to these situations it has completely changed my involvement with the ministry as well as my whole outlook. These are such difficult situations to go through and yet twofold, going through them in the public eye and still being a good role model.

Mindy

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It’s Over!!!

Amanda on March 18th, 2009

I cannot thank you enough for all of your prayers! Molly came out of surgery with flying colors!!! Everything went perfect. We didn’t even have to stay the night (the closest thing I’ve experienced to a miracle). The surgeon was pretty certain that we that we will not even have to think of the word cancer, praise GOD! So she’s home and sleeping and we are SO THANKFUL!

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Sweet Molly…

Amanda on March 17th, 2009

I’ll be laying low for a few days. My 2 year old, Molly, is having surgery tomorrow morning (9am) to remove a tumor in her neck. We’re freaking out a little..so all the prayers we can get are greatly appreciated. I’ll keep you all posted.
Love you!
Amandadsc_0191

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What happens when the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree??

Amanda on March 15th, 2009

 

 

post from Hosanna

I’d love to know if there are women out there whose youth pastor husbands serve in a church where the senior pastor is either person’s parent. We deal with a whole slew of criticism ranging from my husband being shown favoritism to people stirring up conversations about whether or not my husband is called and/or qualified for this job or if he just has it because of his father. 

 

It’s discouraging because lately, I feel like I don’t know who our friends are. We’ve been burned in the past few weeks finding out that people we thought we were close to are those who turn around and “murmer discontentedly” to others. 

 

We truly feel like this is where we’re supposed to be and I think my husband is a fantastic youth pastor (and not just because I’m his wife!) but some days, it’s hard to remember that because of someone saying that we’re just here “because of his dad”. 

 

Anyone been here before? I’d love to hear from you.

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A Changing World!

Amanda on March 11th, 2009

A lot of you have been experiencing transition and change with this crazy economy, not only in your households, but ministry/church jobs. It is such a confusing place to be. I know I find myself wrestling with the questions…”Isn’t this God’s calling for our family?” “How will He provide?”.

Courtney Laib had such a great post about transitions and their journey of faith in this changing world…

My husband and I have been going through a church transition for the last few months, that we never expected. Our church in Illinois (like many all over the country) is going through some tough financial times, which is resulting in a staff down-size. In order for our church to continue to be obedient to God through finances, and not go broke,  we have to down-size. My husband has been the Pastor of Student Ministries here for almost 7 years and he really loves it. To make a long story short, after much praying we decided that God was clearly telling us both that it was time for us to move on to something new. So rather than forcing the lead pastors to have to ‘fire’ people, my husband relinquished his position. After a few months of searching , my husband was hired last week by a church in Chino, CA (Inland Hills Church) to be their High School Pastor. We are super excited for this new adventure even though it will be hard to leave many friends and family members behind in Illinois. We are leaving our current church with no regrets, no hard feelings, and no broken relationships. We have total support from all of the staff and other people my husband has worked along side for the last 7 years. So… my question is this: Have any of you ever been through a transition like this? What was it like for you? Any certain things we should expect or not expect? I’d really like to hear some of your stories!

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Get your calendars, get your sharpies, and go!

Amanda on March 8th, 2009

Post by Ashley Christian
My birthday was this week and all I really wanted was to have my husband home and if we had done the calendar thing (Cathy talked about how she’s not a calendar person but her and Doug really have to keep one to thrive.  They start with the family calendar then finalize ministry events around it and purposefully leave open spaces and protect those) instead of just taking things as they come I could of had my wish!  Planning could also help us live with more purpose, it’s a lot easier to say no to something “good” if you have that family/ministry rhythm in writing.  It’s also convinced me that I need to schedule  in some vacation time with just our immediate family,  even if we just stay home.
As far as the week goes, Cathy also said it’s important to decide how many ministry nights a week your family can thrive on, I think she said it’s 4 a week for them, for us it’s 3, how about everyone else?

Date’s with your spouse are so important too.  For us what’s worked is Friday night dates at home after the kids are in bed and a monthly date night co-op with 2 other families where we take turns and one couple watches all the kids while the other 2 go out for two hours.

I would love to explore Amanda’s post about vacations and talk about schedules more.

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Let’s Stay Together…

Amanda on March 6th, 2009

I would love to take this blog to another level by including YOU more. I would love for you guys to write what you feel and be able to connect through the published posts. In my very limited ability with this sort of technology so far I think I still will have to be the middle-man. But you can either write in a comment box that you want to write something and I can get back to you (because all comments go directly to my home email). And then you and I can go from there. But I know you all have such great insight and relatable stories, struggles and fun stuff to share. So please….let’s get some more voices on this blog.

Let me know what you are thinking!

Amanda

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Ding Dongs!!

Amanda on March 4th, 2009

Ding Dongs!! Of course, my computer didn’t work one tiny bit at the entire conference! My dreams and visions of all of us staying connected through the week via technology…not so much. Sorry everyone. We did have a great time. It was super fun to meet all of you and put some faces with names from the blog comments. Lots of good discussions and many great connections with other women in our shoes.

Some of you that went, maybe you could post some break through or “ahh-ha” moments you had.

I really was struck by 2 things Cathy said that will be my new filter for ministry and balancing my family: #1: Saying No to ministry is NOT saying No to God. #2: I will not sacrifice my family for the ministry. I just can’t stop thinking about what that will mean to my kids and husband. Something I will continue to chew on long after the conference.

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