By Dr. Bethel B. Webb
Dealing with critical individuals can be challenging as constant criticism is exhausting. While it may be tempting to ignore or dismiss them, this approach often proves effective only temporarily. Whether you thrive in the midst of criticism or tend to avoid conflict, here are some steps you can take when faced with a critical person.
Read MoreBy Dr. Bethel B. Webb
Wherever you are in your prayer life, remember that God is pursuing you to have a conversation with Him. Prayer is a way to build a relationship with Him and thus feel closer to Him.
Read MoreBy Glenna Marshall
Our responsibilities in serving are important, but when we gather as a spiritual family to worship Christ, we’re there to worship him just like everyone else. Sundays are for our worship because church is for us, too.
Read MoreBy Glenna Marshall
Every mother knows what it's like to be given unsolicited advice on how she parents, but when your parenting decisions are seen, evaluated, and judged by an entire congregation, it can create an awkward setting for relationships within the church.
Read MoreBy Glenna Marshall
Jesus is not just the reason for the season, He is the reason we serve the local church. He is the reason we study and prepare, serve and love, show up and give the gift of our presence to our people. He is the reason we say “yes” to what He asks us to do. He is the reason we give our lives to make Him known. He is our reason and purpose for life!
Read MoreBy Glenna Marshall
There isn’t a script for when you answer the phone and hear that a loved one has suddenly passed away, that a wayward child has disappeared, that a marriage is on the rocks. Nevertheless, your church members will call you when life has gone off the rails because you (and/or your husband) represent wisdom and help as a member of the pastor’s family. While you may not feel up to the challenge, it’s a good thing for your church members to reach out to you!
Read MoreBy Liz Roy
As much as we might find comfort in the psalms of lament, we often don’t know how to practice lament. We don’t know the language of lament. It is tempting to limit lament to expressing our thoughts, feelings, and complaints to God and then asking Him to change our circumstances. We can be like the Israelites and stop short, grumbling our way to God…
Read MoreBy Glenna Marshall
If you’re struggling with resentment because of the demands ministry makes of your marriage, confess those feelings and areas of sin to the Lord. Seek to keep your heart soft before Him by trusting Him with the calling He has placed on your lives as a married couple in ministry. This isn’t easy, but leaning towards the Lord and the things He loves will always be the right answer.*
Read MoreBy Glenna Marshall
I used my journal to chronicle what was happening in real time, and then I did the only thing I felt I had any power to do—I prayed for my husband.
Read MoreBy Glenna Marshall
When it comes to rash words, we reap what we sow. There have been many times in my life as a pastor’s wife when I’ve wished I could stuff a rash response back into my mouth. It’s an ongoing struggle, to be frank. But I can’t unsay what I’ve spoken in angst. When I react immediately in a tenuous situation, it never serves me well in the long run. In fact, a rash reaction tends to make a bad situation worse.
Read MoreBy Liz Roy
Ministry wife, take heart and know that God is growing you too. Maybe the lessons God has taught me will spur you on to think about what He has been teaching you through vocational ministry. And may the lessons learned for all of us not only settle in our minds as information, but may these lessons transform us to be more like our Savior as we journey together.
Read MoreBy Glenna Marshall
I remember the day I sat in a coffee shop with a trusted friend and cried over my latte. While I shared how difficult the week had been ministry-wise, my phone kept buzzing with hurtful texts loaded with criticism from a church member about a decision we’d made as a family. It wasn’t a decision that had any bearing on our church members. It wasn’t immoral or unbiblical; it wasn’t even a big deal. I didn’t understand why I was being bombarded with criticisms. I was accused of being manipulative and secretive. Crushed, I silenced my phone while my friend held my hand and prayed over my tears.
Read MoreBy Liz Roy
Practical Shepherding Women offers mentoring services from ministry mentors. We are pastors’ wives and women in ministry who are ready to come alongside you in your time of need. You can begin meeting with one of our female mentors for 6-8 weeks. During this time we want to hear the burdens you are carrying. Each mentor has her own God-given gifting and abilities and will use the time in a way that she prayerfully considers will be beneficial to your soul. We might ask you to meditate on specific scriptures or read a passage and discuss it the next week. Your mentor will seek to step back and give a biblical perspective on your trial. A mentor commits to pray for you and with you.
Read MoreBy Glenna Marshall
The Lord loves His church, and He uses all kinds of people in all different ways to comfort, encourage, exhort, and serve. If your discouragement over absences or lack of involvement is coloring the way you view your church family, ask the Lord to help you look for the faithful helpers. Their presence will encourage you. The body of Christ is made up of ordinary people whose names will likely not be remembered a hundred years from now. But God sees them, and so should we.
Read MoreBy Liz Roy
Experiencing the love of Christ is not a mystical or emotional experience to conjure up! Our experiences of His love will rise and fall and ebb and flow. We experience this love in different measures and at different times. We are not to seek after the experience but to seek Jesus! The love of Christ always begins with knowing and believing in who He is and what He has done for me.
Read MoreBy Glenna Marshall
Whether you’re looking forward to what’s next in ministry, treading the same water continuously, or fighting fear of upcoming changes, your source of security isn’t your ministry. It’s Jesus.
Read MoreBy Liz Roy
God’s Word teaches us how to communicate biblically so that we learn how to faithfully express ourselves without going off into either ditch of absorbing our hurts or dumping our hurts.
Read MoreBy Liz Roy
Hospitality is trusting in Christ’s welcome of us so that we then welcome others. It begins in your own heart and turns outward to love in action.
Read MoreBy Liz Roy
Seeking out friendships within the church is a lot like cultivating a garden. As we tend to the garden of our hearts, our spiritual eyes begin to open to the variety of friends God may be bringing into our lives.Here are some exhortations to keep in mind as you pray and look for the friends God may be providing in your life.
Read MoreBy Glenna Marshall
Maybe your weakness isn’t a physical thorn. Maybe it’s mental. Or maybe it’s your backstory, your pre-conversion tale. Maybe it’s the sin that once held you in a suffocating vise. Maybe you speak of it as often as possible so it loses its power every time you back it up against the power of the gospel. Or maybe, like me, your thorn crops up when you need it the least and you wonder how in the world you will accomplish the good work God has set before you. This is the place, friend. This is where He delights in displaying His power–right in the middle of your weakest weakness. He will not share His glory with another, but He will gladly display it in you.
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