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PW Connect (www.pastorswives.com) is the sister blog of Pastors' Wives Thriving in the Fishbowl's website & message board. We support, encourage, and nurture ministry wives. Our contributors have experienced the fishbowl of ministry life firsthand, and we're here to come alongside you in all the joys and tears.

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24 December

The Clergy/Parent’s Christmas Eve Survival Guide from Patheos

Humorous article from Erin Wathen over at Patheos with great suggestions on how to keep your health and sanity while managing small children and Christmas Eve services... http://www.patheos.com/blogs/irreverin/2014/12/the-clergyparents-christmas-eve-survival-guide/


15 November

John Acuff Lists 11 Signs You're Burning Out Your Staff

From John Acuff:

"1. Senior pastors are the most underappreciated people on the planet.

2. As a church member, I am as much if not more of the problem than the senior pastor.

So this post is about us. You and me, the church attendees and anyone on staff. We’re in this together. We are the church."  

Read more at http://stuffchristianslike.net/2013/11/13/dear-church-11-signs-youre-burning-staff/


01 October

Pastoral Appreciation from The Skit Guys

A little pastoral appreciation from The Skit Guys...

08 June

From Thom Rainer -- Eleven Things Pastors Need to Know Their Spouses Are Thinking

From Thom Rainer:
"...I often ask our readers to pray for their pastors. I need to be asking you to pray for the pastors’ families as well. Most of these family members are obedient to the call of God in their lives; and they do so without complaints. But that doesn’t mean they don’t hurt at times." Read more at http://thomrainer.com/2015/06/eleven-things-pastors-need-to-know-their-spouses-are-thinking/


06 April

The Secret Life of Pastor’s Wife (or Husband): Holy (h*ll) Week!

Another great post from Jada Swanson...

"...But, one day, my husband and I looked at each other and said, “If this is what vocational ministry is all about, we don’t want any part of it! There has to be more to life, more to ministry than this. What’s this business about ‘missional living’? Heck, we don’t even see each other, much less our neighbors because we are never home! We are always at church! Something’s got to change.” And something did: We did! In fact, many things changed..." (Read more at https://jadaswanson.wordpress.com/2015/04/02/the-secret-life-of-pastors-wives-or-husbands-holy-hll-week/)

31 January

The Secret Life of a Pastor’s Wife (or Husband) #2: Pastors’ Kids (PKs)

 From Jada Swanson, written...

"...after having conversation after conversation (online and in-person) with pastors’ spouses who were barely treading water. Ready to give up, throw in the towel and be done with ministry. A few, even, wanted to be done with their marriages. This was not okay with me. And it shouldn’t be okay with the Christian church either." (Read more at https://jadaswanson.wordpress.com/2015/01/31/the-secret-life-of-a-pastors-wife-or-husband-2-pastors-kids-pks/)

04 January

New Beginnings (January PW Link-Up)

PLAY --
That is my theme for 2015. (Do you do resolutions or themes for the new year?)

Brigid Schulte is currently musing to me in, Overwhelmed: Work, Love, & Play When No One Has The Time that I need to... yep, you guessed it... PLAY ever so much more.

A ministry friend frequently shares articles regarding the benefits of being well-rested and unhurried at home and in church, and I often appreciatively read them and mark related books in my to-read list. I believe that is how I first stumbled on this gem.


So I'm resolving to get away from "the overwhelm," as Schulte calls it, and the resultant shrinking of my prefrontal cortex (yes, people, our stressed out brains are actually shrinking under the weight of so much busyness, and thus becoming even less able to handle stress!); out of "contaminated time" where I'm not truly at rest because I'm thinking of what all I've yet to do, and more into "time serenity" where I'm lost in the moment. This is who and how I once was, before I became entrapped in mid-western suburbia.

Another book I've recently read "off the record" so to speak, makes it clear that a pastor's family needs a non-anxious presence to best face the spiritual battles that may come their way. That means time spent in the word & prayer, but also time just spent together having fun as a family and as a couple.

Last year, I resolved to be more hospitable in opening up my home, which meant I spent some chunks of hurried & focused time cleaning and organizing (to a point of being presentable, far from perfect). The more I invite others over, the cleaner my house gets! Crazy how that works.

So now, even though the big room in our basement, which would double our entertaining space if it were clean, still looks like one of those hoarder shows visited but gave up halfway through, it is time to PLAY HARD. PLAY WELL. AND PLAY OFTEN.

 Feel free to share your thoughts on the new year, whatever they may be.

And please be encouraged that God -- who has always been -- was with you at your beginning, and every new beginning you've ever experienced. May you experience His blessings in a new way this year -- both in your personal life and ministry!

 -rg-

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