Mary Beth's Story
I thought this little "Garden" might be a good place to tell a little bit of my story and how my life as a minister's wife really has been. Hopefully it will make you appreciate your pastor more or some young pastor's wife starting out in ministry. What would be the first question you would ask a young minister's wife? Ah Yes! Of course it would be about how the finances were when you first started out in ministry.
Did you have to take other people�s handouts, how were you paid, did folks provide you with great homes to stay in and good food to eat. Did they treat you with respect due a true servant of God, or were you merely the preacher's wife.
Well, I can tell you that I was very young when I started out in ministry with my handsome (just out of Bible college) husband and the first church we pastored almost starved us to death. The ladies brought their clothes by, that they wouldn't have given to the Salvation Army and thought they were good enough for the pastor's wife. The food many times was made up from their pantry of outdated foods or meat that was about rancid. Many times we could barely pay the electric bill. When my son came along, many days we stayed in bed to stay warm because there was not enough money to buy fuel for the stove. What more can I tell you about the finances!
I recall the time when I didn't know what I would make for my preacher husband to eat for supper, there was very little! of anything in the house, so I prayed and asked God what to do. I remember so well the answer He gave. He whispered, go to the garden and gather the okra. I said Lord, I want to be obedient, but I gathered all the okra yesterday that was in the garden, there is none left, but I kept feeling the nudging of the Lord to go, so I went. By faith I took a pan and a knife and dear sisters I want you to know there was the freshest greenest "okra" growing in that lifeless garden you have ever seen. I picked the "okra" all the time giving my Lord the praise, and when my "preacher husband" came home that day, he found corn bread and the best okra he had ever tasted. To this day, we both declare it was the best we have ever eaten. After all, "manna" from heaven has to be the best.
As for homes to stay in while with visiting churches, I guess one of my worst experiences was having to sleep in what was at one time a "chicken house". Yes, you heard me correctly, they had of course moved the chickens out, but the smell of the chickens that had at one time occupied the "chicken house" could never have been erased.
Many times the car was our bed and our son who traveled with us thought the back seat was a crib. Many times we wondered where we would get milk for him and how we would get gas to get from one meeting to another while we were "evangelizing the world for Jesus". We ran our car on tires that were so bald; we had to pray over them many times to make it until a few extra dollars came our way.
I remember one church where we held a great "crusade" and money was taken up for us every night, but the pastor told us on the last night that the church would keep the money for their building fund and gave us $30.00 to get us to our next meeting place, where he said the Lord would meet our need.
Our travels have taken us many places in the world and today life is a little simpler, we learned some things the hard way. We have the privilege of having a couple of children's homes and churches in other countries we have help build and we are thankful for the souls there that have been saved and the pastors there who see to the flock. We still pastor a church today, but it's been brought about by the forming of our Ministry which reaches out to many world wide and is not constrained by greedy men but is put together by God's own hand. I assure you if we have a guest speaker or guest evangelist, he and his family are treated the very best the finances of our church can afford, with a nice motel room, nice meals out and a decent offering when they leave.
Sisters, we need to be careful how we treat those who have been put into position by the Lord. There is a scripture in the Bible where God teaches us to touch not His anointed and do His prophets no harm. If you have an opportunity to do something for your pastor family, by all means extend a helping hand, they are often the last ones to be appreciated.
Your Sister in the Ministry,
Mary Beth
Copyright 2000� used with his consent.