Girl Time

One thing that I don't get much of but I truly enjoy having is girl time. It's nice to hang out with other women of God and just laugh and have a great time. Too often our lives get to busy to build those relationships and we miss out. The Bible tells us over and over again the great benefits of having a close Godly friend--I personally think that other than your spouse your best friend should be of the same gender. It just makes things WAY less complicated! So I wanted to give a little shout out to Rebeccah and Shelby who hung out with me at the mall yesterday before I move on to talk about the benefits of having a close friend. You made my day! Thanks for being patient with me while I counted out the Jelly Bellys so that I didn't go over my calories. You're both the best!


The benefits of having a girl time with a close friend:
Number One: A Friend Sticks Closer than a Brother
"A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." Proverbs 18:24
If you have an awesome girlfriend, hold on to her. Do what you can to grow and nourish that friendship. You can't go around and be BFFs with everyone. That's a little of what the first part of the verse is talking about. When you have "many companions" you are letting all your acquaintances have just as much say and influence in your life as your best friend who you know and trust. This can be bad--especially if not all your friends are Christians. I also think "the friend who sticks closer than a brother" has to be a Christian who is doing their best to live their life for God otherwise they don't understand true commitment or loyalty or forgiveness that friendship really needs.


Number Two: You Can Trust a True Friends Words Even if They Hurt
"Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses." Proverbs 27:6
A true friend will tell you what you need to hear even if you don't want to hear it. Your Christian friends should be challenging you to go even further in your walk with Christ. They should hold you to a high standard. Yes, sometimes it might hurt your feelings if they call you out on your non-Christian behavior or dress but they are doing it because they want to see your relationship with Christ grow. A true friend's motives can be trusted. They shouldn't just tell you what you want to hear even if they know it's wrong.


Number Three: A Friend Loves at ALL Times
"A friend loves at all times..." Proverbs 17:17a
A true friend loves you for who you are. They love you when you are doing the right thing. They love you when they are doing the wrong thing (even though they shouldn't agree and should point you back in the right direction. See #2). They aren't fickle. They don't try to pit you against your other friends. They love you as is and as unconditionally as possible. And if you are their true friend you do the same for them.


Okay, so I know there are so many other benefits to having awesome friends. I challenge you to find some and post them in the comments section.


I also want to say, congratulations to Hermione Williams on winning our first ever prize giveaway! Hermione, please email me your mailing address so I can get your prize pack out to you right away! Keep an eye out for more chances to win in the future. Thank you for everyone who participated and thank you for reading Life as a Minister's Wife!

Duck Tales

I don’t know if you have ever done anything even a little bit crazy, but let me tell you that I have. The silliest thing is that it was all over something so small. Last Friday, Jimmy and I went to Breadeaux with two of the college couples. Jimmy really loves Breadeaux and he hadn’t had it for quite some time and we wanted to do something special so we thought – Breadeaux it is!

Now if you don’t know, Breadeaux is French style pizza and they specialize in small towns, but we live in Saint Louis. So the nearest Breadeaux is about 45 minutes from our house. SO we all got in the car and took a drive to Milstadt, Illinois, just for pizza. I know crazy! Once we were in town we passed Happy Days Icecream. We figured we had come this far, why not have some dessert. After dinner we stopped to get icecream, and that’s when I saw them…

Cute. Adorable. Tiny. Miniature. Rubber Ducks! Shaina, Shelby, and I instantly fell in love! We each purchased a couple of ducks from the vending machine and gave them cute little nicknames. I got Cow Duck (white with brown spots) and Edward Cullen Duck (Black with White Fangs) that day. They even rode on the dashboard all the way home!

The thing is… When you find something so cute and adorable and you fall in love then you are always going to want more. Therefore, when I discovered another mini-duck vending machine in Bowling Green, Missouri, on my way home from visiting my sister at Hannibal LaGrange College, I knew my duck family needed a few more members. Yeah, I bought three more!

Still this wasn’t the craziest thing that happened! On Sunday, the couples were all sitting around and we were talking about all the fun we had had on Friday and I was showing the girls the new ducks I bought on Saturday and then Shelby decided we should drive to Milstadt again just to buy more ducks! Yep. We got in the car, drove 45 minutes, ate Breadeaux, had icecream, and bought more mini-ducks!

I now have 8 mini-ducks sitting on top of my computer monitor at home. I still think they are cute and adorable, but I can’t believe the extra effort I put into getting the last three ducks. Would I have put that kind of extra effort into other areas of my life? Or do I waste it on things that have no eternal importance? Not to say that it’s not okay to have fun and be crazy and go on wild duck chases, but what I am saying is that I need to make sure that I don’t lose out on things that are more important because I am too busy chasing rubber ducks.

Pulled Down

As you know, Jimmy is the youth minister at Villebrook Baptist Church and I work with him in the youth ministry. Last night, I saw another classic example of a student whose pride is getting the better of them. This student thinks that they are SUPER mature spiritually (and they are a good Christian) and that they can hang out with whoever they want, whenever they want because they are helping the other person and they are too strong to fall into temptation. This attitude makes me so sad. The Bible calls us to be holy and separated from the world (1 Peter 1:16; 1 Peter 2:9). There is a reason for this!

Picture This
Picture in your head a diving board that’s two feet above the water. You are standing on the very end of the diving board and your identical twin is in the water below you. If you try to pull this person (who is exactly the same height and weight as you) out of the water bellows, 9 times out of 10 you are going to end up in the water! Now imagine that this person is twice your size and the odds of you getting them out of the water rather than you falling in becomes even more unlikely. So how does this apply to life?

Life Application
As a Christian you are called to be on the “diving board”. You should adhere to higher morals, higher standards, and you should remain above board in all that you do. Yes, God does call you to reach down and try to pull the people out of the pool who are drowning in their sins. However, if you are spending all your time pulling and pulling and trying to bring people up to your level, eventually you won’t have the strength to crawl out of the pool when you get pulled in. When this happens you will find that you too are soaked to the bone with sin and bad choices and low moral standards. That’s why you need to surround yourself with other Christians. They can not only help you pull people out of the pool. They can give you a rest when you are weary and hold you accountable on how close you are to falling in. Your Christian brothers and sisters should be your closest friends. They should be the ones you are relying on. If your closest friends are the people that are constantly pulling down on you that is SO not healthy for you spiritually. They can’t revived your spirit or lift you up. In fact, they will probably grab a hold on you when you fall in and practically drown you.

Closing Remarks
So while it is good to witness to people and to have non-Christian friends in your life, I urge you to keep them at a distance. Don’t depend on them to be your best friend or to always be there for you (Christ is the only one who will never let you down). Let your “inner circle” be filled with your Christian friends who should do everything in their power to build you up and not to tear you down. Don’t get caught up in the pride that makes you blind to your own weakness. If you do then you will fall.