Please welcome today’s Guest Blogger, Rochelle Palmer. Rochelle is a social worker, mother, Bible class teacher, generally awesome woman and a pastor’s wife. Yes, in fact, she is my wife. As the wife and daughter of a Senior Minister, Rochelle knows ministry inside and out. She particularly knows the pressures and privileges of ministry life. You can follow Rochelle on Twitter here.
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For years I was a reluctant leader. I resisted the idea that my husband’s vocation was anything more than the result of a choice he made to pursue a particular area of education. As a preacher’s kid, I was well-versed in the inner workings of church life and I determined I would not be a “sweet, lil’ preacher’s wife” who baked endless brownies and casseroles for every gathering and delighted in the giftedness of my husband while balancing umpteen babies on my hip as I rearranged the church kitchen and smiled as women around me offered “advice” on my marriage and role. Interesting, I have never actually met a preacher’s wife like that – but I fear that she exists. More, I fear that she is what the people in the pews expect me to be.
But as God is and does, God changed my heart and mind toward this life of vocational ministry – both Sean’s and my own. Through our marriage and service at 3 churches, I have moved from seeing Sean’s position as a “job like any other” to what it really is: A calling. The events in our lives that led us to ministry began in our early adolescence and can be traced throughout our lives, like a dot-to-dot. God has used many years and innumerable persons to open my heart to His dream for my life and to let me know that my place as a leader was HIS choice. I can resist and resent it, but like many others whose stories are recorded in Scripture, I will do what God has called me to do, eventually.
