When your husband goes unappreciated.

October has been a rough and busy month for our family.  I have been forced to redirect my focus more frequently than usual.  Yet, God is so amazing, and so wonderful - He IS Faithful.

Many pastors have received an outpouring of love from their churches as this past month has been deemed pastor's appreciation month. 

What I am writing today is to encourage those women who don't feel their husband's are being appreciated by the church family.

Each church is different - in the makeup of the congregation you may have a younger generational church, an older generation, or a mixture.  You may have a church of seasoned churchgoers, or you may be a relatively young church with new believers excited about God and what He is doing in their lives.

As I have heard and read from pastor's wives how their churches have showered them with gifts and love, I have had to bite my tongue to not become resentful towards my church.  You see, some weeks I may think that our church is nothing more than a group of bench warmers.  Now, I know this is not entirely true, but my church is made up of elderly men and women.  Most of whom feel their church lives and normal lives are not connected.  This is not only hard to minister to them, but we don't feel like a family.  There are many weeks I come home feeling that my husband is unappreciated by the church.  I question why are we here when the church seems so cold.  Yet, even as I begin to think those thoughts I know these thoughts are sinful.  I have to change them.

You see, to be truly ministering for the Lord means that we minister in love to the unlovable.  I am the unlovable and yet God in his great mercy loved me. We don't serve in the church to be loved and appreciated by the church.  My husband is an amazing man.  He is like a walking Bible - seriously, he can locate almost any passage. He loves God's word, and more than anyone I think he truly understands the power of God's Word.  That means sometimes we may minister as the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah - to a people unwilling to hear and to respond; but we don't minister because we want them to behave a certain way or love us a certain way.  We minister to glorify God and to obey God - even when the service seemingly goes unnoticed.

Let me ask you this - Are you serving for the praise of man? or are you serving for God?  If you are serving for man's praise then you have your reward here in this life.  If you are serving for God - He will be faithful and strengthen you.

Even if your husband goes unappreciated by the congregation (as mine frequently does), there is still one family in your church that can shower him with love and appreciation - Yours.  What have you done this month to shower your husband with appreciation and to tell him how thankful you are for how he ministers to your family spiritually.

Why not treat your husband to a candlelight dinner after the children are in bed.  Shower him with words of gratitude for His spiritual leadership in your family.  Thank him for ministering to your own heart through his messages.

The response of the congregation has to start in the pastor's home before you can see it in the congregation.