A New Purpose

I hope you have enjoyed my posts about that wonderful book and film The Help. I truly thank my three friends that strongly encouraged me to write those posts. It was a God-thing. The way I figure it -- when everyone's talking about the same thing, the Church should be too.

And that's where I'm taking this blog for the next few weeks or so. Honestly, I'm a little nervous. I'm treading out on some thin ice of the unknown, and it's a bit scary. I can vaguely see the green grass of the other side of the pond, but I don't know exactly what's going to happen between here and there. I hope you'll hang in there with me as I take a walk across. As a matter of fact, I hope you'll walk with me.

Before I begin my new series of world-changing people, I'd like to share what God's been doing in my life lately. A lot of life has happened since my 31 Days of Purpose series, and it feels like I wrote those posts a year ago. It's funny, I expected major spiritual warfare after writing those blogs, because I'd received so much feedback about how the blog had effected positive, godly change in the lives of my readers. Instead of warfare, at least beyond the normal amounts for a pastor's wife, I felt an immense amount of confusion.I felt like my life was supposed to take a turn somehow, but I couldn't discern the direction it was supposed to go.

I had a nagging feeling that there was "something more" God wanted me to do, but I couldn't figure out what. And to think I had just spent 31 days preaching to you about finding your God-given purpose. My life felt like one big paradox.

So what did I do? I got to praying. I got to seeking God's Word. My eyes and ears were keen to things being said and done around me. And, like He always has in my life, God spoke. I'd love to share what He said to me. So sit back and relax, while I tell you the story.

Well, I have been studying the minor prophets since the beginning of the summer. I have never thoroughly studied each minor prophet, and I honestly didn't have a clue that so many riches can be found in the pages of Amos, Joel and Obadiah. Well, just last week, I came across Micah 6:8, which reads:

He showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

I've always had a favorite Bible verse, but I've never had a theme verse. I've never adopted a scripture and determined that it embodied the essence of God's call on my life.

Micah 6:8 does just that. It speaks to the heart of me. It speaks to what God's calling me to do, every day of my life. It's the "something more" that God's wanting me to do. Yes, He's still calling me to write. But I'm writing with a higher purpose here. I'm writing for justice and mercy.

My blog will probably take on a different shape over the next few months. I'll still blog in a devotional manner from time to time. I'll still blog about books or films that are rocking the nation. But my blog posts will run through the grid of justice, mercy, and walking humbly with God.

So when I begin sharing the stories of people changing the world, they will be people who have broken through barriers of injustice. They will be people who, like me, love mercy. They will be people humbly walking with God. My posts on The Help were just the beginning. Who knows? Micah 6:8 might lead to a book one day.

I'll share one more thing God's doing in and through my life. I felt God impress upon me the need for a Facebook page for pastor's wives. I'm so exciting about this, I can hardly stand it. Let me share the backstory on this one:

My husband Anthony and I were recently watching a popular Christian broadcast together. The reporter was interviewing a former pastor and his wife, who had just recovered from a tumultuous season in their marriage, a season of deception and an emotional affair. Praise God, they were speaking victoriously, having done the hard work of forgiveness and reconciliation through Christ.

The point that gave me most pause, however, was a comment the wife made. She mentioned a period of time when she had detected something amiss in her marriage. Her husband had been acting weird, speaking a little too favorably about the other woman, and there were many times she couldn't seem to reach him by cell phone. Yet she said she continued to carry on as usual in the church, acting as if everything was normal. After all, as a pastor's wife, who could she tell?

This comment made my stomach churn. And yet, I agree with her. Where does a pastor or pastor's wife go when he or she needs serious help? An average member having an affair can confess to the pastor or a church leader, then go back to work. Granted, there's a lot of reconciliation to be done between God and his or her spouse, but this person's livelihood isn't completely threatened. Not so with a pastor or pastor's wife.

I'm committed to providing a haven for pastor's wives to discuss their joys, their pains, their fears, their issues. The enemy's having a field day with our ministry marriages and families, and we're standing defenseless over it. Well, enough is enough. We pastor's wives should not be alone. We pastor's wives are not alone.

So if you're a pastor's wife, listen out for more information on this Facebook page. And tell every pastor's wife you know about it. We need one another!

And... don't forget to join me here at "Sojourner of Truth" every Tuesday and Saturday. I'll be sharing about my first "world-changer" this Saturday!

Loving Justice and Mercy,

Carla