Wow, I was perusing my post drafts… thoughts on which I never hit the “publish” button… and found this gem. Maybe someday I’ll go into why it wasn’t published 6 years ago when I originally typed it… but as I was reading through it, I found some serious truths that I know I needed to revisit. Maybe they’ll help you, too? (This is in no way belittling the sacredness of a pastor’s position…being sacred is not the same as important.)

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in 2012 I typed….

{I must preface this with saying: My Momma prayed from the time I was a small girl that I would marry a preacher and we would serve the Lord with our lives. I am so grateful for that! She came from a broken background and saw that as being the best for me… and it’s what the Lord allowed to happen! And I love this life the Lord set me in! This post was born from a discontentment at the constant use of the term: “full-time-Christian-service” and a mindset I have discovered (among some) that conveys being employed by a church as somehow superior to other occupations. It isn’t.}

Even when I was a teen, the push often was: you should want to be in “full-time-Christian-service” when you grow up. That meant that, as a girl, I should desire to be a preacher’s wife [pastor of a church or associate or youth pastor], a foreign missionary, or forever teach little children in a Christian school. Those are pretty much the only options.

I had envisioned myself as a foreign missionary when I was all-grown-up. I surrendered to it as a young child. When my husband and I married, we had the plans of serving state-side for a few years and then beginning deputation.

What we did not plan on was God closing the door of foreign work.

We did not plan on that at all. But that’s another story!

But, still, I am considered a “full-time-Christian-service” wife –meaning my husband is employed in a church… and I am his wife.

But really, that is not so high a calling as some people try to imply. It isn’t who I am.

I have a higher calling…. and so do you.

And I would still have this higher calling even if my husband left his job and began working pizza delivery again. I would even have this calling if I were never married.

Because this highest calling of all can -and MUST- be fulfilled by ALL who are saved.

This highest calling involves people becoming doctors and trash collectors.

It involves people becoming delivery truck drivers and law enforcement officials.

It involves some women staying home with their children while their husbands do those things.

It involves people joining the military and crossing our world several times over to protect their country and the liberties we enjoy.

Sometimes, real full-time-Christian-service involves someone becoming the secretary for a law office or taking temporary positions regularly through a temp-agency.

Because REAL full-time-Christian-service is just what it’s name implies.

It is a Christian….. serving the Lord….. full-time.

that means with their LIFE… not their OCCUPATION.

With that being said: are you LIVING in “full-time-Christian-service”?

Am I?

{I must preface this with saying: My Momma prayed from the time I was a small girl that I would marry a preacher and we would serve the Lord with our lives. I am so grateful for that! She came from a broken background and saw that as being the best for me… and it’s what the Lord allowed to happen! And I love this life the Lord set me in! This post was born from a discontentment at the constant use of the term: “full-time-Christian-service” and a mindset I have discovered (among some) that conveys being employed by a church as somehow superior to other occupations. It isn’t.}

Even when I was a teen, the push often was: you should want to be in “full-time-Christian-service” when you grow up. That meant that, as a girl, I should desire to be a preacher’s wife [pastor of a church or associate or youth pastor], a foreign missionary, or forever teach little children in a Christian school. Those are pretty much the only options.

I had envisioned myself as a foreign missionary when I was all-grown-up. I surrendered to it as a young child. When my husband and I married, we had the plans of serving state-side for a few years and then beginning deputation.

What we did not plan on was God closing the door of foreign work.

We did not plan on that at all. But that’s another story!

But, still, I am considered a “full-time-Christian-service” wife –meaning my husband is employed in a church… and I am his wife.

But really, that is not so high a calling as some people try to imply. It isn’t who I am.

I have a higher calling…. and so do you.

And I would still have this higher calling even if my husband left his job and began working pizza delivery again. I would even have this calling if I were never married.

Because this highest calling of all can -and MUST- be fulfilled by ALL who are saved.

This highest calling involves people becoming doctors and trash collectors.

It involves people becoming delivery truck drivers and law enforcement officials.

It involves some women staying home with their children while their husbands do those things.

It involves people joining the military and crossing our world several times over to protect their country and the liberties we enjoy.

Sometimes, real full-time-Christian-service involves someone becoming the secretary for a law office or taking temporary positions regularly through a temp-agency.

Because REAL full-time-Christian-service is just what it’s name implies.

It is a Christian….. serving the Lord….. full-time.

that means with their LIFE… not their OCCUPATION.

With that being said: are you LIVING in “full-time-Christian-service”?

Am I?

After I finished reading this… ironically knowing that 2 years later we would no longer be employed by a church, I realized even more the truth God was teaching me then. We, as a family, are still serving God with our lives, no matter that my husband’s paycheck comes from a different source-physically.

All paychecks are a blessing and gift from God, no matter whose signature is on the paper.

And all Christians should be serving God with their lives, no matter their vocation.