Atypical Pastors Wife - 30-ish Thankful Days

30-ish Thankful Days - The Better Things (Signed & Sealed)

11/13/2025

Day 12

Today I sealed the deal. The job is mine. The contract is signed. I start next month.

After being unemployed for 6 months, I finally landed a good job. AND not just a job. It's a job doing what I like in the environment that I wanted. It will be a good place to be a light and shine for Jesus! AND I am over-the-moon excited. To top it off, they offered me more money than I was expecting. AND I get benefits and paid vacation! Awesome! AND it's a 10 month position, so I get 2 months off in the summer. Now, isn't that just like God?

I quoted George Mueller a few posts ago when he basically said that God would not take something good from you unless He replaces it with something better. I figured that anyone with faith like George would know what he was talking about so I was patient. Turns out he did.

Something better. That is my God. He gave Israel the old covenant. He gave us something better. When we give ourselves to Him, He gives us something better. When we go through valleys in life, He brings us out into something better. The something betters of God may not always translate to the world's view of better things, but we are not of this world. It's why we can sing "Take the whole world, but give me Jesus" and really mean it. It's why we can live free of societal pressures and worldly opinions. It's where our abiding peace and unspeakable joy comes from.

Something better is not just about things or stuff. Something better is what's on the inside too, what we are, what we think, how we view reality, how we view life, how life views us, and what we set our sights on in the future. This is what God offers us in every aspect of our lives - something better!

The book of Hebrews is known as "The Book of Better Things" where the writer contrasts the old covenant practices, beliefs, and way of doing things with the better practices, beliefs, and way of doing things in the new covenant. And what stands between the two? The life, death, burial, and ressurection of Jesus Christ. HE is the better thing! HE is the best thing! I'm so glad that I know Him and the He hold my life!

While I signed a contract, God offers covenant. It cannot be broken. It's a sure thing. He never re-negotiates. He never reneges. It never expires. And it's signed and sealed with His Son's own blood. You won't find a better deal anywhere. It costs you nothing and gives you everything!

Today I am thankful that Jesus sealed the deal for my soul and now I enjoy the better things!

30-ish Thankful Days - Basketball Baby!

11/11/2025

Day 11
You might think that this is a stupid thing to be thankful for. Basketball is much more to me than a game. I guess, in some ways, it's part of the legacy my parents left me.

The lady on the far right of the picture is my mother, and yes, that is a plane that she helped build. She worked for Fairchild Industries and they had a traveling women's basketball team, the closest thing to professional women's basketball in that day. Mom was good - really good, and she LOVED to play. Even in her old age, she could still turn and throw one in.

My dad never played basketball but he was an incredible athlete in his own right. His highschool football team never lost a single game in the four years he played. He spent many hours teaching me to throw a perfect spiral and running plays in our backyard. It was my dad's influence that helped me really understand both basketball and football. We would spend hours, especially in March, of course, watching NCAA basketball and talking about teams, strategies, and players. He was especially proud when I made my highschool and college basketball teams and he never missed a game. Funny thing was, when I played basketball, I blocked out all the crowd noise except for my coach's voice...and my dad's.

Fortunately my husband also likes to watch basketball and we enjoy watching games together, both on tv and at his alma mater. If he didn't, we wouldn't see much of each other during March madness. LOL!

When I watch basketball, it always reminds me of my parents, of their dedication as parents, of the jumping and shouting of otherwise reserved parents during March Madness, of the one time each year I got to eat peppermint ice cream (Superbowl), and of the way my Father somehow rigged a basketball and backboard to the roof above the carport so that we could play on macadam. We spent many evenings outside shooting hoops together, laughing and competing. It's more than a game to me. It brings back so many memories, warms my heart, and reminds me of how blessed my life has been.

Today, I am thankful the game of basketball and the joy it brings into my life.

30-ish Thankful Days - The God Who Goes Before

11/11/2025

Day 10
I've spent two days of the last week doing something I hate to do, shop. I'm starting a new job soon and I need to dress a little more fancy so I had to do some shopping. I have a traumatic history with shopping. When I was in school, I was extremely tall for my age and very skinny. This was back in the day when your jeans had to be 6 inches longer than your legs so that they could drag on the ground behind you as they completely covered your shoe. Wearing flood pants was very taboo. In those days, no one carried longs except the fancy "Tall Shops" near big cities. So I suffered from a lot of teasing and feeling uncomfortable in my own skin.

Every August, my mom would announce the school shopping day and off we would go. Many years, we shopped ALL DAY and into the evening and came home with nothing but one or two items. I grew to dread clothes shopping, which eventually grew into hating to shop at all...except for Christmas and birthday gifts for others. I love to shop for others but hate shopping for myself.

(Eventually, my dad had enough money to drive me to Washington D.C. area to a tall shop for jeans and long sleeve items, which he did twice a year. What a great dad he was.)

So, I hesitantly started out one morning last week. Now, I have not worked since May, so I didn't have a huge budget, which only seemed that it would complicate matters. I drove to St. Vincent DePaul, a local 2nd hand store to see what I could find. I didn't find any dress pants, which was what I needed the most, but I did find lots of dressy tops and sweaters, which I quickly stuck in my shopping cart. Five stores (and 35 pairs of tried on pants later (yes, I counted), I had 2 pairs of pants in my shopping cart and a third on order. Not bad, I guess. I didn't pay full price for anything that I bought. Evidently Black Friday came early this year and I got the prices without the crowds.

A second day of shopping an hour away yielded a winter coat, winter boots, some shoes and a couple of sweaters. It's not often you can get a designer coat that looks as if it has barely been worn AND with sleeves long enough, a pair of pants with the tags still on them and a sweater with long sleeves that actually fit my long arms for $11.00. It was a good day!

Now if you're still reading this, you might not realize what a miracle this is! I rarely come away from clothes shopping with anything at all and now I am completely ready to start my new job all for about a third of what I would have spent buying brand new in stores.

I believe that God led me all the way. He knows our needs before we ask and He is Jehovah Jireh, leaving us provision just where we need it before we ever get there. He's a good Father!

A special shoutout to my road tripping friend, who knows exactly where and when to shop, who helped me find everything I needed and kept me laughing during the process. I am truly blessed!

Today, I'm thankful for Jehovah Jireh.

30-ish Thankful Days - The Clicker

11/9/2025

Day 9

On the worship team, we use a tool called "the clicker." When I joined the team, one of the main questions they asked was, "Was I comfortable using a clicker?" Now a clicker is a digital metronome that pumps through your earbuds with relentless percision and endurance. It's purpose is to keep every member of the team perfectly in time with one another as we sing and play. In fact, the clicker is the base of our foundation as a team. It stands as the conductor, demanding our full attention and submission. (Well, they sing and play. I just play. I'm a member of the joyful noise club."

Now, today, I got out of sync with the clicker and to my musical ears and most assurdly anyone who heard it, it was a disaster. When you finish one song, you have to advance the clicker to the next song, which is a different tempo, but today, the advance didn't get done, but I didn't know that (except that I could have sworn we didn't practice the song that fast!), so I started the intro to the faster tempo and a couple notes in, it advanced to a slower tempo and totally threw me off. The worship leader quickly turned the clicker off, thankfully, and we proceeded to sing and everything was fine, except my pride, of course. Ha!

As a musician, I see the absolute need for the clicker. It keeps us in step and moving forward, much like the Holy Spirit does in our lives. When we walk to His tempo, we stay in time with what He is doing and where He is leading us and He keeps us all together with each other. He is the conductor of our lives, and He demands that we give full attention and submission to His leading. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit will never fail to advance, but I do occaisionally get out of step with Him and fall flat on my face, as I did in front of hundreds of people this morning. The good thing is that we can get up and keep marching, because He doesn't turn off when we mess up. He picks us up and continues on with us until we get where we're going. When we walk with Him, in His time and tempo, it creates something beautiful and rich.

Running at our own speed is exhausting. We speed up and He pulls us back. We slow down and He has to push us. Neither of these is fun in the natural or the spiritual, but when we just fall into step with what He has already planned, when we listen for His voice and we join into what He is doing, well, it's just the best way to live life.

Today I'm thankful for "the clicker" of the Holy Spirit in my life.

30-ish Thankful Days - The Hard & Broken Places

11/9/2025

Day 8

It is human nature to desire ease, comfort, and the easy way. No one likes to be uncomfortable. No one seeks out trouble, hardship, and discomfort. We avoid it at all costs. Yet, we all face times in life when we are in a hard place. Whether they come about from our own choices or someone elses, whether they come from spiritual opposition or just because we live in a fallen world, no one is immune to them, nor can we escape them. We must walk through them.

There have been several times in my life when I found myself in extremely hard places. Going in, I felt as if I would not survive and if I did, I would never thrive again. Those times exposed my weakness and inability to control my life and forced me to walk roads I would have never expected or chosen. In the process, I was stripped naked of all hypocrisy, self-righteouness, and pride and was left a heap of brokenness at the feet of God.

I heard a preacher say that Christianity is not for the faint of heart, but oh, I disagree dear brother. Until we are faint of heart, until we are without strength, without confidence in our own talents, abilities, or stated beliefs, we cannot fully know the power and strength of God which is not our own, but can be displayed through our lives as we yield and humbly submit to Him. It's then that we are able to live victoriously, bear the weight of our circumstances with calm and peace, and shine as light on a hill to a world that has lost all hope.

As I've walked through these times, I've noticed that they have become spiritual locators for me. All my Christian-eze and "faithy statements" now stand and demand evidence of their true validity in my life. And honestly, I can say, there were many times when I found that they were only window dressings that had never truly been practically tested. When the rubber hit the road and everything I had always professed was screaming at me to prove it, I found myself ill-equipped and lacking.

The glory in all of this is that "in our weakness, He (God) is strong" and once you have experienced walking in that strength, you will never be the same. Until you are going to the throne of grace in time of need as many times as it takes to get you to the next day, until you are stripped bare of all of your own confidence and faulty perception of who you are, you will not be totally reliant on Him, nor will you be completely free.

I have come to believe that no matter where we might find ourselves or how we got there, God uses those hard times to reveal parts of Himself and build things in our life that He can only reveal when we are broken. But oh, what He can do with broken pieces!

So I urge you to take your troubles to the Lord and throw yourself on the mercy seat, fully acknowledging that without Him, you will not make it. Then let Him be to you, do in you, and do for you, all the things He's been waiting for an opportunity to do. I guarantee He will not fail to massively reveal Himself to you and in you, building you into a vessel that He can truely use to be a witness to the world.

Today, I am thankful for the hard and broken places.

30-ish Thankful Days - The "Ifs & Thens" of Scripture

11/7/2025

Day 7

As you all know, I love the Bible. If I was in a burning house, it would be one of the things I would grab on my way out. My Bible is all marked up and written in. In it I record dates and memories of when the Word spoke directly to me about a situation so that when I read back over that verse, I'm reminded of the faithfulness of God and I'm able to trust Him even more.

I'm no Bible scholar, I leave that to my hubz. I'm a very practical type person, so my faith needs to be practical too. If something isn't lining up between my life and what scripture says, I don't shrug it off and chalk it up to the "mystery that is God," or revert to the ole favorite of "There's a reason for everything" without investigating what the reason may be! (I'm sorry, that's just a flippant, irresponsible saying.) Nor do I say in my most spiritual sounding voice, "God is sovereign." I do believe that God is sovereign but not in a lay-down-and-accept-everything-the-devil-throws-at-you-as-the-will-of-God kind of sovereign. God has sovereignly revealed His will in His Word and prayer can and does change things. Our prayers do move heaven and can change things on earth. If it's all pre-determined, what's the use of prayer? Why do we need faith if nothing is going to change anyway? We do have a part to play in what we experience on earth. (Don't even try to argue me out of this. I've seen way to much to ever believe any differently.)

Over the years, I have developed an extreme hate of lies! Big lies, little lies, it doesn't matter. When I ask someone, how are you, I don't want them to smile and say "Oh, I'm fine" if they aren't. That's a lie. Lying is one of the two things I would spank my children for. It's intentionally disrespecting the person you are talking to. It's a total disregard of the part of them that they are investing in you! It's selfish and self-serving. It's who the devil is and what he does! In fact, one verse of scripture that I pray regularly (especially in today's world where you really can't believe much of what you see or hear), is that God would "keep lies far from me." Proverbs 30:8

I know that as evil increases "more and more" in the last days, so will deception and lies. (And may I say that AI and false information is just scary nowadays!) God warns us of it because He knows just how deceptive the devil is, and for the most part, we don't. He's way out of our league and we would be doomed if it were not for the Holy Spirit and God's Word.

I love the ifs/thens of scripture. They are all through the Bible.

In Proverbs 2, there is a list of if/thens that I love.
IF we receive His sayings THEN we will discern righteousness, justice, equity, and every good course.
IF we treasure His commands and attend to wisdom THEN knowledge will be pleasant to our soul.
IF we incline our hearts to understanding THEN discretion will guard us.
IF we cry for discernment, ask for understanding and seek/search for it as for a treasure, THEN understanding will watch over us to deliver us from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perversely, and from those who leave the path of righteousness to walk in darkness.

This is practical to me. IF I attend to these words, THEN these blessings will be mine. This is God's promise. He never reneges on what He has said. The TOTALLY AWESOME thing is that in our own strength, we can't do the "ifs" without the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. So when we acknowledge and allow Him room in our lives, this is a sure win-win for us! Isn't it exciting to be a Christian?

Today I'm thankful for the If/Thens of scripture. How many have you found?

30-ish Thankful Days - God Truly Does Know Best

11/6/2025

In May of this year, we changed churches. It wasn't easy for me, but I knew that it was how God was leading. In all our years of ministry, we have sensed a restlessness right before He was going to move us, and when I began to feel it, I tried to ignore it. You see, I was working there as well, and had invested a lot of myself in the ministry and people there. When we left, I lost my job, a job I loved.

George Mueller said "Our heavenly Father never takes anything from His children unless He means to give them something better." So with that in mind, I found "the perfect job opening" and almost immediately got an interview. But it was not to be. For 4 months, I filled out applications, wrote cover letters, attended job fairs, and did telephone interviews for jobs that I knew would not be a good fit or with no interviews at all. Yet, I knew that God is faithful. I just needed to be patient and wait.

I was offered subbing opportunities with 2 school districts and was planning on doing that while I looked for a full-time position. Then I got a call from a third school district about a secretarial position. I enjoyed the interview. I was totally at ease. They told me they had other interviews to do so they would call me the next week if they wanted a 2nd interview. The very next day, they called and offered me the job. Bingo!

Now, it's hard for me to imagine that any job could be better than the one I lost, but I do think that George Mueller knew what He was talking about, so I am excited to start my new job. I've got a real opportunity to be a light and salt in the crazy world of the next generation. Heaven knows they are not growing up in an easy time. I'm sure that it will be challenging, but I'm up for it because I know God really does know what He's doing and He'll be with me every. single. day. at work.

Today, I'm thankful that God's timing is always perfect and He truly does know what's best for us.

30-ish Thankful Days - Decisions, Decisions

11/6/2025

Day 5

Should I drive or fly? That has been the question of the month! After going back and forth many times, I've decided to drive all the way to Michigan. Initially I decided to drive, but then the event was cancelled and rescheduled for November. This, of course, added the concern about weather since Michigan is tucked so snuggly between two of the Great Lakes which can wreak havoc on winter weather.

I'm not a fan of flying. On my very first plane trip to Oregon, I boarded a twin engine commuter plane to fly from Oregon to California. The pilot flew right down the coast. On one side of the plane was land. On the other was ocean. There was tubulence. About 15 minutes into the flight, the plane suddenly got very cold. I looked up to see the door had come open and the steps had unfolded into the sky. The stewardess ran to the door and was attempting to pull the steps back into the plane when we hit an air pocket and the plane dipped. She was thrown forward and would have fallen out of the plane except for the man sitting in row 1, my hero...and hers, who reached out, grabbed the back of her apron, and pulled her back into the plane. When I stepped out of the plane, I fell to the ground and kissed the tarmac - yes, I really did. The stewardess seemed un-phased by the whole event. Maybe her life was still flashing before her eyes.

I've flown many times since then, and I must say it's good for my prayer life, but I prefer to keep my feet in America and on the ground.

The drive will be a long one - 8 hours, not counting bathroom stops. The likelihood that I'll get lost is minimal because I literally drive the same highway from home to the exit of the venue. My Youtube is loaded with good sermons and podcasts, and tons of music. I do enjoy alone time, and after raising four kids, time on the road is a welcome solace. My friend from AccuWeather gave me the all clear weather-wise and I bought my EZpass to avoid any undue tickets for blowing through toll gates. (Thank you to the state of Delaware.) I don't usually drive this far without my hubz, so this will be an adventure, for sure. And you all know how I love an adventure.

I'm guessing that at some point I'll wish I had flown. And had I flown, I would wish I had driven (like when changing planes at O'Hare without my trusty sidekick). So if you think of it, say a prayer that God would keep me safe and get me to my destination and home again.

Today I'm thankful that the Lord leads us to make the right decisions.

30-ish Thankful Days - Birthdays & Cha Cha Chickens

11/4/2025

Day 4

We have four birthdays in November. Trying to fit celebrations in on Sundays can get quite hectic. The first birthday is grandson #5. He turned 8. His cake only had 7 candles thanks to WalMart who forgot to put the candles in my pick-up order. But he was fine with it. "I know how old I am, Mimi. It's okay."

It's tradition in our family that the birthday person gets to pick the dessert (some don't like cake) and they get to decorate it too.

Micah chose pumpkin rolls this year, so I grabbed some icing and spread it over the roll and gave him the candles and decorations. I think he did an awesome job.

Cake and presents are great, but for me, the thing that makes them are pretending to be busy in the kitchen while the cousins are hovered over the cake while it's being decorated offering advice and mentioning preferences to the decorator, just in case they want to know. It always makes me giggle.

Singing the birthday song reminds us all that we are not the Von Trapp Family Singers while everyone sings their own version. There are "Woos" spread throughout the stanzas and "Cha Cha Chickens & Many Mores" that wind the whole thing up. The best part is watching the faces as we sing, especially the one that is flickering in the candlelight.

It seems that birthdays come so quickly lately. My oldest grandson started high school this year! It seems like yesterday that he was sitting on my couch in his diaper while I took photos of the many faces he made as a baby. These are times I truly treasure in my heart - they are my heart snapshots.

Next Sunday, we will once again come together to celebrate grandson #2 who is in middle school already! But I am so blessed that all my grandkids live close enough to me that we can gather for holidays and birthdays. I know many cannot. So even though it can be a ton of work, especially as I get older, and it usually looks like a bomb exploded by the time they leave, I wouldn't trade these days for anything in the world.

Today I am thankful for family, birthdays, and "Cha Cha Chickens."

30-ish Thankful Days - Fellowship With Friends

11/3/2025

Day 3

I've been blessed with some really good friends. Some years ago, I was invited to a Bible study by a friend and colleague. I had been praying about a study outside of my own church because the only meetings that were available were ones that I had to prepare for and facilitate. So when my friend invited me, I knew it was an answer to prayer.

Immediately, I met 2 other women and the 4 of us quickly became friends. Through the years that followed, we all went through some serious crises together, all that effectively made our bond even stronger. These ladies were not from my church so I affectionately dubbed them "My Baptist Ladies." I've written of one of them in earlier blogs, but this year, I want to acknowledge all 3 of them because they have literally saved my life at times through the last decade. When everyone and everything imploded in my life, those women stuck with me through it all. They never judged. They never accused. They never criticised. They never backed away when things were awkward. They didn't turn away. They must have grown tired of me needing them as much as I did, but you'd never know it. They always encouraged, always prayed, and always let me know that I was loved. Since they know me so well, I appreciate their wisdom, insights, and heartfelt prayers. Truly, these women are a gift from God to me.

Today I'm thankful for Godly relationships and fellowship with friends.