EVERLASTING STRENGTH

There are times in the ministry when things become "heavy." You pastors wives know exactly what I am talking about. Many people, many needs. Most of the time they come to the pastor for "counsel" but their minds are made up already about how they will deal with their difficulty. It really makes you wonder if you have wasted your time. What people really want is a person that will agree with them rather than give them godly counsel.

There are also those well-meaning people that think they need to "help" the pastor because he isn't fixing things the way they think they could be fixed. That is also frustrating because they have no idea how many hours that pastor has spent counselling and trying to give encouragement to others. These people can also become part of the problem because they are going here and there trying to do their "fixing" and it changes nothing except to give the person with the problem someone else to tell their story to.

God is the only one that can mend the hearts and lives of people. A pastor that walks with God and loves his people is an added blessing but he can only do so much. The pastor has to go to the Lord for his strength and encouragement in dealing with the heavy hearts of his people. Early this morning God encouraged me with this text from Isaiah 26: 3-4: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." Ahhhhhhhhhhh (That was my sigh of relief.)