Idontdoflowers

Terry is my boss and last week his mother was hit by a car and she received very serious injuries and was unconscious for several days. She regained consciouseness this week but now faces months of rehabilitation and surgery.

My prayers for Terry and his mother have brought back memories of me sitting next to my Dad’s intensive care last year. My Dad died following surgery and a subsequent MRSA infection. We are still awaiting the inquest. I see saw between wanting to go the inquest and question the Dr’s about what happened and then not wanting to go through it all again. The battle I suppose is between wanting some answers and at the same time the struggle to forgive, that forgiveness is also for myself for not being a good enough daughter at times. I am also pragmatic enough to know that the likelyhood of me getting any answers is slim.   

I can’t believe it has been a month since I last blogged so much has happend which is why Mr Benny Diction and juior have been hogging the computor.

Mr Benny Diction has been stationed in the town which we had been praying for, which means we can stay together as a family and I can stay in my current job and hopefully get to university next year. This has been a great blessing.

We have been to visit the three chuches Mr Benny Diction will be responsible for they are all very different and have different expectations. I did in one get asked what I saw role would be and suggestions of what I might like to take one! When I explained that I work full time and hope to be studying next year as well the stewards faces dropped.

We have also seen the manse, it is next to one of the churches in fact it is in the car park which could be interesting. 

   

Over the last few years I have mostly attended a lively Baptist Church with our 14 yrs old son while Mr Diction has when not preaching or coming to the Baptist with us has attended a more traditional Methodist/URC Church. The reason for the different Churches is mainly our son as the Baptist Church has a very lively youth group and a full time youth minister. Over Christmas I attended one service at the Baptist Church and two at the Methodist/URC Church. When it comes to Christian Festivals the Methodist/URC Church excelled, and unfortunately the Baptist Church left me without much Christmas spirit.

The Methodist/URC Church services were a youth carol service and a midnight communion service. The communion service was especially spirit led with communion in the round. It was also special as it was the first time our son took communion. Being truly ecumenical he is getting baptised in January at the Baptist Church.

Last week I had two experiences that made me feel humble and put my own problems into perspective.

The first was at work. I am a specialist community nurse working with social services. I was visiting a single woman who has adopted one disabled child and is in the process of adopting two more children one of who is also disabled. I was meant to be going to see her to help her get all the health services she needs. She had it all organised and had already contacted all the services she needed, all I could do was sit and drink her tea and be in awe.

The second was at Church at a faith meal organised so we could listen to Paval from Romania. Our youth minister has made 13 trips to Moldavia, with groups from various churches over the last few years and Paval has acted as their guide and translator. Paval is an evangelical pastor who became a Christian and then a pastor during the communist regime. He smuggled bibles in Russia and was tortured when he was caught. His enthusiasm for his mission and his Lord were amazing. He certainly challenged me to rethink my attitude towards my role as a ministers wife. I have always said Mr Bennydiction had the call not me, but I am beginning to think that may not be true and that what I thought was a cop out rather than looking for what God is asking me to do.

Not what I expected,  more of  a chat than  an interview.  I  did  come  away  with  the  confidence that  the  principle of the  college  Mr  Benny  Diction  attends  will  do  his  best  for  us  and  is  empathetic  to  our  situation.  Given the  task  of  matching  numerous  probationers  all  with  their  own  needs  as  far  as  stationing  is  concerned  that is  good enough  for  me.

I now need to trust the process to God.

Thanks for all the encouraging words from others in a similar situation, its good to know there are alot of us awaiting decisons on where we are going to be spending the next five years. As a probationers wife I wait the longest - Jan next year.

This Wednesday Mr Benny Diction and I are going to meet the college principle to talk about stationing. What do I say? There is part of me which wants to say that of course the church must send Mr Benny Diction to the church they think is most suitable regardless of where in the country it is, even if this means splitting the family while our son finishes his GCSE’s. Then there is the small voice that says thats not what you really want is it - what you really want is to stay near to where we are now so we can stay together and I can carry on with the job I love for another 5 years.

As a dear friend says whose husband works for a large multinational and who has been an expat for 15 years God is bigger that any multinational. I also need to remember that he is also bigger than the Methodist Church and that he will never put me in a situation that is beyond me, even if in my down moments splitting the family for 9 months seems one of the biggest hurdles I have ever had to face.

First let me explain my blog name  ‘I don’t do  flowers’ is something I have got used to saying since my husband 5 years ago got his call to be a methodist minister and by default I became a ministers wife in waiting. Every time anyone hears what my future holds they ask if I can bake and do flowers. Well I can bake but I don’t do flowers.

We are now in the final stages of the ministerial training and by January will know where our first church will be and then move in August 07.

I hope that by starting this blog about the journey I am taking I will come into contact with other minsters/vicars spouses and be able to share the ups and downs and frustrations.

Perhaps some tips on flower arranging may come my way as well!!

Welcome to Voxtropolis.com. This is your first post. In the panel on the right, click on “login” under “Manage My Site.” Then you will be able to write a new post or edit and delete this post under the “Manage” section. If you have any questions or support issues, please visit support.voxtropolis.com. Enjoy.