Sunday, January 19, 2014

A Sad Goodbye

My husband, Rob, graduated college on a Saturday and started working on a Tuesday at a church just 30 minutes south of where I was still attending school. The plan was just to work there temporarily, as they were looking to hire someone for the Youth Pastor position, but needed someone to come in and “keep things together” over the summer.

It turns out that they ended up hiring him permanently, and we’ve called it home ever since. That was 12 years ago this May. In those 12 years Rob’s had 3 title changes, from Youth Pastor, to Associate Pastor, to Lead Pastor. We’ve adopted our precious daughter, given birth to our amazing son, had two babies born into the arms of Jesus and have had 19 foster kids—all loved and supported by this amazing group of people that we’ve come to know as our family.

So many of our memories from this stage of our life will always be wrapped up in the context of our church home. We’ve loved our church. We’ve loved her people. As much as our kids have grown up in our church, we have too. Looking back, we wouldn’t have had it any other way.

I was only 20 years old, and I’d been a Christian for a year and half when Rob came on staff. When I say I’ve grown up there myself, I’m certainly not exaggerating. I’ve learned so much about God and people inside of those walls. What a beautiful training ground. Don’t get me wrong, I can think of a few specific days and even short seasons of time that I wouldn’t have chosen to go through if given a choice. But as I reflect on even the more difficult times, I see how God used those as valuable teaching and training tools. All in all though, our church has been so good to us.

But alas, the time has come for us to close this chapter of our lives. It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we announced our resignation this morning. We aren’t exactly sure what the future holds for us, but we are confident in the one who holds our future.

So as of today, I am no longer a Pastor’s Wife so to speak. I am sure that we will resume a life of ministry together as a family, whether it be as a support to a local church here in Albany or in an official paid capacity elsewhere. I don’t know what that looks like and I don’t know where or when that will be. But I do know that God is good—so good. He’s shown time and time again that he works through and uses all sorts of trials and circumstances in our lives. I’m confident that this will be no different.     

Romans 8:28 tells us that God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. I've clung to this, my life verse, since I first became a believer in Jesus Christ. I cling to it still--and perhaps even more so today. 

3 comments:

Talia said...

You will be missed... praying for this next chapter in your guys' lives...

Dewey Bertolini said...

Dear friend, the titles "Pastor" and "Pastor's wife" are NOT conferred upon any individual by a church. Those are titles conferred only by God. Rob is, and ever shall be, a pastor. "Pastor" speaks of the heart of the individual, not the non-profit organization from which he receives a paycheck and is assigned a job description. Rob has a pastor's heart. You have a pastor's wife's heart. NOTHING, and NO ONE, can or will ever change that. So please be encouraged, dear friend. God is not done with Rob. Not by a long shot. And God is not done with you!

Nicki said...

God has a plan for your family. Praying for you:)