A Letter to My Wife {guest post}

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Rosalie

Today’s post is my favorite guest: my husband Chris. Christine Hoover, over at Grace Covers Me, encouraged readers of her book The Church Planting Wife: Help and Hope for Her Heart to post letters from our church planting husbands about why we are important to the church planting journey.

Dear Rose,

I want to express why I am so grateful that I am in missions with you. There is so much that needs to happen in order to get to the mission field, let alone all of the things that are happening once you get there. All of that gets added to the arena of daily living and raising kids.

God created woman from the rib of the man to show that she was to be his equal helper. I see how that comes into play in our marriage. Having a wife who is dedicated to growing in her relationship with God helps me to grow in my own as well. This all comes into play when we disciple people on the mission field. Because I have a wife who is focused on Christ, we can confidently work together as a God-designed team on the field.

I also know that you pray for me regularly and I can’t ask for any better support than that. Having a wife who prays for you is a great blessing that not everybody has and when it is added to the fact that we are going through prefield it means that much more.

I know I can come to you with successes and failures and desires and hopes and sadness and frustration and you will listen and reply with what is needed. You will celebrate with me at every new believer and struggle with me at every hurdle that comes in front of us. I know because we both said vows on our wedding day that I know both of us meant.

Thank you for being a faithful, loving, patient, steadfast, loving and, most importantly, Godly, wife. I love you very much and I don’t know that I could do this on my own.

Love,
Your husband

Amplified Marriage Vows – edited

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Rosalie

I need to make a correction to this post. I made a huge error in judgment, in part because I really wanted to have a neat post in honor of the anniversary of our engagement and also because I still feel that mamahood is zapping me of my creativity. Still, there’s no excuse. This blog post by Dawn inspired me to think about the unspoken promises in my own marriage vows. After reading it, I thought of some of the better (vacations, dinners at Harvest Vine, the birth of our daughter) and the worse (being 15% funded with one income, navigating new parenthood) in our own marriage, and filled them in.

Dawn (gently and graciously) called me out on copying her work. She said, “In blogging, it’s easy to compare our writing with others and read something we love and wish we had written it ourselves.” That’s what happened. Hope you all can forgive my lapse in judgment. It has been a constant prayer of mine that God would refill my creativity cup, which has felt empty since I got pregnant (something about growing a human in my womb took all my creative juices). In truth, I base too much of my self-worth on my creativity, which is a gift from God, when I need to preach the Gospel to myself and get my worth from Jesus Christ.

I am thankful for grace today.

Short and Sweet on Marriage

Posted on August 30, 2010 by Rosalie

Blogging has been slow these past few weeks… thanks for keeping up with us by adding us to your feed! I promise I will keep up with Missional Music Mondays, but I didn’t want that to be the only thing I blogged. For his birthday, Chris received tickets to see Starfield, one of our favorite bands, in September. Starfield has some pretty awesome and missional songs that I look forward to introducing you to.

As we prepare for the mission field, Chris and I are doing as much as we can to strengthen our marriage. We know that what is difficult here could be exacerbated by the demands of prefield and the confusion of the mission field, so we are working now so endure later.

In that vein, I leave you with this radical quote from John Piper on marriage. It applies to so many aspects of life, though.

Marriage is not mainly about prospering economically; it is mainly about displaying the covenant-keeping love between Christ and his church. Knowing Christ is more important than making a living. Treasuring Christ is more important than bearing children. Being united to Christ by faith is a greater source of material success than perfect sex and double-income prosperity.

So it is with marriage. It is a momentary gift. It may last a lifetime, or it may be snatched away on the honeymoon. Either way, it is short. It may have many bright days, or it may be covered with clouds. If we make secondary things primary, we will be embittered at the sorrows we must face. But if we set our face to make of marriage mainly what God designed it to be, no sorrows and no calamities can stand in our way. Every one of them will be, not an obstacle to success, but a way to succeed. The beauty of the covenant-keeping love between Christ and his church shines brightest when nothing but Christ can sustain it.

Lat week Chris and I were chatting about a woman we know who spent ten years of her marriage raising her children while her husband was in a vegetative state following a horrific car accident. This precious woman knows what it means to give and not receive anything in return. Chris commented that most people he knows would say, “I don’t think I could do that,” about her situation. “But,” Chris said, “that’s what marriage is. You’re supposed to serve without expecting anything in return.”

I am blessed.

Word Filled Wednesday #2

Posted on August 11, 2010 by Rosalie

I’ve been listening to the Mars Hill Church series on Song of Solomon, Peasant Princess, on my commute to work. I have it on CD and I was getting tired of the radio, so I popped it in one day and said a quick prayer to the Lord to use it again to make me a better wife.

Always an interesting prayer to pray, no?

When Chris and I watched the series together, it was revolutionary for our marriage. I wholeheartedly recommend it, whether you’re engaged, newly-married, or… seasoned. I recommend it whether you’re happily married, roommates, or miserable.

Just let go of all your expectations, except those you have about God’s incredible ability to transform those He loves.

Please feel free to grab any and all graphics I put on this blog. Stupidly, I don’t have a desktop size version of the one above, but I will in the future.

The Battle Belongs to the Lord

Posted on March 17, 2010 by Rosalie

We got an informative email from the folks at ABWE this week, sharing some details about our upcoming candidate seminar. The seminar, which takes place in Harrisburg near the ABWE offices, is July 8-18. As usual, Chris and I will be occupied and away from home on our anniversary (we spent our 5 year anniversary on a plane home from Spain), but we consider this a worthwhile sacrifice!

I am writing again to ask for your prayers. We were reminded in this email that the enemy will undoubtedly wage a spiritual battle as we prepare to go to the seminar and share our testimonies, learn the ins and outs of missionary service, meet and pray with other candidates, and be tested on our knowledge and understanding of our doctrine and the scriptures.

Already, just yesterday, Chris and I began to feel some of that battle. The following scriptures will help us as we pray in faith that God has already answered our prayers for equipping:

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. Ephesians 6:10-20

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. 1 Peter 5:8

Please pray specifically as we prepare our testimonies, which have to presented in 4 minutes (per person) and 5 minutes, before other candidates and the board.

To prepare for the oral exam, we have compiled a list of potential questions we think might be asked, and Chris and I plan to study and practice answering the questions orally. Please pray that we might memorize some of the most relevant scriptural references.