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19 Years of Being a Pastor’s Kid – The Good and the Hard (#121)

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You’ve probably heard of the term ‘PK’ or ‘MK.’  Yup, I’m talking about being a pastor’s kid in this podcast because pastor’s kids, missionary kids are very near and dear to my heart.

Or. Maybe you haven’t, and you’re wondering why in the world I’m doing this podcast.

I don’t know who will be able to relate, but I’m pouring my heart out here, in hopes that it will truly bless someone, whoever that might be.

My dad became a pastor when I was 7-years-old.  That was back when I kind of naively floated through life, and I didn’t much care what was happening around me.  

Then I became a teenager, and I started to feel. um. different, as my dad was someone in ministry.  

Now being in ministry does NOT make you better than anybody else.  It doesn’t make you ‘more holy’ than anyone else.  In fact, it’s one of the hardest things that I think people might ever do, and it sometimes has felt nigh to impossible.

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New Zealand in Pictures (3 Weeks of A Dream Come True)

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I wanted to share the New Zealand trip with you in pictures because words don’t do it justice.  It was absolutely everything I had imagined and more; it was like a mix of Alaska, Florida, Colorado, Maine, and so many other gorgeous place I’ve visited all in one; yet it was a country all its own.  

Here New Zealand is in all its glory.  

It was springtime there so the flowers were stupendous.  

The Hamilton Gardens (They had such a variety of gardens from Italian to English to Japanese)

Peanut Butter Icecream with PB chunks (Their dairy in New Zealand is to write home about more than once.) 

A gorge we drove through on a scenic route down to Wellington to take the ferry the next day.  

One of our first views of the ocean in NZ.  This was north of Auckland.   

Tongariro National Park – We went to what is known as the land of ‘Mount Doom.’  Much of the North Island is very green and lush, and then in the middle of the island, you come on this desolate (almost no trees) part of New Zealand.   And in the middle of it is a few mountains, one of them being Mt. Ngauruhoe, (AKA: Mt. Doom).   

And then there was International Hobbit Day in Matamata, New Zealand.  –  This was easily one of the highlights of our trip.   September 22nd is ‘Bilbo’s birthday’, if you’re a Lord of the Rings fan, and we got to be part of a giant feast, tour, dancing, and feeling like we were hobbits on the Hobbiton movie set.

My face when I discovered a hobbit hole. It was pretty surreal and such a blessing to be able to explore and hear fun facts about how the Hobbiton movie set was made and developed and carefully honed to create the Hobbiton we love so well. 

For this I feel pictures don’t even do it justice, but pictures are such a good way of remembering what a wonderful time my sister and I had in New Zealand.  The food that night felt like what it would’ve looked like at Bilbo’s birthday or the night that the dwarves and Bilbo had their first dinner together in Bag End. 

(Totally geeking out here.  If you don’t like LOTR, feel free to skip this part.)

The feast – Y’all the feast was AMAZING.   It felt so freeing to be able to enjoy and eat all the foods.  i was so full afterwards, and every ounce of food eaten was incredibly worth it.  

Before we went down to the South Island, we went to Weta Workshop in Wellington to see the place where THOUSANDS of the props were made for the Lord of the Rings movies and so many other popular movies.  It made me appreciate what goes into making a good film (and sadly, some trashy films that are not worth watching).   

One of the most incredible non LOTR things we saw was the sobering Gallipoli exhibit in Wellington.   The whole exhibit represented the story of the Gallipoli battle that included 15,000 New Zealanders and 50,000 Australians.

You need to go see it.  I wished we had had more time to walk through it, but these sculptures were so big they each filled one whole room.   

And then . . . we slowly made our way down to the South Island.  

This is where the astounding views that so many movies like King Kong, Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit, and others are famed for; it was SO much more awesome in person.  It kept making me think, ‘How could we ever think that there is not the God of the Universe?’   

The views on the ferry to the South Island were astounding, breathtaking.  When the south island rose up before you with the huge mountains, deeply forested thick green hills, it was just like a dream.  But it was real.  

The cool thing about New Zealand is this.  You can go up to the mountains on one day and go snowboarding, and you could go to the beach (as you see here) and dip your toes in the water or go body surfing in a wetsuit.  

we also saw the most sheep I’ve ever seen in my life.   We stayed at a ‘farm Air Bnb’ stay, and we got to feed their cute llamas and fluffy alpacas.  

I also got to travel with my youngest sister who is one of the most flexible, fun, funny, nurturing, gentle, kind people that I know.  I have seen her grow so much in her Christian walk this past year, and I felt so privileged to go with her.   

She was also the one who took the really good pictures.

Where We Stayed?  

We stayed with 5 Christian families, and we also got to stay at 10-11 Air B&Bs. We loved most of them except for one, and I’ll share a few snapshots to entice you to hopefully want to go visit.  

We got to stay at a sea-side apartment, two farm houses, with the sweetest older couple, in a home with an older lady who had the coziest most beautiful bedroom and bathroom, a tiny house, and an apartment in Queenstown.   

My Favorite Things About New Zealand?

The Views.   The People (Everybody was really friendly and welcoming, and it’s so multi-cultural). The Food (The icecream and the chocolate).  The Rugged-ness of it and how untouched it feels by commercialization.  

This trip was so glorious, a step away, refreshing, delightful, full of good good things, and I feel so overwhelmed by this dream come. true trip.   It made me think about how KIND and GOOD my Heavenly Father is; He saw fit to give me and my sister this trip, and I’m thankful I can share snapshots with you.  

Ending this with a Psalm of Praise.  

Psalm 145, ‘

    and bless your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless you
    and praise your name forever and ever.
3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
    and his greatness is unsearchable.

4 One generation shall commend your works to another,
    and shall declare your mighty acts.
5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
    and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
6 They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,
    and I will declare your greatness.
7 They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness
    and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

8 The Lord is gracious and merciful,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 The Lord is good to all,
    and his mercy is over all that he has made.

10 All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,
    and all your saints shall bless you!
11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom
    and tell of your power,
12 to make known to the children of man yourb] mighty deeds,
    and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
    and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

[The Lord is faithful in all his words
    and kind in all his works.]c]
14 The Lord upholds all who are falling
    and raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look to you,
    and you give them their food in due season.
16 You open your hand;
    you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways
    and kind in all his works.
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him,
    to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
    he also hears their cry and saves them.
20 The Lord preserves all who love him,
    but all the wicked he will destroy.

21 My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
    and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

Would you prefer pictures or a ‘words’ recap of a trip?   

Understanding and Dealing with PTSD (Episode #119)

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PTSD.  Understanding it is something I didn’t really do until I met people who really struggled with it.  I didn’t really know what this meant growing up; but the more I grew, the more stories I heard, the more people I met, especially a dear dear friend who wears her heart on her sleeve, who has influenced me in a profound way, has struggled with PTSD since childhood.  

Jamie is my heroine.  She’s truly a sweet savor of Christ Jesus to me everyday.  I’ll text her with my sorrowful story of the day, asking her to pray for me, and she never belittles my problems, even though I know what she’s going through is HARD.

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From Heavy Restriction to Grace Fueled Living (Episode #119) .

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‘When you accept grace, that’s when freedom really starts.’  Grace fueled?   Wouldn’t you love a life that is fueled with grace, fueled with the knowledge that you can not be good enough, but there is One who has covered you in His blood and righteousness, who calls you His own, who has released you from the bondage of sin, to be FREE in Christ Jesus to follow Him?

How does being ‘grace fueled become part of health and living?  

Grace fueled living vs. restriction based living #gracefueled #beautyinChristpodcast

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That’s what today’s podcast is all about; it’s filled with Scripture.  It’s filled with biblical encouragement.  It’s filled with the reminders of God’s incredible grace to sinners, making them saints.  

I could NOT wait to interview Aubrie at the Grace Fueled RD.  She is a Christian, a mommy, a wife, and a wonderful Christian dietitian who is teaching and enabling women to live and walk in the freedom that Christ Jesus has given us in Him to enjoy good food, to rest, to exercise out of freedom not out of bondage. 

I can not tell you how gracious God is and how much He has put other women in my life like Aubrie, whom I haven’t met in person, but I have found her posts so life giving.  And the podcast was amazingly life giving, encouraging, and full of delightful smiles and laughs.   

In this episode Aubrie talked about:

– Her own story with food freedom, grace fueled eating 

– Your identity in Christ being so important for struggles with body image, food, and exercise

– What intuitive eating truly is 

– Aubrey’s growing up as a pastor’s child and her family learning the true meaning of God’s grace and Christ Jesus being the One we need

– Aubrey’s journey as an athlete and coming into a place of true freedom

– Truly knowing who we are in Christ Jesus

– What the Scripture says about freedom to eat different foods 

– Being distracted from the lies (being rooted in the truth)

– Living a grace fueled life, not just in food, exercise, and body image 

– When God wants you to rest or God wants you to have a busy season 

A Book Aubrie Mentioned:

Emily P Freeman: The Next Right Thing

Verses to Read:

Mark 7:18-22, “And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?”f] (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.””   

1 Corinthians 8:8 ,’Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.’  

1 Timothy 4:1-4, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.”  

*Also I had to smile because of how many times I said, ‘I love.’  I truly did LOVE it all, but I didn’t realize how much I say that.   

I think one of my favorite things was how much the Lord Jesus Christ shined through Aubrey’s voice and story.  She is so full of joy, so full of the grace of God, so full of the joy of the Holy Spirit, and the peace of Christ Jesus.   You will hear it 100% throughout the whole episode.  

Grace Fueled living: how does that look in your life?  

How have you seen your need for God’s grace?   

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