“How does it feel to be depastorized?”
My friend asked me this question the other day about resigning from First Church four weeks ago as their pastor. I’ve only had four weeks to think about it but here are my immediate thoughts:
Peace: I am a creature of habit and love being planted in one place, so God has to make me incredibly uncomfortable and drag me kicking and screaming for a while before it finally gets into my thick head that it would be a lot easier if I would just do what I’m supposed to do.
God started speaking to my heart at least six months before I finally made the decision to trust Him and follow where He was leading. That meant looking at ministry on the other side of the pulpit.
Calm: Just the fact that I’m not arguing with God brings about a calm that I didn’t have before. But there is a calm that I’ve not felt in years. A calm that allows me to sit with God and not feel pressured to come up with something witty to say each week. I can spend time with God now.
Thankfulness: One of the reasons I was resisting leaving was the love I have for my small congregation. They have loved Steve and me through the good, the bad, and the wonderful.
Another reason I was resisting was that Steve and I were living in the parsonage in the church and he wasn’t working and I knew on my salary at InterVarsity and our existing bills, there would be no way that we could afford rent and utilities.
Enter God and His grace. Once I made the decision to resign, Steve got a fabulous job with the Veteran’s Administration and the very first apartment we looked at I fell in love with and knew was home.
How does it feel to be depastorized?
Blessed. Completely, totally, utterly blessed.
Rediscovering Tina 