Ezekiel's Wife:

"Also the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke:
yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.
Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead,
bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet,
and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men.
So I spake unto the people in the morning:
and at even my wife died;
and I did in the morning as I was commanded."
Ezekiel 24:15-18 KJV

Preacher's wives.
Pastor's wives.
The most watched, the most judged and also the most ignored woman in the entire church.
I see it in the eyes of the pastor's wives that I meet,
the hurt, the distrust, the past betrayal. I see them summing me up, wondering if I am gonna be
one of the "good guys" or one of the "bad guys". And if you don't understand what I mean, it's ok, it's a "preacher's wife thang".
We know what it means.
It's not a subject we openly talk about either, because each and every one of us value our privacy,
we respect and love our husbands, we protect and are devoted
to our church family, but most of all, we love God and we trust Him to fight and win our battles for us.
When I read this part of Ezekiel, I saw this woman as a great woman of God.
Ezekiel thought she was the greatest also, because God even called her "The desire of Ezekiel's eyes".
You know Ezekiel loved her, dearly. In verse 25, God compared the city of Jerusalem
to how Ezekiel felt about his wife, "in the day when I take from them their strength,
the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds"|

Ezekiel's wife was everything to him, God was first, then his wife.
She was the strength and joy of his glory, she was the desire of his eyes,
she was what he put his whole mind upon, his every thought was of her, even when he was thinking of God, he was thinking of his beloved.
She was a powerful tool in his ministry. You never hear of her before now, but she was his strength,
she was who he would lay down with at night, she was who cooked his meals,
who rubbed his forehead as he told her about his day, she was the arms that held him when he
fell asleep after he had been awake for days, ministering to a stubborn people.
And then God took her in order to prove a point to Jerusalem, and told Ezekiel not to mourn for her.
No longer would Ezekiel have the comfort of his wife's presence, the touch of her gentle hands,
the soft look in her eyes telling him that everything was going to be ok. He would no longer be able to
hold her, to make love with her, to whisper "I love you, baby, thanks for being there for me."
Ezekiel didn't even get to spend the day with her before God took her home. But he kept going.
Because Ezekiel knew that one day, he would go to heaven, and his beloved wife would be there, saying
"Welcome home, baby, I sure have missed you!"

You know this woman sacrificed her life for her husband's ministry, she made the ultimate sacrifice,
she gave her life. Her life was given up in order to make a point to a group of people
who didn't really even care about her or her husband. She made sacrifices before then too,
because Ezekiel would be gone for days doing what he did for God. She would stay home, tending the place,
knowing that God would bring her man home, eventually, and she would be waiting patiently,
ready to listen to his exploits while she fixed his supper and washed his laundry,
knowing that the next day, God may send her man out again.
I just felt the need to recognize the wives, the women who walk beside, (and stand behind) the men of God.

When "The Preacher" gets up behind the pulpit, we all need to realize that the woman
sitting in the congregation and smiling up at her man has been there with him through all the hard times,
raised his children, taught Sunday School when nobody else would, played music and sang
when nobody else could, stayed up all night and listened to sermons when her husband had nobody else to preach to.....
many, many sacrifices and loving duties that she never, ever receives an accolade for.
Give a preacher's wife a hug, and let her know she is appreciated.
Then get out of her way, cause she's a busy, busy woman, and has things to do!

Sis. Lanesa Jackson
a.k.a.
"Preacher's Wife"

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