"Please don't tell anyone...

that my husband is a pastor." I find myself saying that to my friends a lot. I don't say it out of shame or a free pass to behave however I'd like but there is a wall I must get through when people immediately find out I'm a pastors wife. There is some "pastor's wife mold" I'm supposed to fit into or something. I think people expect me to be simple, plain, wise beyond words, "Ann Taylor-ish", churchy, and religious. I have a friend I work with that loves to tell everyone what Darrell does the second they meet me for the first time. She knows I hate it but she gets a kick out of people's reaction. I guess because I don't fit that mold of what some might expect. I'm flamboyant, boisterous, silly, free-spirited, multi-faceted, a bit flighty, non-religious, "Urban Outfitter-ish," and a bit eccentric. The reason I don't want people to immediately associate me with my husband's title is that some act differently around me. It's as if some walk on eggshells, some won't get to know me out of fear I may judge them, some immediately get defensive and tell me everything that they hate about Christians and church. The truth is I enjoy getting to know people just as they are. I want to know their quirks, the good, the ugly, even the dirty. These are the things that make us who we are. God created me and I've had good, ugly, and dirty in my life as well. One thing I've always tried to remember is what God has brought me through. I'm no different than anyone else but I have been delivered from the ugly and dirty. If we say that we want to be authentic as Christ followers then why do we expect everyone else to act in an non-authentic way around us? While we were YET sinners Christ died for us. God loves us in spite of. If we are showing Christ's love we need to love in spite of as well. I love being a C3 staff wife. I absolutely love bringing new people to C3. That stigma that comes with being a "pastor's wife" usually subsides when I have a friend come in and they are shown love like Christ from my C3 family. I want a revolution. I want to hear my friend at work say, "Guess what her husband does," and I don't feel the air change. I would love for everyone I come in contact with to immediately be receptive to the love of Christ. This will never happen as long as Satan roams this earth. He is a liar and a manipulator of truth. So I just pray that people will see me as Andrea... a loving, authentic person. Through this I can gain the respect to show them that they are not my projects as a Christian or pastor's wife but they are people that God loves and can give abundant life to. Yes, it's true, I'm a pastor's wife... a really HOT pastor at that... but first and foremost I am a child of the One who loves beyond measure. I love being a C3 wife because we break the mold... it truly is all about L-O-V-E!