Sharing with you, today–Melissa from Life of the Not So Ordinary Wife—
Be blessed, friends.
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1. Tell us a little about yourself, Melissa.
I’m just a girl in love with many things including God, my husband, reading novels, sewing, baking, couponing, graphic design, blogging, photography and so much more!
When it comes to work and getting a project done I am a natural leader, confident, good at what I do and know I’m good at what I do. When I’m around family, I’m totally laid back, love to have fun, love to stay out late, going on random trips, love to just laugh. Now when I’m around people I don’t know I am COMPLETE opposite, quiet, AND shy, but trying to work on that
2. How did you and your husband meet and how long did it take to realize he was the one you would marry?
My husband and I met 10 years ago. My church youth group was visiting his church youth group. I told my sister and cousin that I thought he was cute and well it all went downhill from there. Haha.
We actually started talking about marriage pretty soon, I’d say about 3 months into dating but he waited a year before he actually asked. We are both first-borns and very stubborn so we bickered a lot but when we would look around at all our friends around us every time they fought they would break up. We never once broke up, never even thought about it, we figured we would use our stubbornness for the better and stick together for the long haul. And well here we still are 10 years later.
3. I know for me, marriage makes me reflect on my own faults and shortcomings, what has God used in your marriage to teach you something new about yourself?
PATIENCE, through marriage God has given me more patience then I ever thought I was even capable of. I have learned to take a step back and appreciate things.
He’s also taught me that marriage is not about feelings, it’s a choice, you have to wake up every day and choose to love your husband. There were points in my 7 years of marriage where I had to get on my hands and knees and pray to God for him to renew the love in my marriage, and he did, in fact I even remember one point looking at my husband and just having this overwhelming sense of love and appreciation for him, and then I remembered, “Hey! I prayed for that!!”
4. You have been open about your struggles with infertility, what would you say to others who are or may experience something similar?
Yes, I have struggled my whole marriage with unexplained infertility. It’s been hard, it’s still hard. I think the one thing that I want other women who are dealing with the same thing is that they are not alone. For years I never talked about it with anyone and at times I felt so alone and scared and depressed and so on. I didn’t know anyone else that had gone through anything like this so it was hard for me to be the first one in my family. It wasn’t until just recently in February of this year that I wrote a post on my blog about it and it was the first time that even some of my close family members have ever heard me talk about it. But WOW, it opened so many doors for me, women everywhere were pouring their life stories in emails and comments and so on. I was so overwhelmed with the encouragement and understanding that I felt like it was God telling me to open up more about it, so that I could help other women know that God has a plan for their life and even though they can only see a piece of it now, God is up there seeing the entire picture and He knows what he is doing. Just trust in Him and hang on for an amazing ride.
5. You are a pastor’s kid, a worship leader’s wife, and work for a church. What is the best part of working first-hand in the ministry?
I have been in the ministry my entire life and I would not change it for anything. My family and I live for it, it’s or passion in life. The greatest part by far is how much fun we have. Most people either LOVE the way we do ministry or they HATE the way we do ministry, there is no in between. Ha. My parents are not your ordinary old school pastors, lets just say my dad walks into church and says “yo dawg” to everyone and two Sundays ago we had baptisms in a dunk tank. We are ministering in a town that is filled with crime and homeless people. It was voted in American as the number one most dying city in America. Ya, you’d think it would be hopeless, but NO, when every other pastor is fleeing the city we are here standing strong and know God is going to do something HUGE.
6. When did you start blogging and why?
I started blogging in 2011 but didn’t tell a single soul, not even my family, I just did a few posts for me. It wasn’t until February of this year that I started telling people and I totally fell in love with the blogging community.
7. Who are your blogging buddies/mentors?
There are so many people that I look up to and who have just helped my little blog out tremendously, it’s hard to just pick a few. If I had to pick two it would be:
Kim from http://www.thesasselife.com/
Kristine from http://www.thefoleyfam.com/
AND, today, Melissa is giving one of you lucky readers a
FREE Large Ad space on her blog + a $10 gift card to FOREVER 21!
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Just leave a comment with some kinds words for Melissa on this post and click “Enter” in the rafflecopter widget.
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Yay! How fun & generous!
Nice post about Melissa. Liked the bit about how she met her husband LOL
Great story! I love that she says marriage is not about feelings but about choice. So refreshing to hear it from someone else!
LOVE that you agree with it!!
love the baptisms in a dunk tank! haha
Haha.. I see you are in youth ministry! I think someone in the youth ministry can really appreciate this lol
Hi Melissa – I already follow your blog, and I’m encouraged by your words about your church ministering in some rough areas. Our church’s neighborhood is changing – we are learning how to reach out to newly arrived immigrants, and also people who do not have “churchgoing” (I don’t like that word, but can’t think of a better one) in their background, and we are struggling a bit with that. The language barriers are especially difficult, along with some cultural differences – we are involved with trying to reach the Nepalese community, and as with anything else, there are highs and lows! Thanks for reminding me to just keep working and let God do the worrying : )
That is awesome what you guys are doing for immigrants and the not-so churchy folks. I think that’s who we really try to reach as well, I think people that aren’t church goers really need a place where they can come and feel at home where the typically church goer doesn’t judge them which is what usually happens. I pray that God blesses your ministry!
thanks for the giveaway!
Love that you’ve stuck with your marriage even though you’re both stubborn. Thats so nice to hear. And its really great how you’ve shared some difficult things in your blog. I learn so much through other people’s blogs and also feel like I’m not the only one going through this or that.
So cool to see Melissa over here, I love and follow her blog already
Thanks for the giveaway!
She’s super sweet. What a blessing to open up about her personal struggles, thank you Melissa.
Love how they met! So fun!
I also love how she prayed for a renewed love for her husband – I definitely think in marriage, that has to be done!
Your outlook on life is so wonderful! I agree with you 100 percent; God has a plan for all of us, and it’s comforting to see you can count your other blessings in life even if infertility has been an issue. Continue to be positive and thanks for opening up; I’m sure your story helps so many other women out there who are feeling the same thing. God bless!
so great to hear more of ur story! thx!