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Monday, July 6, 2015

Christina Linstrot Miller: Character Identification

God wastes nothing—even our hard time.

My husband, Jan, and I have been in the ministry for twenty-eight years. When Andrea included a ministry couple in our story, I wanted to bring the pastor’s wife, Estelle, to life. I painted her as a childless woman, like myself, who dedicated her life to helping her husband succeed in ministry. 

But as I got to know Estelle’s quirkiness and gentle heart, I suddenly realized that she had a painful past.

In an instant, I traveled back in time to the day the Lord called Jan and me to a tiny, struggling church. One that had been hurt badly by a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” 

Like Estelle and Robert, my husband and I worked, prayed, loved, visited, served. But the church simply would not grow. 
Jan and I wondered if maybe we were out of God’s will. Maybe we were doing something wrong. Or, worse, maybe we harbored some secret sin and didn’t realize it. But I eventually realized that wounds take time to heal. We began to see slow progress.

Our character Estelle fought the same battle. So I wrote a few paragraphs based on our experience, crying the same tears Estelle and Leah cried in the novella Andrea and I wrote together.


Christina Linstrot Miller,
coauthor of
"One Way to the Altar"
Pouring my heart into those lines was hard but healing. Maybe another pastor’s wife would read them and discover she wasn’t alone. Some church member might begin to understand how much pain comes with ministry and would begin to love her pastor’s wife, be a friend to her.

Thank You, God, for redeeming my difficult time.

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13 comments:

Melody said...

I understand exactly what you're saying as a pastor's wife, now a missionary one. In the beginning I built a fortress around my heart but through the years, I let it come down.

J Graves said...

I can so relate! I look forward to reading the book and maybe crying with Estelle as I face my own memories of what she is going through.

Chris said...

I love authors blogs hops so I can find some new authors. Can't wait to read some of your work.

Chris said...

I love authors blogs hops so I can find some new authors. Can't wait to read some of your work.

MeezCarrie said...

My grandfather was a pastor of a small rural church - I can totally relate. Looking forward to reading your contribution to the collection :)

Unknown said...

Love getting to know a new author I haven't read:) Thank you. Excited to read your books:)

Trixi said...

I love my pastor's wife! She is such an encouragement to me and we do get together for coffee and fellowship every once in a while. I don't really know what it's like to be a pastor's wife, I can only imagine how it is. So I try my best to show her my love for her and make sure she knows I support her (and the pastor) in their ministry! I'm behind them 100% :-)

GrandaddyA said...

That sounds like an interesting book. More stories like this could help some people if they would read them.

Charlyn said...

Looking forward to reading yours and others in collection, meeting new authors. Winning a book is one of the best ways to brighten my day.

Anonymous said...


Hello Andrea. I would love to read one of your books, like Stitched with Love. I tried to win it but never was lucky enough. Hope to win on this Blog Hop. Thanks for writing good books. I like the looks of the Fabric of Time series. Maxie > mac262(at)me(dot)com <

Deanna Stevens said...

I would love to read your books.. I really enjoy collections :) I get to meet
some great new authors that way. thanks for the giveaway!
dkstevensne AToutlookDoTCom

Nick Kording said...

I agree that God wastes nothing. I feel like he tucks these moments away in your minds to be used in conversations, books and to comfort later.

Lane Hill House said...

So glad you both got together to write this story. Amazing what our Lord gives you individually to bring His story about. Kathleen ~ Lane Hill House