Why Can’T I Love My Pastor’S Wife?

By Shonda Moliere Little

Why Cant I Love My Pastors Wife was written to expose and unsilence the truth about the pastors wife and how she is often treated in the church. Attitudes concerning the pastors wife have been one of the hindering forces that have hindered the church from going forth. There has been a masquerade in the church that says that everything is well. This area has been completely silenced too long.

In this book, Shonda Little asks a very thought-provoking question. She asks, Why cant I love my pastors wife? In this very personal and heartfelt book, she manages to address this very sensitive question through her personal experiences as a pastors wife and through the Bible.

Romans 15:7 tells us to receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God. This means that we are to receive the pastors wife as well as the pastor. The church has to love and accept the pastors wife because they are one. They cannot be separated. You cannot love the pastor on the scale of ten and love the wife on the scale of five. This area has been an underlying factor that has been in the church to keep it hindered and divided. There must be unity in this area in the church. When this happens, there is division. The devil uses this to cause division in the church. God said that where there is unity, there is strength.

This book will unsilence this area in the church so that the church can move forward in unity and the love of God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Nov 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512766554

Shonda Moliere Little

Shonda Moliere Little is a graduate of Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She is currently pursuing a PhD in theology. She and her husband, Robert Little, are the founding pastors of Agape Fellowship in Davant, Louisiana, where she has assisted her husband for over twenty-seven years in the ministry.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 Shonda Moliere Little.

Author photo by George Brown

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

1 [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5127-6654-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-6653-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-6655-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016919685

WestBow Press rev. date: 11/23/2016

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 My Life before the Ministry

Chapter 2 My Journey Begins

Chapter 3 Isolation in the Church

Chapter 4 Different Treatment and Behavior

Chapter 5 Meddlers in the Church

Chapter 6 Gossip in the Church

Chapter 7 Allowing the Spirits of Strife and Bitterness to Enter In

Chapter 8 I Went to Hell

Chapter 9 God Gave Me a Second Chance

Chapter 10 Vision about the Church

Chapter 11 Where Am I Now?

Chapter 12 Who Is the Pastor’s Wife?

Chapter 13 Who Are Some Pastors’ Wives in the Bible?

Conclusion

About the Author

I

dedicate this book to my Lord and personal Savior, Jesus Christ. I thank Him for dying for my sins and for saving me. Most of all, I thank Him for loving me.

To my mother, Lilly Hills Cosse, who taught me how to pray and reverence God. I will always love you for that.

To my husband, Robert George Little III, for loving me unconditionally.

To my children, Stasia and Robert IV. You are my gifts from God.

Introduction

In May of 2014, God told me it was time to write my story. You see, after many trials, heartaches, and struggles, God placed this book in my spirit during one of the most difficult times in my life. It was also during one of the greatest storms in the history of mankind.

We had left home and gone to McKinney, Texas. It was there that God began to speak to me. While lying in a hotel bed, He spoke. Yes, God still speaks to His children. The Bible says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and for ever (Hebrews 13:8). Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice (John 10:27). Jesus said it, so I believe it. Hallelujah! He gave me the title of this book and told me to write it. After struggling with this over a course of eleven years, I decided to obey God, for to obey is better than sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22). I thank God for His mercy and that He is longsuffering.

In the natural, Hurricane Katrina did not mean that much to me, because I had already endured many storms, including a major spiritual storm in my daily life as a pastor’s wife. Some might say that this sounds harsh; but remember, I lived it. During Hurricane Katrina, I felt like a chicken with its head cut off, but I was alive! My entire family was safe, but the church buildings were gone. Gone! And our church family was gone.

Imagine watching the church that you had been with almost twenty years blown away in a blink of an eye. Ours was under twenty-nine feet of water for over two weeks. What were we going to do? My husband was distraught. He had poured his heart into our church family. Unlike his wife, he had given it everything that he had. Even though I helped my husband in the ministry all the time, prayed for and supported him, I had not given it my all. Why? Because I did not feel accepted and loved in the church.

Although everything was gone, we both knew that God had a plan for us. We knew that He was in control. We also knew that He would show us what to do. So, if you are led to read this book, I hope you are blessed and enlightened. If you are not led to read this book, please pass it on to someone that it might bless.

Chapter 1

My Life before the Ministry

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

—1 John 4:20

While being saved for several years and visiting a lot of churches, I often heard the phrase I love my pastor. In conversations, I heard people brag and rave about their pastors. Very rarely, however, did I hear anything positive about the pastor’s wife. But I did hear these phrases:

• I don’t like my pastor’s wife.

• My pastor’s wife thinks she is all that.

• My pastor’s wife is stuck up.

• My pastor’s wife is worldly.

• My pastor’s wife is not good enough for him.

Wow! Though I had heard all of these things, I never thought that people would say any of them about me. Boy, was I wrong!

In many ways, I have always been naive. My family often teases me about that, but it’s all done in love. I was naive before I was born again, and that naivety carried over into my Christian life. I guess this was in part due to how and where I was raised. Growing up in the country is very different from growing up in a city. I had never smelled marijuana until I went to college. No, I did not smoke marijuana in college or any other time. I am far from being perfect, but marijuana has never been a problem for me.

I