I can’t believe this is the last Sunday in April! It’s been a fast month and I’m ready for May. Actually May is a big month for us.
Wayne and I have been at our church for a little over 5 years. In case some of you don’t know, my husband is the senior pastor. I’m telling you this because every 5 years we get a month long Sabbatical.
A Sabbatical is a time of rest and refreshment. Today Wayne is preaching but will not have to preach again until June. It’s a much needed break and we are so thankful our church gives us this time away.
This past year has been a stressful year for our family and I know it’s been difficult for Wayne as he tries not only to minister and comfort our church family but truthfully he’s had to minister to us too.
So what will we be doing during his Sabbatical?
Well, we’re going to spend some time together! Yay! Ministry is draining and we both need some time “off”.
Wayne has a stack of books he’s going to read, he’s going to fish and spend as much time outside as he can.
We’re also going to be visiting other churches. (We might be coming to your church! Ha!) It will be so nice to sit with my husband at church. It’s the little things.
We’re heading to New York to go to the Brooklyn Tabernacle church. Jim Cymabala is the pastor there and is a mentor to Wayne.
So that’s about it, I’ll still be blogging and I’m speaking to a group of women about inner beauty on May 17th.
I hope this didn’t bore you but it’s what’s going on in our life so I thought I would share it. 🙂 Do you have any big plans in May?
I’ve been listening to this song by Citizen Way. It’s a contemporary version of Amazing Grace. Can we ever have too much Amazing Grace?
Have a blessed Sunday!
Just came across your blog from another blog and what a delightful visit it has been. I am so thrilled that your Hubby is granted a Sabbatical, what a wonderful time of rest of restoration that will be for the both of you. My Dad was a Minister and it is a 24/7 job, that’s for sure. I would love to go to Brooklyn Tabernacle! Enjoy your time together!
Thank you Lisa. Glad you enjoyed the song!!
Blessings,
Cyndi
Thank you Yvette!! That’s exactly what we need!
Blessings
Cyndi
You have a busy month! So sorry some of it is spent going through you father-in-laws belongings. I’ve been there and that’s not easy!
Thanks for stopping by!
Cyndi
Thank you Erica. The month will go fast and I hate that for my husband. I want him to enjoy every minute of it.
Thanks for stopping by!
Cyndi
Bonnie we’ve been to church at the Brooklyn tabernacle before. If you ever get the chance to go, do it, it’s amazing!!
Thanks for stopping by!
Cyndi
Susan I would love to visit Australia!!! My husband wants to also but I’m not sure I can stand that long of a flight. 🙂
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Cyndi
Wow! That’s impressive! I couldn’t run The Boston Marathon even if I hadn’t preached! 🙂
Thanks Gina!!
Cyndi
I’m sure you all could use one Suzanne. 38 years is a long time, buy what a blessings!!
Cyndi
Thanks Teresa!! We have a wonderful church family!
Blessings,
Cyndi
Thanks Amy! Yes, breaks through the year are important! We need to re-fuel.
Blessings,
cyndi
Thank you Kay! I saw where you speak at conferences. If you’re ever close to Ky would you let me know! I’d love to come!!
Blessings,
Cyndi
I’m speaking at Parkway Baptist in Bardstown, Ky. 🙂
Have fun Jeannette and soak up every second!!
Blessings,
Cyndi
Wow! You have a busy May!! Enjoy all the special moments!!
Blessings,
Kristine
Oh my goodness. I would love to come to El Paso some day!! 🙂
Cyndi
Thanks Erika!
Weren’t you in Maui last year?? Or am i dreaming that?? 🙂
Cyndi
Thank you so much for sharing my blog!! I’ve always wanted to visit Jersey shore, the real one. 🙂
Blessings,
Cyndi
Wow!! Fun May for you!! Yay!!
Blessings,
Cyndi
Thanks sweet girl! Have a wonderful week!
Cyndi
Thank you Mary!!
I pray the Lord blesses you in your time away – that it may be refreshing and renewing. Enjoy!
LOVED the song, I must admit I was not familiar with it.
Blessings!
Lisa
Praying for a wonderful time of rest, relaxation and a refreshing and touch of the Holy Spirit to flood your heart and soul and fill you both a new! May your time away be blessed so that you are filled and able to bless others.
I pray that you and Wayne have a truly restful, refreshing and rejuvenating month. I believe it is vital for us to take time off to renew our soul, heart and mind. After a period of rest and reflection, we are better able to open our hearts and minds to give the love and understanding necessary to those who need us most. Your trip to New York sounds like an exciting one with great opportunities for both of you.
May is a busy month for us this year. We have 2 nieces who are expecting babies this month, a niece who will be graduating from high school and the wedding of our daughter-in-law’s sister we are looking forward to attending. In between, we hope to get some work done in our yard and hold an auction for my recently deceased father-in-law’s estate. We have been working on his home to ready it for the real estate market and sorting through his belongings (quite painful) to donate to charities, to save for my husband’s siblings and us as keepsakes and deciding what to sell at auction. We will probably end the month tired, but rejoicing at the wonderful events that will pass our way and thankful to our Lord for giving us the strength to carry out my father-in-law’s final wishes. Have a restful and blessed May, Cyndi, God’s blessings to you and Wayne.
Best wishes for a safe trip and enjoy your time together, the month will go fast. I really enjoy all your posts and do not think today was boring at all. Thank you for the uplifting words.
Oh, I so want to visit NYC, and to go to a service at the Brooklyn Tabernacle is also a dream of mine. I pray this is a wonderful time of rest and relaxation for both Wayne and you. I just finished serving on our church’s Pastor Search Committee, and I never fully appreciated the demands they face on a daily basis.
It’s not boring! I love hearing about what you are doing! Envious of you going to NY. I live in Australia so that would be a great holiday for us! Our senior pastor and family are from Europe, so take 4 weeks each year to visit their family. I think it’s very important. And important to “go away” so you can leave your work, and have time for you and God.
Thank you for posting the song, “How Sweet the Sound”. I will pass it on.
Enjoy your break!
After dating and almost marrying the senior pastor of a small church (average attendance 100 weekly) I know all too well the demands on our pastoral staff that many may be unaware of. It’s always worse around Easter, of course but year round it is a job with no time off. Still marveling that my own pastor in a large Texas Baptist congregation hopped on a plane to Boston immediately after the last service on Easter and successfully ran the Boston Marathon on Monday! I hope you and your husband do something more restful during your time off, and that it refreshes and restores you for another year of service – enjoy every minute!
I hope you both enjoy your time together. 🙂
I’m so happy you will get a month together. All church’s should do this… it’s wonderful. Also, can I ask where you will be speaking on May 17th?
Good for you and your husband and your church! My husband’s been a minister for 38 years. Never have had a sabbatical, but I think it’s a great idea.
Praise God your church family takes good care of you! May you have a time of rest, renewal and refreshing. God bless ya’ll!
I am also a pastor’s wife, so I know all too well the stresses ministry brings. I’m feeling it right now. How great that you both get a break. ENJOY! Our church is very understanding & supportive, offering respites throughout the year …here and there. CRUCIAL, isn’t it?! Enjoy your vacation…what a blessing!
I am so glad you will be getting some special time away together. It is always so interesting when our pastor and his wife return from being refreshed. We can feel the rejuvenation and are so blessed for creating the opportunity for them to receive it. it is such a win win situation. I pray your congregation will be so blessed also.
As a fellow pastor’s wife I so understand how precious this time will be for you two. So happy for you! Enjoy and be blessed!
Everybody needs a break to reflect and relax! I’m sure you will both enjoy.
I do have big plans for May. My husband and I are going to visit our only grand daughter who turned 2 in March! Can’t wait. Wish we lived closer together, but that’s life.
My son and his fiancé graduate from Lancaster Bible College in 2 weeks and a week later are getting married! (iwish you could see my dress to help me with jewelry;) then a week later we head to the mountains with my husbands family for rest and relaxation! Enjoy the time away with your husband! i hope you return home rested and refreshed! If you get to Lancaster, Pa stop in @Community Bible Church..God bless!
Cyndi and Wayne,
Hope you enjoy every minute of your much deserved Sabbatical. If you happen to be coming to speak in El Paso, please post a message. Would love to hear either or both of you!
Enjoy your time off together!
I am so grateful that you will have this change of responsibilities and time commitments!! I’ll be praying for a true sense of renewal and refreshment!! My husband and I, along with his brother and wife, are in Maui for an R & R as well. It is “above and beyond” to enjoy God’s handiwork and the beauty of a Sabbath rest ( though my body has not yet cooperated). Blessings!!!
On your way to NYC, stop in Medford, NJ at Fellowship Alliance Chapel (www.faconline.org)! We are in South Jersey between Philadelphia and the Jersey Shore (the real one, not the one on tv!)! We have a Saturday evening service and 2 Sunday services! It would be neat because I already told my senior pastor’s wife to look you up because, believe it or not, you look alike! Blessings on your special time!
Cyndi: Your upcoming May sounds great, and as the wife of a dairy farmer, I cherish every time I get to sit in a church pew next to my husband on Sunday mornings, too! (you are so right…it’s the little things 🙂 in life!) I am also traveling to New York in May (from my home in southwest PA)…I will be going to Angelica, NY, which is near Rochester, to visit my cousin…very excited for that trip and at the very end of May, I am traveling with two of my best church-girlfriends to the Greenbriar in West Virginia. YAY for May! 🙂
Praying this is truly a time of restoration for both Wayne and you! 🙂 May your Sunday be blessed today! Hugs!
Cyndi, how wonderful that your church is giving you this sabbatical! I pray that you will come back refreshed and renewed. I also love this version of Amazing Grace!