Updated Monday, Nov 12, 2007

Life's guarantee: God is good

By Dianna L. Cagle

BR Assistant Managing Editor

GREENSBORO -- Minister's wives were moved to tears at their conference in Greensboro Nov. 12 when Teresa Brown shared how "Life is hard but God is good."

Brown, wife of Hickory Grove Baptist Church pastor Joe Brown, of Charlotte, shared her experience with cancer with about 50 pastors' wives at Lawndale Baptist Church for the 52nd annual meeting of the North Carolina Baptist Ministers' Wives.

Brown expressed her love for each woman in the room. Being a pastor's wife has some special considerations other people might not know about, she said.

"In the last 34 years, I have heard -- conservatively -- at least 5,000 sermons that (her husband, Joe Brown) has preached," she said, adding that if each sermon was 35 minutes each, she would have heard him for 175,000 minutes or 2,917 hours or 122 days or four months. The time adds up, she said.

"Some of you have clocked more hours," she said. "No wonder we're such sweet women."

Brown said that even with modern conveniences, "we all face tough times." She reminded them of biblical figures like Joseph and Noah who faced hardship. Pastor's wives are not immune from hardship, she said, then told of her personal journey.

Four years ago, Brown awakened from a routine hysterectomy to learn she had cancer.

"We're so used to praying for and ministering to other people," she said. "It's tough to be in a place of weakness."

The diagnosis did not just affect her and her immediate family, but the church family as well.

Brown said the hard times can be "numbing, mind-boggling, life-changing, and almost heart-stopping. It has the power to shake you at the very heart of your being. The only way to have peace is through God."

The conference theme -- "Taste and See" -- refers to Psalm 34:8. Brown said God encourages His children to experience Him. God embodies "any goodness that you can comprehend," she said.

Five days after surgery to remove a tumor, Brown said God gave her Psalm 118:17: "I will not die but I will live and proclaim what the Lord has done (HCSB)."

She asked if the women had ever felt that a verse was for them.

"Somehow, some way, I knew that it was for me," she said, and asked God for confirmation.

During a special prayer service, a woman who Brown had never met before came to the service and called her name and said she had a verse. She held up a piece of paper with Psalm 118:17. Brown said that verse, along with others, was repeated over and over again during treatments. A printed copy hung on her IV pole as well.

She said the key to receiving strength in God is "one day at a time."

During her treatments, Brown said she discovered that Phil. 4:13 was true, that through God's strength, she could do all things.

On an especially low day, she said God ministered to her through a song sung by a technician in the radiation room. As the technician sung, "Here I am to worship, here I am to bow down," in her ear, Brown came to realize that God was calling her to worship in a "sanctuary of His choosing. It wasn't doing good deeds or teaching impressive lessons. That day it was about Him."

She said each lady needs to bow before the altar and offer up her broken dreams and promises.

"Life comes with only one guarantee and that is God is good," she said. "I let go. I quit trying to fix it myself. I quit trying to organize it to death."

Your heart will get broken over the years in ministry, Brown said, but "God is bending down and whispering, 'Oh my precious daughter, I'm holding your heart in my hand.'"