This August I celebrate 20 years of marriage. In those 20 years, I became a mother of two children (Rachel (17) & Jacob (almost 16) and I spent three years as a  youth minister's wife,  four years as a  pastor's wife, eight years as a missionary (did you notice I didn't say a missionaries wife)?! and I have spent the last four years in Raleigh, where I am currently a PhD student/Director of the Center for Great Commission Studies'/Associate Pastor of New Covenant Fellowship Church's wife as well as a mentor for college/seminary student's as well as seminary wives, and guest lecturer for the course Preparing for Missions for the Biblical Women's Institute Program. Had someone approached me even 25 years ago with this picture for my life I would have not believed them.

For you see, I was raised in a divorced home and my mom and step father did not come to Christ until I was in college. As a young child I was only brought to church periodically; mostly for Easter and Christmas services. My grandmother was a committed member of her Catholic church but when I attended the services they were still taught in Latin so I didn't understand anything that was being said or done.

However, when I was nine years old a neighbor began to take me to church, and I accepted Christ as my Savior during a Vacation Bible School service. My mom was happy for me and bought me a Bible but didn't not feel comfortable allowing me to follow through with baptism, and was not prepared to help me grow in my new faith. Unfortunately, shortly after my decision my family moved to another city and I spent the next six to seven years without a church or someone to disciple me as well as making several other moves that had me attending three different middle schools and three different high schools.

Throughout those years I had a sense of the sin in my life and carried a lot of guilt with me simply because I didn't have an understanding of living in obedience to God's Word.  During this time I made some poor choices and tough lessons of life were learned. While I was in my early years of college my younger sister was saved and invited my mom and step dad to church where they both accepted Christ. At this point I had filled all of my time with college and work and didn't make church a priority. As I finished up my Associates Degree at a Junior College I began to think about what college I would transfer to in order to finish my Bachelors Degree. At the time my mom was a secretary at a church and growing as a new believer and she knew many people associated with the University of Mobile (a small Baptist College in Mobile, Al.). I decided to attend this college and it was there that God began to do a tremendous work in my heart and life.

For the first time in my life I was able to see with my eyes the transformation that is made when one accepts Christ as their Savior and allows Him to truly change their life. I took courses where I was able to study the scriptures and learn about the life of Christ for the first time. Before this time I had only known that I was a filthy sinner in need of a Savior. After this time, I was aware of my responsibility to deny myself daily and follow after Him.

I began attending church with my family and that is where I met my husband. I knew when I married him that our life together would be spent in ministry but never imagined all the things and places that commitment has taken us. You see, we both learned that following Christ is a daily surrender to what He wants for our lives and not necessarily one particular job that you spend years preparing for. It has been a joy to serve Him together and to see all the opportunities He has given us to lead others to that same sweet salvation we call our own.

Lesley is married to Scott, and they have two children, Rachel and Jacob.  Scott Hildreth is is currently serving as the Director of the Center for Great Commission Studies at Southeastern and working on his PhD in Theology.  Lesley teaches Preparing for Missions each Fall for the Biblical Women's Institute. In her spare time she loves spend time with people, read and be outdoors.  Lesley has a strong heart for the nations  and desires to see people come to Christ.

Reblogged from desiringgod.org 
by Jonathan Parnell | April 19, 2012
 

We love to be on the move. Movement, activity, journey — Western society is a society on the go. Anthony Esolen calls it the "compulsion of perpetual mobility" in his recent Touchstone article, "God's Place and Ours: On Mutability and the Lost Virtue of Steadfastness." Pilgrimage has deep roots in the soul of Western humanity, he explains. But the problem now is that it's a pilgrimage detached from an end. A journey without a destination.

Esolen writes,

We praise ourselves for our mobility, meaning that we can move, without noticing that without any sense of ultimate meaning, without any Person to whom we grant ultimate allegiance even in the smallest acts of our everyday lives, we must move. We are under compulsion of perpetual mobility precisely because, without God, to settle means to acknowledge defeat, and to rest means to die within. (27)

So we love journey for the thrill, not where it's taking us. We are here and there and back to here, so wrapped up in what's happening that we've made tomorrow colorless. We've bleached our future with an indulgence in present busyness. I mean, let's face it: we would prefer to thumb through our Twitter feed than give two solid minutes to imagining the new Jerusalem. And that ain't right.

It's movement without a destination that Esolen says has eroded the virtue of steadfastness. Because we've forgotten where we're going we can't be steadfast where we are. We'd rather just change than devote ourselves to "this place, this work, this spouse, this land."

But this so contrary to the church's character we find in Scripture. Read Hebrews. These saints who have gone before us, whose faith we're called to model, sought a homeland. They desired a better country. They looked to the city that is to come. The picture of their faith brings us back to reality. It points us to God. He is a God who can be trusted. A God who cannot lie. A God who does not change. A God who is the designer and builder of a new creation — a new creation we hope in simply because this God is its designer and builder.

The verdict is settled on this one: looking towards our future home affects how we live now. It exudes a staying power. Knowing that we have a better possession and an abiding one launches us into radical ministry here. The incomparable glory that is to come gives us perseverance in our sufferings here. And this is what boggles the world's mind. You want to take my property? Fine. You want to take my life? Death is gain. The blaze of this steadfastness is fueled by the air of a better country, that is, a heavenly one.
So "be steadfast, immovable," Paul tells us. Stick to it. Abound in your work. Gaze upon what is to come, and hold fast today.

But don't do it as an attempt to recover a slipping virtue. There's a better motive: namely, God.
It's that God is the same, and God is enough. The joy of his Revelation 22:4-presence is a joy that has broken into our lives now. Jesus has suffered, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, now. Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through Jesus, now. Indeed, we have fellowship with the Father and with his Son, now.

The main continuity between this world and the next — the continuity that makes us steadfast — is joy in God. Though one day sin will be gone, and all things made new, God will never be more our God than he is right now in Jesus. He is our Father, our Dad. We call him that now and we will call him that then. And he is enough, so much enough for us. He is. The fullness of his name will satisfy our hearts with a pleasure that mutes the tyranny of compulsive mobility. And therefore, we've calmed and quieted our souls. We've been weaned from all the movement. We know how to stay because we know where we're going. The God there is the God here.

How to Steady Yourself in the Age of Compulsive Mobility

Get involved with women's ministry and become a member of the Connecting Point Ministry Team!  If you have any questions please call Women's Life at (919) 761-2340 or email us at womenslife@sebts.edu. 

Don't forget to sign up for the Sew Cute event coming up Saturday, April 21st! The class will include skills for all different levels, so whether you are a beginner or a professional come out and learn new skills.  Register for the event by emailing us at womenslife@sebts.edu or calling us at (919) 761-2340. Childcare is not provided for this event.