Recently, I was talking with my colleagues at TGC about pastoral discouragement and burnout. These days, we all know someone who has left the ministry (or decided not to sign on in the first place) because it all feels like too much. De-churching, church hurt, pastoral failure, and church conflict can all make ministry seem like a painful calling.

For pastors’ wives, too, the cost of ministry looms large. I’ve been in that role for nearly 20 years, but you don’t have to be a pastor’s wife yourself to know that ministry wives are often burdened by people’s expectations and worn down by their criticisms.

What you may not know is that being a pastor’s wife is filled with opportunities for joy.

Pastors’ wives have a front row seat to the work of God. We are often the first to witness the conversion of new believers, the first to hold the newborn members of the next generation in our arms, the first to intercede for God’s people in acute distress, the first to weep with those who weep, the first to rejoice with those who rejoice. The calls and texts about healing, reconciliation, and new birth come to our phones first. The stories about God’s mercy fall on our ears first. The news of answered prayer lifts our hearts first.

These are the things nobody tells you about being the pastor’s wife. But maybe it’s time we did.

As pastor’s wife Glenna Marshall wrote recently, “[The Lord] may call us to suffer in ministry, and he may have long lessons of faithful endurance to teach us—but I can assure you it’ll be worth it. The joys of loving my church family far outweigh the sorrows.”

Glenna and I and many other pastors’ wives will be at The Gospel Coalition’s Women Conference, June 20–22 in Indianapolis. We’ll have a chance to worship together, to talk about ministry’s challenges, and to remind one another of its countless joys. Register soon—prices increase March 1 and we’d love to see you there!