My Husband the Priest

This past weekend my husband was ordained a priest in the Orthodox Christian Church (for those of you who may have never heard of a married priest, let me assure you we're not breaking any rules. In the Orthodox Church the clergy can be married, as long as they get married BEFORE they are ordained). As I stood there watching the Archbishop pray for and lay his hands on Jerry (now officially "Father Herman"), I was struck by how far he and I both were from our original plans for our lives...

Although I've always wanted to be a mom and wife, for me the biggest difference of where I am now to where I was five years ago is the fact that I joined the Orthodox Church. I was raised in an evangelical, Christian home and had never heard of the Orthodox Church until my sister Jennifer converted to it while she was in college. I remember at the time most of my family and I thought she was joining some sort of cult. But gradually as we learned more about it we realized she was still a Christian, and accepted her decision. Fast forward a few years to when Jennifer and I were both living in Chicago. I began going to church with her and her husband simply because I had nowhere else to go. Slowly I discovered a depth and beauty in the Orthodox Church that I had never experienced anywhere else. After much studying and praying I made the decision to be chrismated into the Orthodox Church on Pascha (Easter) of 2005. I could go on and on about the life-altering experience becoming and Orthodox Christian has been, but I'll save that for a different post.

As for my husband, he had a few different goals five years ago as well. He was raised Orthodox, and was still planning on getting ordained, but he was also planning on being a monastic, or celibate, priest. Plans were underway for his ordination when he began having dreams of a wife and family. He started feeling uneasy about getting ordained so he decided to put the plans on hold for a while. A few months later I started going to church with my sister, the same church where Jerry was directing the choir. Our eyes met, the heavens opened, and we were struck by Cupid's bows. Okay, it didn't really happen like that. Let's just say he noticed me, it took me a few more months to notice him, we developed a friendship that quickly became romance, and rest is history.

So there I stood last Sunday, watching my husband take the step he'd been waiting to take for so long, thanking God that we'd both been willing to accept His will for our lives over the future we THOUGHT we wanted. It saddens me to think of what could have happened if we hadn't listened to that still small voice inside of us.

So here we are. Priest, wife, son, baby on the way, and lots and lots of plans for the future. Right now we have a pretty specific idea of where we want to go and what we want to do. I hope and pray, however, that we both remain willing to listen to God and His bigger plans for our lives, and if those plans are something we didn't expect, that we still embrace and accept them. After all, some pretty great things happen when you least expect them to.