The excerpt below is taken from the Preface of "The Pastor's Wife: Strengthened by Grace for a Life of Love" (Crossway). You can download free sampler and study guide from the Crossway website.
"You may read some humorous accounts in this book, but I assure you, I do not believe that ministry by the Word through the Spirit is a joke. What I aim to do here is help lift your gaze to see the supernatural nature in what we are doing as we serve alongside our husbands in ministry. We need courage, strength, faithfulness, humility, and joy. We need to see Christ as our sufficient Savior. We need childlike faith to serve in ministry alongside our husbands—faith that God is glad to give us. The life of Christ in us is our empowering, equipping, unleashing energy for personal holiness and service in God’s kingdom. It is his strength that gives us what we need in order to nurture life in the face of death and through a million deaths-toself each day. We need to remember that even the little blueberry-sized fruits produced by the Holy Spirit through Christ’s people are part and parcel of his kingdom, where his will is done. Our anchor must be cast on Christ, and our foundation must be his Word, because there’s no way we can love our Chief Shepherd, and the under-shepherd we are married to, and the bride we have been united to (Christ’s people, the church) unless we have first seen how Jesus loves us and gives us everything we need for life and godliness. We learn of Christ’s love foremost in the sufficient, authoritative, understandable Word of God, and that’s why the text of the Bible is our focus.
There’s no way a finite heart can hold all the things we face in life and ministry, but Christ can, he does, and he will. Expectations of the minister’s wife swirl all around us. The joy available to us is resplendent and everywhere. The needs press in on us from every side. The grief and horror we experience because of our sin is appalling and replete. Are you burdened not only by the needs of others in your church but by your own as well? I want to show you in this book that Jesus will carry those burdens too (Isa. 40:11; 41:10).
No matter how old you are or however long you’ve been married or served in ministry, I think we can all humbly agree that we have a need for endurance to live kingdom-oriented lives in this dark and fallen place (Heb. 10:36). The endurance we seek is no grim drudgery but a glad dependence on Jesus for a life of love strengthened by grace. That’s what I hope you find in the pages of this little book."