Secrets of a Pastor’s daughter 6 - The call to the Altar

 When my father was sent back to Brazil, for me it was all very new, a new reality. We went to a big church in São Paulo. Many assistants, a lot of people, a lot of youths, pastors, assistant pastors, it was all so different from Japan! I was used to having things to do in the Church, such as cleaning, to evangelize, to help in the Church in anyway, because we didn't have so many people in Japan like we had in Brazil, but still I did not fail to do what I had learned and loved to do: to serve Jesus.

When I would find an opportunity, I would clean the church, I would help to do something in the Church, I would stay close to the assistants to learn, I would fast before every meeting, I would counsel the people that needed help and I would consecrate myself because I wanted to deliver the people who were being oppressed by evil spirits, they were so many people who needed help! I continued doing my best for Jesus, even when there were so many other people to help. When we want, we always find something to do.

Since my baptism with the Holy Spirit, a burning desire grew within me to serve God on the altar and I never doubted it. This happens because God himself chose us to serve Him. It is He who puts that calling inside of us. I never worried about if I was going to have a place to live in or not, if I was going to have a car or some type of comfort, on the contrary, I had seen it in my own life how the life of a pastor was, because in the very beginning of my father’s ministry I saw the struggles. We lived in the back of a Church in the Brasilia countryside, where our bathroom was the public restroom, in the church hall… We had the experience of living in a small room above the Church, without any comfort or privacy. We had lived in a tiny house in Japan with my father's family with a total of 9 people, where we slept on the floor of the living room, my whole family and I. We would ride bicycles because we had no car, we would ride it under snow, rain or sun ... Anyway, I always knew that God's work was not a bed of roses, but of struggles, sacrifices and renunciation at all times. I knew that I would no longer have the right to choose where to live, what car to buy or where to go, because my life was in God's hands and He will decide everything. You know friends, it's even funny to say this now, but I remember that I would pray to God and say that when I get married, that He would send us to Africa, because I wanted to help those suffering people, the children and I would tell God that I would not mind sleeping on the floor or even going without food to give to these people my part and that way teach the word of God. That was my dream and still is lol. But not always what we want is what God has prepared for us.

Nowadays I see many young women wanting to marry a pastor, sometimes not because inside of her there is a passion, a strong desire to win souls, but because she sees the wife of her pastor in the Church, looking beautiful and so she wants to look and be that way. But being a pastor's wife goes far beyond being tidy in the Church. Being a pastor's wife is to be the sacrifice in person. It is to be a hard worker, a warrior, strong, but at the same time humble. It is to keep a smile on your face and cry at the feet of Jesus. It is to love the souls, and to give her life for them. It is to think of your neighbor and not to think about yourself, or on how to benefit you. Being a pastor's wife is something beautiful and wonderful, but it's not easy, it is not for everyone. The assistant must first be born of God and be filled with the Holy Spirit, because if not, she will enter the work of God for the wrong reasons and not be happy and still tie up or stop  a man of God from saving many souls. Friends, when we are born of God, He himself puts within us that burning desire to save souls, and we are willing to leave everything for the sake of those suffering people. When we are born of God we no longer think of ourselves and our only desire is to please Him. If you want to be a pastor's wife, analyze yourself well, see if there is no personal reason within you behind that decision, see if your love for souls goes beyond a status, make sure that in fact you are willing to obey God without hesitation. See if God has placed within you the calling and if so, you can be sure that in time He will call you. Next week I will tell you the story about my first boyfriend. A big kiss to all and see you then. God bless you.

Juliana Furucho