Oh dear.
Where, oh where to begin? The trials and tribulations of the last two years have kept me from my blogging ministry, but my focus was in other places where, as you will see, it needed to be.
I last wrote in October, 2007. Things seemed to be going so well. I was just a happily married gal, being a dedicated mother and wife, and occasionally dabbling in the scrapbooking. Well - let she who stands take heed lest she fall.
Enter our new church music minister. (I will not use his name, but if, after reading this, you think you would like to pray for him, just email me and I will send it to you.) He was a lovely man, with such talent. And he was using it for the service of the LORD when I am quite sure he could have had a career in rock music. Well, "Charlie" (fictional name - email me for the real one so that you can pray) asked for some volunteers from the choir to help organize a sing-a-thon. Of course, my hand went right up. The LORD has blessed me with the gift of event organization, and I am not one to bury my talents, you know. So, I quickly became very involved in the planning of this event. Planning that included late night prayer meetings. LADIES BEWARE. If the church music minister asks you to stay late and pray with him after you have had one to many glasses of the Dutch Sangria, DO NOT DO IT. And I am not one to tell a lady of the LORD not to pray, but my friends, my dear ones, in this situation, it's really best NOT to pray.
I will not go into the sensitive details of what happened next, mostly out of respect for my husband Tom. Tom was not crazy about the idea of my writing this in my Blog ' Blessings, but when I told him that I thought there were other ladies who might be blessed by this part of my testimony, he said for me to go ahead with it.
Well, the church janitor, Ted, who happens to be in my Tom's accountability group, showed up at the church that same night to clean after the VanSipkema funeral. There was a huge mess in the basement from the crumb cake that Lois DeJonge had baked, brought to the funeral and promptly dropped on the floor when one of the high heels she was wearing got caught on the extension cord that was hooked up to the electric punch bowl that Brother Westra had designed and is now trying to market. Crumb cake and red fruit punch make quite the mess. So anyways, Ted the Janitor -- well - he saw some things. Some things that I really wish he hadn't. Some things that make it very difficult for me to see him in church, especially when I am wearing my denim jumper with the fall leaves on it. It has side slits. And I was wearing it on that fateful night. For a while.
Now fast forward almost 2 years. Tom and I have been in counseling for quite some time, have been to three Marriage Encounter weekends and are doing amazingly well, considering. And I am ready to move on from this. I no longer sing in our church choir, though. I felt it was best for me to step down and not serve in such an "up front" position in our church. My blogging ministry, however, will continue for as long as God wills it.
On a side note, I do not believe that a funeral is an appropriate place for an electric punch bowl. Pray with me ladies, as I consider how to confront Brother Westra on this matter. I do believe that these things are best done face to face.
Blessings to you from a fallen sister who has risen up again!
Praise Him!
Bonnie
About Me
- Bonnie
- Well, my name is Bonnie Tuinstra. I have been happily married to Tom Tuinstra for 25 years. He is an engineer at Steelcase. We have 3 lovely children: Tom Jr., Lisa and Lori. We have lived in West Michigan for all of our lives and hope to stay forever! We go to a very nice Christian Reformed Church where my husband leads the choir and I teach the ladies Bible Study. I like to travel, especially to Holland (the city, not the country) for Tulip Time in May and sometimes to South Haven in the summer time.
Blessings Heard 'Round the World!
A Few of my Favorite Things
Some of my dear friends
5 comments:
Bonnie:
It is such a blessing to see you back in your ministry. You truly are a gifted servant of the Lord. I'm sure there are many women at the 172nd Reformed Church that have had their eye on that filandering music director, but I say your story will touch their hearts and lead them right home to bake a tuna casserole for their dear, sweet husband. Now, my Marty, he's allergic to tuna, so I always substitute chicken.
The Lord will give you the words for Brother Westra and his electric punch bowl. It seems it would be more appropriately used at a Fall Harvest Party. It may have not even been an issue if that Lois DeJonge hadn't been wearing her 5 inch stilletos to church again (probably trying to get the music directors eye).
Well dear, I have tulip bulbs to plant and banana bread in the oven. The kids should be getting of the bus any minute.
On a final note, I appreciated your post on those dreadful girls from Hollywood. I agree, a month in Hudsonville would rock their world. We've eliminated TV from the home, too much negative influence from the media. All those gals giving multiple births and all and then exploiting the poor kids on TV. My Tammy and I are now wearing ankle length skirts with our fall leaf print turtlenecks, after all you don't want to cause one to stumble.
Toodaloo, Carol VanHekken
Don't knock the punch bowl! I'll be King of QVC soon.
Oh, and make sure you are wearing rubber soled shoes when using the bowl or you may feel a slight tingle when spooning up the sherbet&7up mix. I'm working on an upgrade for this "problem" people keep bring up (lawyers mostly).
Carol - thank you for your encouraging words as I start anew with my ministry of blogging.
Brother Westra - pride goeth before a fall.
Bonnie - may the Lord bless you all your days. And may you never run out of Dutch Sangria. Your husband Tom sounds like a stick in the mud however and whatever happened the music director. Did he step down from his "up front" position or does he prefer other positions now...?
I'll be trying out the updated punchbowl with the family this Weekend (Thanksgiving - cranberry juice and 7-Up, maybe sneak in a little of the fermented juice to keep them happy).
In your profile it sounds like Tom is the music director (at least the choir director). So was the affair not really an affair but you getting caught by the janitor?
BTW -
I love the jumper with the side slit. Always look forward to seeing you in it (Don't tell Tom!).
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