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Archive for Deployment – Page 2

Trading it all

This fall when a group of soldiers from my husband’s unit returned from Afghanistan, it marked the first time since the war began that all members of that unit would be home in Canada.  For that brief time no one from the Regiment was at war and to celebrate, his Commanding Officer threw a party.

A hall was rented, food was catered, huge door prizes were donated and all the soldiers and their spouses came dressed up and ready to enjoy it.  A big name Canadian band even donated their time to play a private show just for us.

I remember looking around the room that night happy that everyone was getting the chance to just be proud of their unit, their friends and themselves.  If I’ve noticed one major difference between Canadian and American military, it’s the level of pride.  Soldiers here are much more reserved and while we have things like Regimental shirts and sweaters and stickers and flags, they are for the most part just for work.  Maybe it’s the stereotype of the humble polite Canadian, but they tend to leave all the ‘army’ stuff on the job.  So to see them all, in a room with the Regiments crest projected on the walls, celebrating their hard work, it warmed my heart.

After dinner the band got up to play and about halfway through their set they got to one slow song that everyone in the crowd knew the words to and they all sang along to the chorus:

“If I traded it all, if I gave it all away for one thing, just for one thing…”

I stood on the outskirts of what had for the last song been a mosh pit, and I watched all these soldiers with their eyes closed and their hands and cell phones in the air, sing that line over and over with the band.

And I realized the truth of it – that they had been willing to do just that.  They had traded their safe lives at home, their time with their family, the opportunity to spend milestone dates with their kids and holidays with their wives, for a war in the desert to fight for something they believe in.

The even harder reality was that they had been willing to give even more and lay their lives on the line for that one thing – the safety of the people back home.  Not every member of the unit was with us at that party because some had gave it all.

Doesn’t that just give us a glimpse of God’s ultimate sacrifice?  That Jesus, who having it all and living with God in perfection, traded everything he had to be born a man and live on earth, to be persecuted, shamed, beaten and killed, all for just one thing – us.

Jesus’s Disciples dropped their entire lives to follow Jesus during his lifetime on earth and after His death and resurrection, many were imprisoned, beaten and executed for their faith.

The truth is that in many persecuted nations, they understand those early believers and what giving it all for their faith really means.  For many, following Christ means being willing to risk their homes, jobs, families and lives for the sake of Jesus Christ.  This is not a world that we live in here.  And all too often that means that my faith becomes a fair-weather faith and my sacrifice is almost non-existent.

Just as not every soldier will give their life on the battlefield, not every believer is called to face such trials for Christ’s sake.  But in the same way, just as every soldier stands willing to make that sacrifice for their country, we as followers of Christ need to stand willing to lay our entire lives on the alter for the sake of His Name.

Interestingly as I scanned that party I realized that the Regimental motto of my husband’s unit is “Perseverance”.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4

 

 

Kim is a child of God who believes in Grace and is grateful that His mercies are new every morning.  I am a 30 year old wife of a soldier in the Canadian Army.  We’ve been married 10 years and have 3 amazing kids.  We have survived 3 deployments to Afghanistan as well as numerous other training and domestic operations.  While I went to school to be a Social Worker, right now attempting to mother my children is my full time job.  www.kimberleymills.blogspot.com

 

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God is Good, All the Time

My husband’s 2nd tour in Afghanistan he got a replacement crewman in his vehicle, and when he called sometime that week, he told me he was concerned about something this new guy said.

“This is the best vehicle to get,” he said. “Since you’re a Christian we know God won’t let anything happen to you, so I guess that means I’m safe too.”

How great, I thought, that they know his faith through his actions. But my husband saw more than that.

“We both know it doesn’t work that way,”  my husband told me.  “These guys with me, they don’t know Jesus.  What if something happens to me?  If they believe being a Christian means I am totally safe, then what will happen to their faith if I am KIA?”

Before this point, it was easy to say why God is good.  He had brought my dear husband home safe from a tour in the desert already.  He had even managed to bring him home in time to witness the birth of my son.  And now, while he was on this 2nd tour, God had been, so far, keeping him safe again.

But would I have the faith to continue to trust in God’s goodness if he had not made it back in time, or even if he had not made it back at all? My husband’s worry about the faith of his colleagues in the event he didn’t make it home made me realize my faith needed to be unconditional, not just for myself, but as a witness to those around me.

Shortly after that conversation, my Bible study brought me to this verse in Daniel.

“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar, “Your threat means nothing to us. If you throw us in the fire, the God we serve can rescue us from your roaring furnace and anything else you might cook up, O king. But even if he doesn’t, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference, O king. We still wouldn’t serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18, The Message)

Here are these men, facing a burning fire, and they point out two things:

First, that their God can do anything.  If it is His will, he will protect them no matter how hard the King tries to have them hurt.  Their God is bigger than anything Nebuchadnezzar can dish out.

Second, they do not know they will of God.  He may chose, in His wisdom, not to intervene.  And they may burn to death.  But even so, they will worship only God.

These two things are also true in my life.  My God CAN do all things, everything from finding my lost car keys to keeping my hubby safe at war.  But His ways are not my ways.  His plan for my life does not include making things easy for me all the time.

The Bible tells us God is good even when things don’t go our way.  Psalm 145 is one of the most shining examples of intense praise and worship to our God.  It is written by King David, a man who had lived in exile, whose first wife had grown to despise him, whose best friend had been killed in battle and whose son would eventually plot his death.  If it is to teach us anything, it is that our praise to God needs to not be limited to those times that we get what we want.

So my challenge to myself?  To remind myself God is good during those times I am tempted to think he is not.  From the little things like car trouble to the big things like the death of a friend.  His ways are not my ways but His love for me is unchanging.  And I need to praise Him at all times in all things, so those who don’t know Him see that He is always Faithful.  My life may not be perfect, but my God is.

God is good.  All the time, eh.

 

Kim is a child of God who believes in Grace and is grateful that His mercies are new every morning.  I am a 30 year old wife of a soldier in the Canadian Army.  We’ve been married 10 years and have 3 amazing kids.  We have survived 3 deployments to Afghanistan as well as numerous other training and domestic operations.  While I went to school to be a Social Worker, right now attempting to mother my children is my full time job.  www.kimberleymills.blogspot.com

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New Summer Study Helps With Deployment

NASHVILLE, TN – This summer, Wives of Faith will offer an online Bible study specifically to help and encourage military wives going through deployment beginning June 6 through July 25. An 8-week study, Tour of Duty: Preparing Our Hearts for Deployment, A Bible Study for Military Wives, was written by Wives of Faith founder Sara Horn as she prepared for her husband’s second deployment and desired to be more prepared spiritually.

“We are so good about getting everything ready before our husbands leave,” said Horn. “We get the house ready, we try to prepare the kids, each other, the finances, the paperwork. But how often do we take the time to prepare spiritually and look to God for what He wants to teach us during this time?”

This is the second time Wives of Faith has offered the study online. The first online study, held in February of this year, had more than 100 wives from all over the country and various overseas duty stations, participate.

The book is available only through LifeWay and LifeWay Christian Stores. To register for the study, click here. For more information, email Wives of Faith at hello@wivesoffaith.org.

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The Hope of Sunday

Recently, I have thought a lot about the word hope. As a military wife, I hope my husband will come home on time, I hope no deployment gremlins show up to make anything break down or stop working, I hope everything will be smooth-going after we’re all back together.

Hope, by the world’s standards, is fleeting and flighty. It’s wishful thinking, usually a desire that is not any more dependable than a snatch of fading smoke from a lit candle.

But hope by someone who believes in Jesus Christ is not a mere vapor of insignificance. And what happened on that first Sunday so many, many years ago is why we can say that. Jesus made the way – by dying on a Cross for our sins and coming back to life three days later – for hope to wear His silhouette, a reminder that no matter what happens here on Earth, there is a greater day coming.

If you look at the world through the context of the daily news, there’s not a lot of hope out there. Wars, famines, tornados, earthquakes and floods have all brought about great destruction and turmoil in recent memory. There may be many of you reading this who have found yourselves caught up in your own sense of turmoil as you wait for deployments to end or some to begin.

But look at what Romans has to say (Romans 5:1-5) -

1Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith,  we have peace  with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  2 Also through Him, we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand,  and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that,  but we also rejoice in our afflictions,  because we know that affliction produces endurance,  4 endurance produces proven character,  and proven character produces hope. 5 This hope does not disappoint,  because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts  through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

This is a great reminder of what Christ did for us and what He left for us – the Holy Spirit – to help us navigate the ups and downs of this present life and the reminder of the better life that awaits us in Heaven. We are not alone.

I was recently at a ladies church luncheon where the speaker raised the question, “We know what Friday was like and we know what Sunday was like, but what was that Saturday like?” Did that Saturday just feel like a hundred years to Jesus’s disciples, who had followed Him so closely, right up to his last breath? Did they wonder? Did they doubt? Did they struggle? Did they cry?

At that moment, on that day, between Crucifixion and Resurrection, they didn’t know what we know today. They didn’t know the Hope God gave to us all. But we do.

This Easter, if you are dwelling on “Saturday” – if you are crying more and rejoicing less, let me remind you of the hope we have in Sunday, of the Hope Christ gives each of us when we trust Him as our Lord and Savior…

From Matthew 28:1-10, 16-20 –

1 After the Sabbath,  as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb. 2 Suddenly there was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it.  3 His appearance was like lightning, and his robe was as white as snow.  4 The guards were so shaken from fear of him that they became like dead men.

5 But the angel told the women, “Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.  6 He is not here! For He has been resurrected, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay.  7 Then go quickly and tell His disciples,  ‘He has been raised from the dead. In fact, He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see Him there.’ Listen, I have told you.”

8 So, departing quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, they ran to tell His disciples the news. 9 Just then  Jesus met them and said, “Good morning!” They came up, took hold of His feet, and worshiped Him.  10 Then Jesus told them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see Me there….”

16 The 11 disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them.  17 When they saw Him, they worshiped,  but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.   19 Go, therefore, and make disciples  of  all nations,  baptizing  them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember,  I am with you always,  to the end of the age.”

This is our hope. We cling to Him, we praise Him, we thank Him.

“He is Risen, Risen indeed!”

Have a blessed and thankful Easter.

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Don’t let a Government Shut Down Shut You Down (PART 1)

Like most of you reading this, I’ve watched the news closely this week as our government tries to come to an agreement on a national budget. Within that debate, the bigger question for military families, of course, has been whether we will still be able to expect a paycheck.

Spouses are worried. Frantic. Angry. Disgusted. I’ve read the Facebook posts and the Twitter tweets and the blog entries. We’re indignant. It’s a slap in the face of so many sacrifices we feel our service members – and we, in turn, who stand beside them – already offer.

I had similar feelings three years ago, when my husband, a Navy reservist, returned home from his first deployment and his civilian job eliminated his position just six months later, something we felt they’d probably planned while he was away.  I felt those feelings over and over every time he made it to the final interview of a prospective job (and there were many), only to be told they were “going another direction.” As in – far, far away from any possibility their new employee might be called off to lands unknown for any length of time.

Where was the thanks? Where was the care?

Where’s the thanks today as our government weighs the lives and livelihoods of military families on scales measured for political points?

My husband is currently in the middle of his second deployment and we miss him like an astronaut misses Earth’s oxygen. Internet communication is choppy at best. I long for a chance to have a conversation without him sounding like Mr. Roboto or every other word dropping into a cyber black hole. Our discussions have been reduced to quick bytes of text. The important ones: I love you. I miss you. I’m praying for you.

When you think about what’s being threatened and that the basics may be taken away from families who already feel they’ve given a lot, it’s easy to get upset. To get angry. To feel offended. Scared. Panicked.

But going through two years of unemployment, not knowing when the next check would come or what the next source of income would be, has taught me something I want to share in hopes it may encourage you:

God is in control. And He provides. My husband and I saw it over and over during those two years and I trust we will see it during this crisis, should our government be unable to come to a resolution before the impending deadline. We learned what mattered most, we learned what we could do without, and most important, we learned the blessing of drawing in to God when there was nothing left. It’s a lesson we’ve tried to continue to remember even in times of having more than we had during those days.

Crisis situations remind us where our faith and our trust must be. And it’s not on the politicians in Washington. It’s not on whatever savings we may have been lucky, or wise, to have put away for rainy days such as the one we’re looking at right now. When we face a crisis, we have choices on how we respond: we can look every which way for an answer of our own making, or we can look to the One who created all of us in the first place.

While the politicians are pointing fingers at each other right now, I’d like to challenge all of us to point ours to God. To remind ourselves of His promises. Of His assurances we can find in His Word.

If you know God, and I hope you do, you know the peace He gives when storms come. Sometimes it’s easier to remember with our heads than with our hearts, but it is in a crisis, that God desires all the more for us to come to Him. Because when it seems there is no way out, God loves to make a way. If you don’t know God, I’d love to tell you about Him. (Please email me at sara@wivesoffaith.org).

There are a lot of folks today who have no peace and they are looking for it. They don’t know God. They don’t have that relationship with Him.  This crisis will eventually be averted. The money will come back and life will continue. But if you’re a believer, how you respond can have more weight than anything Congress does. What do you look like on Facebook? With your friends in the commissary? Are you joining in the chorus of “the sky is falling?” Or are you standing still in the storm, listening for His voice? To calm the storm? Or to calm you?

This is a moment to reach out – not batten down the hatches and close the doors. Help your sister military spouses. Work together to encourage and find ways to conserve resources. Maybe that means having a few potluck meals with neighbors on your street, sharing what you have. Sit down and help each other figure out what bills need prioritizing and what can be let go (if you have been faithful in paying bills on time, one missed payment should not effect your credit score as I’ve seen so many worrying about).

Here’s my challenge for all of us as we wait to see what happens in D.C. Choose one of the scriptures below today and post it on your Facebook, your Twitter, your blogs. Determine today to stand in faith, trusting God that no matter what happens, He is in control. And be bold enough to say it!

Will you do it? Will you stand when it counts the most? Comment here with the verse you use and/or a link to your page or blog.

Don’t let a government shut down shut you down!

Come back on Monday when I’ll share Part 2 of my thoughts about all this, and what we can learn from it.

Verses for Wives of Faith:

Romans 8:28 – “And we know, that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him who are called according to His purpose.”

Ephesians 3:12-13 – “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. I ask you, therefore not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.”

Ephesians 6:10 – “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.”

Philippians 3:7-8 – “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things…”

Philippians 4:6 – “Do not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:19 – “Ad my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 – “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”

2 Timothy 1:7 – “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.”

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