Having dodged this task with all my might, it became evident that there would be no more procrastinating.  Business had to be conducted at a local public office and, like it or not, my two year old and my newborn son would have to be packed up, dragged along in the heat and readily available to “help” me complete my task.  I carefully fed the baby so he wouldn’t cry and instructed the two year old as to how he should behave while waiting on mommy to be done.  Attempting to keep him entertained, I even handed him the requested pennies thinking that having something to play with would keep him quiet until I was done.

As I walked back to the car, I began to congratulate myself on how well things had gone.  I completed my business, the baby did not choose to scream during it and my two year old had been very happy and contented.  It was only when we got to the car that I realized the folly of my self-appointed congratulations.  When I asked my son to give me back the pennies he had been playing with he promptly informed me, “I can’t Mommy.  I ate them.”

Over the next few days, as I counted through diapers until all the pennies reappeared, I realized how much my life had changed since I had become a parent.  Once, I had felt like a capable, fairly competent woman.  I managed the day to day events of my life with a sense of completion and oftentimes victory.  But now, I frequently found myself feeling as if I was living in my own kind of battle zone, frequently losing the war.  A change in my occupation had reduced me to using Q-tips to do things they never told me about in the mommy books.

Can you relate?  Did you begin your life as a military wife feeling like a capable, fairly competent woman only to now find yourself some days digging through diapers? (please excuse the visual!) Sometimes it can feel like our husbands are not the only ones dealing with battle zone issues.  How do we find purpose in this season of our lives, living as the spouse of a military member?

We are going to spend some time looking at a woman in the Bible named Ruth.  Ruth lived many years ago, but I think God has some things from her life to share with us.  Much like many of our lives as military wives, Ruth found herself dealing with managing life as a woman without a man in her home, undergoing a move, and balancing life as she provided for her family, cared for family members and adapted to a strange and new culture.  Any of that sound familiar to you?  Maybe we will discover that Ruth was fighting some of the same battles we encounter as military wives.  Will you journey with me as we try to find purpose in the lives God has called us to as military wives?

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Bettina has been a military wife for over 29 years. She and her husband Rob have two sons and a daughter-in-law pursuing artistic careers in Los Angeles and a high school daughter at home with them outside Washington, D.C. She blogs at Simple Stories, Timeless Truths.

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