Today marks the official halfway point of our 8-week study! Congratulations! You are doing great!
Discussion Questions for Embracing the Detours
1. What unexpected disasters have you experienced in your spouse’s absence? Share both the funny and the serious.
2. This week you learned about the value of trusting God in the middle of chaotic situations and drama. What tips or techniques do you call on to stay calm when the unexpected comes calling?
3. Detours are not always bad things. What fun experiences did you list to answer the question on page 43 regarding the back-road detours?
4. Which detour seems to hit home with you the most – marriage detours, family detours, financial detours, or life detours? How can you better cope with these particular detours?
5. Detours in deployment happen to every military family. How did you learn this week to face these detours with confidence in God rather than to take on a defeated mentality?
6. A challenge from this week was to get off the sidelines and run the race God has for you. How can you put this challenge into action this coming week?
7. You spent a lot of time this week in Genesis 39-42, studying the life of Joseph. What stood out to you in those scripture passages as you studied them?
8. Joseph learned from his detours and his unfortunate experiences, and they helped him to be the leader he was in the end. How have your detours and unfortunate experiences made you more thankful or more equipped to handle life’s situations and circumstances?
9. What else about the chapter that stood out to you this week you’d like to share with us?
Homework for next week: Read Chapter 4, The Desert of Enough in Tour of Duty.
Hi ladies! I hope you’ve had a great week. This week we’re reviewing Chapter 2. How are you doing with the chapters? I hope you’re hanging in there! One more week and we’ll be officially halfway there! Know that I’m praying for you and for our time together.
Discussion questions follow the video. Don’t forget to please post your own answers to the questions and reply to others! Thank you for being part of this study! I pray it’s a blessing to you.
Discussion Questions:
1. In the “From the Home Front” section, I listed some of my “What if” questions. What “What if” question haunts you the most during deployment? How do you combat those questions?
2. What did you learn about faith from this chapter?
3. Which verse in the life jacket on pg 29 did you choose as the one that’s most encouraging to you? Why did you choose that verse?
4. We talked about Jeremiah 29:13. How hard is it to seek Jesus during times of deployment? How have you personally found this verse to be true during hard times?
5. What does it mean to be courageous and what does it mean to take heart? What stood out to you in this section?
6. What “impossibilities” did you list on page 35? How have you seen God help you face these seemingly impossible situations?
7. What part of Peter’s story spoke most to you this week?
8. What other part of this week’s chapter stuck out to you that you want to discuss with the rest of us?
Hi ladies! Welcome to Week Two of our online study! I hope you’ve had a chance to read the first chapter and answer the questions. Don’t forget to take time to comment about your thoughts and also, comment on what others in the group say.
Please be sure to look at the discussion questions posted below and answer those in the comments of this post. Please know that if there are some questions listed you don’t feel comfortable in answering, that’s ok. Share your answers and also feel free to add any comments or thoughts you had about the chapter as you went through it. Remember that the more you share, the more you can encourage and bless or challenge other ladies who may be the ones who need to hear what you say!
Ch. 1 – The Road Less Traveled Discussion Questions
1. What were your initial thoughts about this chapter/this topic this week? What’s one thing that stuck out to you?
2. On pg. 11, what were your early expectations when you were first married or you first became a military wife?
3. What are some of the things you’ve done to prepare for deployment?
4. In this chapter, we describe deployment as hills, valleys, sharp turns, U-turns, thick fog, desert heat and stormy wet roads. Have you experienced some of these conditions? Which ones? What are you experiencing now?
5. In the section, “God has His best in mind for us” (p. 13), we talk about the big picture and “God’s best” versus “our best.” What is the difference? How have you seen this played out in your own life?
6. We talked about choosing bitterness versus trusting God. It’s easy to resent God for what He allows to happen to us. How can you trust Him despite your circumstances?
7. Which letter of the SET acronym do you struggle with the most? What steps can you take to struggle less with it?
8. What’s the hardest thing about deployment for you? What do you need to do to turn this fear/challenge/struggle over to God? (And how can the rest of us pray for you in this?)
YOUR HOMEWORK FOR THIS WEEK: Read Chapter 2 in Tour of Duty.
Welcome to the beginning of our summer online study of Tour of Duty: Preparing Our Hearts for Deployment! (If you are just finding out about this, you are more than welcome to participate with us – however, registration is closed, so you will not be able to be added to a small group or receive the weekly emails.)
Please review the video and the information below for a welcome, ground rules and some thoughts on building community and making friends while we’re going through this study. Be sure to READ TO THE END because all of your discussion questions are located at the bottom of this post!
Welcome!
122 of you have signed up to participate from all over the country. Some of you have only been married for a few months, others of you more than 20 years. All of us have a desire to seek God first when it comes to deployment.
The book is divided into 8 weeks – this is an introductory week and I am asking you to have Chapter 1 read before we meet next week. Each Monday a new post will be up, including a video, but you can watch when it is convenient for you. We only ask that you please comment at least three times during the week with your thoughts/questions about each chapter.
Ground Rules
An online study is a little different than meeting in a small group face to face. So please be mindful of Op Sec! Don’t share specific movement dates,or specific locations for your service member or for you. Iraq and Alabama are ok – Al Asad Iraq and Auburn, Alabama are too specific.
Feel free to use your first name, but please do not use your full name, do not share email addresses or phone numbers in the comments. A member roster will be emailed this week to all of our participating study members who indicated they wanted to receive a member roster. If you do not receive this, please contact me (sara@wivesoffaith.org) and I’ll try to help.
Be kind and loving and respectful when talking with one another. Understand not everyone may have the same experience with church as you may, and some ladies may be very new to a relationship with God.
Leave rank at the door (and in your comments). We are all spouses supporting our service members.
While the majority of our participants are wives, we do have a few fiances and girlfriends joining us as well. Please be respectful and supportive of their feelings as well.
Please comment at least 3 times each week – ask a question, respond to someone else’s question, share your thoughts about what you’re reading/studying. There will be many discussion prompts for you each week to pull from.
If you get behind, don’t give up!! Just jump back in where we are and plan on going back and catching up when you can.
All of our participants who finish with us at the end of July will receive a special Tour of Duty study achievement certificate.
Community
For this summer study, we have recruited small group leaders we are calling Tour Guides, who have been assigned to contact and keep up with the assigned ladies in their groups. This will be one way for you to connect directly with other military spouses. You will also have the member roster as I mentioned above – let me encourage you, as you get to know ladies on the website, or if you see ladies listed in your state, to contact these new friends directly. The more active you are in talking with ladies each week, the more support and community you’ll experience. You are not alone!
A BIG Thank You to my co-leaders, Jessica Crow and Alicia Shepherd!
Jessica has been part of Wives of Faith for almost 2 years and has served as our MemberCare Director for just over a year. Her husband is in the Alabama National Guard, currently serving his third deployment to Afghanistan, and they have two adorable children, a boy and a girl. She is a leader for her husband’s unit’s FRG. Visit her beautiful blog at The Crow Family.
Alicia joined Wives of Faith at the beginning of this year. She is an Army wife and mother to two beautiful kids, also a boy and girl. Her family is stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado. Her husband just recently left for a deployment.
Both Jessica and Alicia have taught the Tour of Duty study – Jessica, with a group of friends in her home, and Alicia with a group of ladies from her husband’s unit as they got ready to start their deployments. I am thrilled to have both of them helping with the study this summer. They will be online, responding to comments and if you have any questions, feel free to contact either of them (Jessica – jessicac@wivesoffaith.org or Alicia – alicia@wivesoffaith.org).
I also want to welcome our Tour Guides for this semester – Holly Massie, Joanna Rummel, Judi Fuller, Kim Wade, Kelly Hurtado, Pamela Price, Sarah Gravely, Alaina Fitzner and Tonya Van Winkle. These precious ladies have all been through the study before as well and have agreed to be small group leaders for this semester. They will be connecting with the ladies they’ve been assigned once a week, and I’m grateful for their willing hearts and how they will serve military spouses in this way. Thank you ladies!!
OK, LET’S GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER!
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR THIS WEEK (answer these in the comments below):
1. How long have you and your husband been married?
2. What has deployment been like so far?
3. What are you hoping to get out of this small group experience?
4. What do you think a tour of duty looks like for a military wife?
5. How would you describe your journey as a military wife to this point?
6. Read Proverbs 3:5-6. What does it mean not to lean on your own understanding? How easy or hard is this to do during deployment? Why?
YOUR HOMEWORK THIS WEEK: Read Chapter 1 in Tour of Duty.
Posted by Sara on Friday,May27th,2011 in News | Comments (0)
Wives of Faith will celebrate five years of ministry this winter. It’s been a pretty amazing journey so far. What started as a way for some military wives in Nashville to connect together has grown to an online presence of military wives all over the world and local groups continuing to spring up around the country. Our focus has always been to point wives to the hope we find in Christ and to encourage spiritual growth as we live the military life.
Our ministry is run completely by volunteers – we have no paid staff. Our volunteers give their time, their talents, and a few their own personal funds to ensure the ministry continues to meet the needs of military wives.
But there are costs that come up with keeping this website going, and sending out the newsletter and as we prepare to host our second retreat this September. That is why, as a Board, we have decided to offer our first Wives of Faith fundraiser.
Beckie Kareck has been with Wives of Faith since the original group in Nashville and we are excited to partner with her and her business to bring you and your friends and family some beautiful jewelry to wear – this is perfect for those of us going through deployments who want a beautiful way to wear our husbands picture close to our heart, or for those of us who have daughters who might want a picture of Daddy to wear. These would also be great gifts for mother-in-laws!
The official details follow. Please help us spread the word!
Support Wives of Faith and keep your beloved military member near to your heart at all times! With this gorgeous and unique line of jewelry from Stampin’ Up!®, called Simply Adorned™, you can proudly wear any picture of your military loved one and have him/her with you wherever you go. These charms are actually lockets, with beveled glass windows that open and allow you to change out the pictures at any time! You can also adorn your locket with hand-made artwork, any kind of logo (military branch, sports team, organization) or any photo that you want to display. The possibilities are limitless. And the best part? A part of the proceeds from the sale of this entire line of jewelry will be given to Wives of Faith! This campaign is sponsored by Independent Stampin’ Up!® Demonstrator and fellow military wife and Wives of Faith member, Beckie Kareck. (Please note that this offer/campaign is run exclusively through Independent Stampin’ Up!® Demonstrator, Beckie Kareck, and is not sponsored by Stampin’ Up!® corporate.) Visit this website to see the variety of jewelry options and to place your order. Each locket will come with a Wives of Faith logo insert and the campaign will only run May 27 – June 10 so get your order in today. Share this with your FRG and other military friends! It’s a beautiful way to show how proud we are of our military, and you can help bless Wives of Faith at the same time.
FAQ:
1. Where can I print pictures in these small sizes to fit these lockets?
You can print your pictures from your computer as a contact sheet. You can print just 1 so you are not printing out a whole sheet. Then trim w/ scissors or paper trimmer. Many times, a standard 4×6 pic will be from a distance & the people in it will be small, so you can cut the images from there. It all just depends on the photo you want to use. You could always crop pic in MS office photo editor or Publisher then save as web or email image & then it prints small enough. Finally, I often upload a pic to Walgreens (or another similar store with a photo service) & then order as a wallet size- they come 4 to a sheet for about $1. Then just trim it out. Basically, lots of options & very fun to do!
Today marks the official halfway point of our 8-week study! Congratulations! You are doing great!
