Wives of Faith

From Liz:

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My Deployment Meltdown

The Lord was looking down on me when I had my deployment meltdown on August 9, 2010. It was an accumulation of months of stress and two accidents that I had no control over. My husband had been deployed for almost eighteen months and was due home in nineteen days. I was so excited about his return that I never expected to be overwhelmed by my emotions.

A couple of days earlier I got into an accident in my husband’s car. It wasn’t a serious accident, I actually hit a rock. I was at a park I had visited many times and I never saw the rock coming. The rock was two feet tall and heavy enough to carve itself into the side of the door. This was the first time I ever had a car accident with a rock. Thankfully, my husband took the news in stride and reminded me to be more careful.  I took this accident as a sign that I needed to slow down.

The second accident happened when a tree fell on the power lines. The tree fell down in the middle of a bright sunny day. We had no power for most of the day. I took my son out to dinner and put him to bed. I realized the house was engulfed in darkness. For a moment, I felt completely powerless. I couldn’t use the oven, washer, air conditioning, internet, and TV. I used my cell phone to call my family and broke down in tears. I had my first deployment meltdown. I was strong for almost all of my husband’s deployment except for that moment.

After I was finished talking to my family, I sat in the dark. I thought about my next step. I wondered if I should plan a vacation before my husband’s homecoming. I prayed for guidance from the Lord. I prayed for strength, because I had never felt so weak before in my life. Everything seemed to be out of my control. I knew the Lord had a plan for me but I needed some clarity. Moments after I finished my prayers, the lights came on. I was relieved to have our power back. The light of my faith had been turned on.

I know the Lord will give me the strength to survive the next nineteen days. It will be wonderful to be reunited with my other half. I know we have both grown in our faith and love for our Lord, Jesus Christ. We are reminded of the Lord’s strength in scripture, Philippians 4:13 – I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Halleluiah!

God Bless!

Elizabeth Ornelas

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Ventura County Wives of Faith

Book Club

When: 3rd Friday of every month

Next Meeting: Friday, August 20

Time: 6:30-7:30 pm

Location:  E-mail Leanne for location

What:  Chapter 3 of God Strong, by Sara Horn

Childcare Option: The base offers a free Parent’s Night out from 6-9:30pm.  Sign up in person at the Mugu or Hueneme CDC (1-5 years) or Youth Center (K through 12 years).  First come, first serve basis. Sign up before August 18.  Babies under 1 are welcome at the Wives of Faith meeting.

Note: Come even if you have not read. We will continue to get to know one another, connect as military spouses and encourage each other in our faith.

Looking for host homes:  Are you interested in hosting a WoF meeting?  I need homes for Sept. 17, Oct. 15, and Nov. 19.  E-mail me if you are willing.

Contact:  Leanne Miller

Email: lmiller@wivesoffaith.org

For more information, please visit: www.wivesoffaith.org

Wives of Faith is a faith-based military wives support group that exists for the purpose of connecting all military wives in all branches of service including active, retired, Reserve, and Guard, who are looking for encouragement and friendships with others sharing similar life experiences!

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Have you ever read the entire Bible all the way through? Do you want motivation to do it this summer? Look no further than Amy’s Toolbox, where you can find online support to read the entire Bible in 90 days!

Amy began a new session yesterday, so you’re not too late to join in if you start now.

Many women (and men) have succeeded in reading the entire Bible in a 3-month period, and have learned so much in doing so.

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The Ventura County WoF group is off and running! Join leader Leanne Miller and other local military wives June 18 at the Seabee Chapel at Port Hueneme as they kick off their first book club! The first book they are reading is GOD Strong. Remember, all WoF groups are open to active, Guard and Reserve. For details, check out their local group page and contact Leanne with questions or to let her know you’re coming!

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Today is our final day of the carnival. I hope you’ve enjoyed the post topics and reading what everyone else had to say, and for those of you who were the lucky winners of our drawings, congratulations once again!

Today we’ll close the carnival by taking a few moments to share where your strength comes from. What or who keeps you going during rough times.

Today’s Giveaway is a spiritually inspirational prize pack that includes my book, GOD Strong, your own Living GOD Strong t-shirt, and my friend and sister military wife author Jocelyn Green’s books, Faith Deployed and Battlefields & Blessings. Visit Jocelyn’s website, faithdeployed.com for some great inspiration and encouragement as well as info about her books and check out godstrongbook.com for free study guides.

To be eligible for today’s drawing, you need to do two things: 1) link back to this post. 2) Post a link to your post in the comments section below.  Anyone can comment but only those participating in the blog carnival are eligible for the drawing.

VERY IMPORTANT: The winner will be announced today at 6 p.m. CST. You have two days to send me your contact info (sara@wivesoffaith.org) so we can mail you your prize. Be sure to include your email address in your comment if you’re not sure you’ll be checking back. Otherwise, if I don’t hear from you, we will pick another winner.

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My publisher, Zondervan, is doing something incredible this month in honor of military spouses. They are giving away a FREE copy of GOD Strong to a military wife every time someone buys a copy through their website at zondervan.com!

And, for those who buy the books, they will get it at a 30% discount with FREE SHIPPING! That means you get the book for just over $10 and you don’t have to pay for shipping. This is a great time to get your Wives of Faith groups or PWOC or other military wife ministries copies for your summer or fall studies. Whoo hoo!

GOD Strong offers scriptural truth and hope for military wives and offers what I consider the theme of what Wives of Faith is all about. So, please tell your friends, sister military spouses and family to go to zondervan.com, find the GOD Strong page, and click “Add to Cart” to purchase. Then, be sure to add in the Source/Discount code box the number 370025 to get the 30% discount and free shipping AND the free copy that will be given to a military wife. 

All free copies will be collected and given to Wives of Faith to distribute after the month of May is over and we are planning to work with chaplains to see that those books get into the hands of military wives. 

My goal for this month is to give a “battalion” of military spouses support and encouragement with the gift of GOD Strong – that’s 550 women. Please help us spread the word.

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Well, it’s been pretty quiet with our book club this month. I hope you’ve been able to read GOD Strong and God’s used it to show you some things that will only increase the closeness of your relationship with Him and help you to remember to lean on Him instead of trying to do it all on your own.

This last week’s assignment is to read the last two chapters, Worship lessens My Worries and I Find My Hope in Christ. Take a moment to come back here and share what you thought – does worship lessen your worry? Why or why not? How does your hope in Christ make a difference for you on a day by day basis?

As I’ve said before, we’ll keep these pages up and as you read and want to chime in the discussion, please do. Have a great week.

Sara

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This week we’re reading and talking about Chapters Seven and Eight in GOD Strong. God knows my hurts and I can have joy in my circumstances. Those are two ideas that we can sometimes have trouble understanding. But what helps me most when I am going through hard times is to remember that Jesus went through hard times too and that we have the Holy Spirit to comfort us when we are going through them.

It’s easier I think sometimes to ask “Why” rather than “What?” We like having reasons for why things happen and sometimes we like having reasons so we can blame something else or others for it. I hope you’ll pay special attention to the section in Chapter 7 on pages 156 and 157. It will explain this next thought: I don’t believe God uses deployments or any other struggles in our lives to punish us, I think He uses these challenges to bring us closer to Him, to remind us over and over that we can’t do anything without Him in our lives.

When we can realize that each obstacle we face can be an opportunity for us to grow closer to God, we can embrace joy in any of our circumstances. That doesn’t mean we walk around with happy faces like Stepford Wives or something, we will still experience sadness and heartache and disappointment. Having joy within means displaying peace on the outside. And if there was anyone who was a great example of having joy despite his circumstances, it was Joseph. Be sure to check out pages 175-177.

So here are your questions for this week:

1. Almost all of us who visit this site have been through at least one deployment and if we haven’t, we can expect to at some point. Instead of looking at the Why’s of why these deployments happen, let’s look at the What’s. What are you learning or have you learned through deployment? What has God taught you? What incredible tings have you discovered about Him and/or about yourself?

2. How do you keep joy in the midst of tough circumstances (like deployment)? What encouragement would you give another military wife who is struggling with this today?

There are thousands of wives who read this site and I heard from one just the other day, overwhelmed with the responses and support she’d received from others in response to a comment she’d made. Share your thoughts and share God’s hope with someone else today.

Blessings -Sara

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Thank you so much to those who have been participating in the discussion these past few weeks. We are almost done with this month’s book club – just a few more weeks. But we will keep these posts up and linked under the GOD Strong tab, so please feel free to add your thoughts as they come to you.

How is your reading going? This week, we’re going to be reading two of the most important chapters of the book – about super military wives and the fact that God is in control. Isn’t it funny that as little control as we often have (or don’t have) in this military life, we sure do try to convince ourselves that we do?  But really, only God is in control.

So your assignment is to read Chapters Five and Six and share here in this forum what you think about what you’ve read. I’m leaving it wide open this week – what are your thoughts on being a super military wife? What is it about God’s grace that you appreciate, or think about? What is it about knowing God is in control? Is it hard or difficult? Easy?

Read and then share your thoughts on these two important subjects.

Blessings,

Sara

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Wow, everyone was really quiet last week! Book clubs are a whole lot more fun when people talk, so please take a moment to comment, even if you are behind in your reading. If I make the questions too hard, just say so, or share what you want too! We had some great participation for the introductions – remember, there are no wrong answers!  What did you think of the first two chapters of GOD Strong? How hard is it to be strong? How easy is it to lean on God? Or is it?

I’m writing this in the midst of packing. We are heading out tomorrow to pay a little visit to South Carolina where I have a series of meetings on Friday that may begin a brand new adventure for our family. While I am excited, I am also nervous. After singing and praying with my son tonight, I was laying down with him as he fell asleep  like I always do, and I felt a wave of overwhelming sadness of saying goodbye to a 7-year long chapter of our lives and opening the door to a new one. And boy did the fear come rushing in! Are we making the right decision? Is it the right thing to do? Will it be good for our family? Will we make new friends? Will we find a new church? Questions, questions flooded my mind and my heart was pounding hard! And yet, I know, that God has paved the way for all of it and that we need to trust Him to make a way as we go through it.

This week as we read Chapters 3 and 4, we’re going to be talking about two serious issues that we often face – fear and loneliness. In fact, in our poll that’s currently up, the #1 answer right now to what’s the toughest thing about deployment is “feeling like I’m all alone.” And friends, I have struggled with BOTH! But what I have learned, as God has graciously and patiently taught me, is that these emotions -fear and loneliness – are not from Him. But He does offer the solutions.

So this week, your assignment is to read Chapters 3 and 4, if you have not already done so and then be sure to answer the questions below.

1. What are some of the fears military wives face? Deployment, fear of something happening to our husbands, fear of failure… I would say that these are probably some common ones. Can you think of any others? What do you think about being able to trade our fears for faith that God is greater than those fears? What are some fears you’d like to trade today? Is there any part of the chapter that hit home the hardest for you?

2. The more I talk to women, the more I hear of our struggles with loneliness. Even in women who believe they have good friends, tinges and waves and seasons of loneliness hit them like rocks chipping away a beautiful piece of artwork. What causes loneliness? What is it that convinces us we are all by ourselves?

Looking forward to hearing your responses. Have a fantastic rest of the week!

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