My husband’s random question caught me a little off-guard.

“Like, would you saw off your own arm to keep from freezing to death?”  (Referring to the movie 127 Hours.)  “ Or would you chase down the guy that stole your phone right from your hand?”  (Referring to a story we recently heard.)

I surprised myself by saying, “No.  I wouldn’t do any of that.  If someone were to describe me, “brave” and “courageous” probably wouldn’t be the words that first come to mind.”

As I heard those words come out of my mouth, I felt sad and ashamed of knowing that I might lack courage in any situation.

As I reflected on this conversation from the night before, out of nowhere (I love it when God does this!), God spoke to me: “Be strong and courageous.  Be strong and courageous.  Be strong and courageous!”

I instantly knew that the verse these words come from would be my “theme” as I confront 2012.  “Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).

2011 was a rough year for my family for a number of reasons, and many work-ups and a deployment loom in 2012.  There is a lot to be afraid of in the coming year.  I’m not threatened by freezing to death in our warm duty station (unless my husband still insists on keeping the heat off), and I don’t anticipate having my phone stolen from my hands (since I generally can’t walk and talk at the same time).

The situations I will face this year are not unique to the military wife, but they are extraordinary.  And I can be strong and courageous as I face them with my Lord by my side.

____

So I finally decided that today was the day I would unpack my bags from an amazing weekend with my better half.  “A week later!?” you say?  Yeah.  But if it was the last time you were going to smell your significant other’s clothes smelling like them for at least a year, you might wait a week to wash them, too.  All morning I have thought and thought and analyzed and worried and fretted and wrung my hands and cried…..then I had an epiphany!

Today is a special day!  God is answering some very desperate prayers today!  God is saving lives today!  I can wring my hands and cry and worry all day long, but then I give God NO GLORY for what He is doing in my husband, child, and my life today.  “You mean God get’s glory in war?!”  Yeah, I do.  Not for the war, but for what He can make come out of it.

Remember Joseph?  His brothers were jealous and sold him off.  Then one day there was a famine and Joseph interpreted a dream and saved them from famine.  (That is the Terri abbreviated version, and may be slightly off – BUT) Joseph told his brothers what you meant for evil God meant for good!  Had he never been sold to slavery, he would never find favor with the king and in turn never interpret the dream that saved his nation from famine!  Can God be glorified in war?  ABSOLUTELY!

I have prayed YEARS for God to help my husband find a job, to get us a home of our own, to make me closer to Him, to make me content where He wants me.  Today it hit me.  If Steven never went to war, we would not have the money to move out when he comes home or pay off our debt.  If he never went to war, he would never get a chance to grow spiritually and find that God is closest to us when we are farthest from Him.  I would always depend on Steven to provide the security and strength I need, and never learn to lean on God and find His strength is PERFECT and can carry me!

Today is a sad day for me.  I cry because I miss my best friend and feel my heart is breaking in a million tiny pieces.  BUT today is an excellent day for me, too!  Today I can teach my child that God is amazing in power and has angels who protect his daddy!  That He has angels who protect us!!!  If you don’t believe it, read your Bible!  It’s right there!  I don’t walk into this blindly.  It is HARD!

I walk into this knowing that my God is bigger than any terrorist and bigger than any situation I will ever see.  He loves my husband far more than I can imagine and wants the best for us.  I prayed for answers, and He is delivering!  It isn’t the package I chose.  It isn’t in the pretty wrapping I prefer.  But sometimes the best gifts are in simple brown packages, aren’t they?

The end result is going to be worth the wait.  So I will come to Him and TRUST Him.  (Matthew 11:28)  I want THAT rest!  I want to wait quietly in calm expectation for God to restore my strength and help me recover when I am so tired I can’t even breathe!  And I want to let Him lead me the next year, because I KNOW that where He goes, only good results will follow.  It won’t be easy.  It’s going to hurt and I am going to fall, but thankfully when I cry out, He IMMEDIATELY reaches out and picks me up!

So I ask, what is in your brown package?  Did you miss your little God hugs today?  Watch for them!  They ARE there!

So I sat down and watched Alex terrorize the poor seagulls and just prayed….”God please give me peace. Peace and strength….” So when i got up, I looked down and this is what the bench said…..What an amazing God!

by Terri Melvin

Terri is a a photographer/stay at home mom of a rambunctious 5 year old boy and has been married for 7 years. Her husband has been in the Alabama Army National Guard for 11 years, and he is currently serving his second tour in Afghanistan. Terri is also currently leading Tour Of Duty: Preparing Our Hearts for Deployment at her local church, and has loved EVERY MINUTE OF IT! ]]> http://www.wivesoffaith.org/simple-brown-packages/feed 3 http://www.wivesoffaith.org/spiritual-battle-buddies http://www.wivesoffaith.org/spiritual-battle-buddies#comments Fri, 01 Oct 2010 10:00:12 +0000 Amber Parham http://www.wivesoffaith.org/?p=3453 “…prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.” Ephesians 6:18 (The Message)

I think it’s easy to forget how much our spouses can worry. They are supposed to be strong and even immune to the minor irritations of regular life. When I pray, I ask God to help me with His strength and to show me the right direction. Now that my husband is home I don’t pray for him as often or in the same way that I prayed for him while he was deployed. I realize that the dangers and issues that he is facing here are in a completely different category than they were while he was in Iraq. But, as much as I hate to admit it, I’m selfish enough that once he came home, I was a little too satisfied with him just being here. Once the reintegration issues were resolved, I began to forget how much he still needs God’s help as much as I do.

My husband is very much the strong, silent type. He doesn’t say much to folks, and when he does it’s usually important. One exception to that rule is me. He talks to me non-stop when we are together with no kids to interrupt. It’s usually just chatter, stuff he wants to do on the weekend, something he thought of while he was making the hour drive home etc. But the big stuff, well, he tends to bottle things just a teensy bit. So, when he admits to me that he is starting to worry, that gets to me.

Our servicemen are trained to be strong. They are trained to be tough, and they are trained to never show weakness. To some of them, admitting that they are worried could be considered a weakness and they would never even think of it. They are also trained to never go anywhere alone. They are trained to stay with their ‘Battle Buddy’. These times are tough for everyone. War, economic troubles, natural disasters. We are in spiritual warfare daily. When you made the commitment of marriage (even if, like me, you weren’t aware that you would end up as a military wife), you agreed to be your husband’s spiritual battle buddy.

With that said, I’m issuing a challenge to each of you. Never leave your spouse spiritually alone. Make it a point to lift up your spouse in prayer right now and each and every day for the next week as often as you think about him. Then keep going to the next week and the next. Pray that he will become God strong. Pray that he will see God working in your lives. Pray specifically for needs that you know he has. Even if you don’t know what to say, pray that to God, because He does know.

Just as our worries become less when we focus on God in worshipful obedience, our personal problems become paler when we focus our attention on serving others. Focus on your spouse tonight. Listen when he talks, even if it isn’t about “the big stuff”.  Go out of your way to make his day special, even if it’s just getting up early to fix his coffee or picking up his favorite meal on the way home from work.

Paul prayed this prayer for the spiritual strength of the Ephesians. It  applies to our lives today just as it did nearly 2,000 years ago to the lives of his friends.

Ephesians 3:14-20 (NIV)

A Prayer for the Ephesians

¹⁴For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

²⁰Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

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

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!