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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