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Summer Study: Tour of Duty Week Eight

Posted by Sara on Monday, July 25th, 2011 in 2011 Tour of Duty Summer Study | Comments (19)

Today marks the last session of our summer study of Tour of Duty. We had more than 100 women sign up to participate, and while not everyone was able to finish, it’s my prayer that many of you were able to benefit from what you read and from the discussion with other wives on the weekly posts.

A big thank you to all of our Tour Guides for the time you took with your groups, and a special thank you to Jessica Crow and Alicia Shepherd for your help in co-leading!

If you have enjoyed the time you’ve had getting in God’s Word and getting to know other military spouses, let me encourage you to consider registering for our Wives of Faith Weekend Retreat that happens September 23-24 in Nashville. You can find all the details here – come and help us celebrate 5 years!

Also this fall, we are planning on holding our first GOD Strong online study. If you are interested, be watching for more details next week!

Let’s go ahead and get to the video and discussion questions. If you were able to participate at all in the last 8 weeks, please take a moment today to share what God taught you, or what helped you the most, or what you’re going to do differently in deployment going forward. Blessings to you!!

~Sara

Discussion Questions:

1. The chapter this week started with some heavy questions about God’s purpose for your life. If you feel comfortable sharing, what were some of your answers?

2. What are your thoughts on Romans 8:28?

3. What’s the difference between self-created courage and courage that comes from God? What insights did you have as you read about courage?

4. What did you learn from the story of Esther this week?

5. How do you find yourself being courageous? In what areas of life do you struggle with this?

6. What’s the biggest takeaway you’ve had from this study and sharing and hearing from the other ladies who have participated over the last 8 weeks?

Please be watching for a survey that will be sent out on Friday. Your feedback on this online study will help us as we plan the next one.

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Summer Study: Tour of Duty Week Two

Posted by Sara on Monday, June 13th, 2011 in 2011 Tour of Duty Summer Study | Comments (108)

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.

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Trading it all

Posted by Kim on Thursday, June 9th, 2011 in Deployment, Faith | Comments (2)

This fall when a group of soldiers from my husband’s unit returned from Afghanistan, it marked the first time since the war began that all members of that unit would be home in Canada. For that brief time no one from the Regiment was at war and to celebrate, his Commanding Officer threw a party.

A hall was rented, food was catered, huge door prizes were donated and all the soldiers and their spouses came dressed up and ready to enjoy it. A big name Canadian band even donated their time to play a private show just for us.

I remember looking around the room that night happy that everyone was getting the chance to just be proud of their unit, their friends and themselves. If I’ve noticed one major difference between Canadian and American military, it’s the level of pride. Soldiers here are much more reserved and while we have things like Regimental shirts and sweaters and stickers and flags, they are for the most part just for work. Maybe it’s the stereotype of the humble polite Canadian, but they tend to leave all the ‘army’ stuff on the job. So to see them all, in a room with the Regiments crest projected on the walls, celebrating their hard work, it warmed my heart.

After dinner the band got up to play and about halfway through their set they got to one slow song that everyone in the crowd knew the words to and they all sang along to the chorus:

“If I traded it all, if I gave it all away for one thing, just for one thing…”

I stood on the outskirts of what had for the last song been a mosh pit, and I watched all these soldiers with their eyes closed and their hands and cell phones in the air, sing that line over and over with the band.

And I realized the truth of it – that they had been willing to do just that. They had traded their safe lives at home, their time with their family, the opportunity to spend milestone dates with their kids and holidays with their wives, for a war in the desert to fight for something they believe in.

The even harder reality was that they had been willing to give even more and lay their lives on the line for that one thing – the safety of the people back home. Not every member of the unit was with us at that party because some had gave it all.

Doesn’t that just give us a glimpse of God’s ultimate sacrifice? That Jesus, who having it all and living with God in perfection, traded everything he had to be born a man and live on earth, to be persecuted, shamed, beaten and killed, all for just one thing – us.

Jesus’s Disciples dropped their entire lives to follow Jesus during his lifetime on earth and after His death and resurrection, many were imprisoned, beaten and executed for their faith.

The truth is that in many persecuted nations, they understand those early believers and what giving it all for their faith really means. For many, following Christ means being willing to risk their homes, jobs, families and lives for the sake of Jesus Christ. This is not a world that we live in here. And all too often that means that my faith becomes a fair-weather faith and my sacrifice is almost non-existent.

Just as not every soldier will give their life on the battlefield, not every believer is called to face such trials for Christ’s sake. But in the same way, just as every soldier stands willing to make that sacrifice for their country, we as followers of Christ need to stand willing to lay our entire lives on the alter for the sake of His Name.

Interestingly as I scanned that party I realized that the Regimental motto of my husband’s unit is “Perseverance”.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4

Kim is a child of God who believes in Grace and is grateful that His mercies are new every morning. I am a 30 year old wife of a soldier in the Canadian Army. We’ve been married 10 years and have 3 amazing kids. We have survived 3 deployments to Afghanistan as well as numerous other training and domestic operations. While I went to school to be a Social Worker, right now attempting to mother my children is my full time job. www.kimberleymills.blogspot.com

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New WoF Group Launches in Louisiana

Posted by Sara on Thursday, May 12th, 2011 in Local Groups, News | Comments (0)

ZACHARY, LA – As the United States prepares to mark 10 years of war this fall, military spouses are finding themselves in need of support more than ever, enduring multiple deployments and increased stresses that come with them. Wives of Faith, a Christian faith-based military wives support ministry, is starting a new local group in the East Baton Rouge area and hopes to connect and encourage local military wives through practical resources and spiritual support.

The mission of this ministry, started in 2006 in Nashville, is to connect 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.

The East Baton Rouge Wives of Faith group will officially launch with an informational (dutch-treat) dinner Monday, May 23 at 6 p.m. at Sammy’s Grill (20335 Old Scenic Hwy.) in Zachary and will be led by Sara Horn, author and founder of Wives of Faith. Children are welcome but registration is required in order to get an accurate count of those attending.

For more information or to sign up to attend, visit http://www.wivesoffaith.org or email Sara at sara@wivesoffaith.org.

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The Hope of Sunday

Posted by Sara on Sunday, April 24th, 2011 in Deployment, Devotionals, Faith, Hope | Comments (3)

Recently, I have thought a lot about the word hope. As a military wife, I hope my husband will come home on time, I hope no deployment gremlins show up to make anything break down or stop working, I hope everything will be smooth-going after we’re all back together.

Hope, by the world’s standards, is fleeting and flighty. It’s wishful thinking, usually a desire that is not any more dependable than a snatch of fading smoke from a lit candle.

But hope by someone who believes in Jesus Christ is not a mere vapor of insignificance. And what happened on that first Sunday so many, many years ago is why we can say that. Jesus made the way – by dying on a Cross for our sins and coming back to life three days later – for hope to wear His silhouette, a reminder that no matter what happens here on Earth, there is a greater day coming.

If you look at the world through the context of the daily news, there’s not a lot of hope out there. Wars, famines, tornados, earthquakes and floods have all brought about great destruction and turmoil in recent memory. There may be many of you reading this who have found yourselves caught up in your own sense of turmoil as you wait for deployments to end or some to begin.

But look at what Romans has to say (Romans 5:1-5) -

1Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Also through Him, we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, 4 endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. 5 This hope does not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

This is a great reminder of what Christ did for us and what He left for us – the Holy Spirit – to help us navigate the ups and downs of this present life and the reminder of the better life that awaits us in Heaven. We are not alone.

I was recently at a ladies church luncheon where the speaker raised the question, “We know what Friday was like and we know what Sunday was like, but what was that Saturday like?” Did that Saturday just feel like a hundred years to Jesus’s disciples, who had followed Him so closely, right up to his last breath? Did they wonder? Did they doubt? Did they struggle? Did they cry?

At that moment, on that day, between Crucifixion and Resurrection, they didn’t know what we know today. They didn’t know the Hope God gave to us all. But we do.

This Easter, if you are dwelling on “Saturday” – if you are crying more and rejoicing less, let me remind you of the hope we have in Sunday, of the Hope Christ gives each of us when we trust Him as our Lord and Savior…

From Matthew 28:1-10, 16-20 –

1 After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb. 2 Suddenly there was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his robe was as white as snow. 4 The guards were so shaken from fear of him that they became like dead men.

5 But the angel told the women, “Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here! For He has been resurrected, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell His disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead. In fact, He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see Him there.’ Listen, I have told you.”

8 So, departing quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, they ran to tell His disciples the news. 9 Just then Jesus met them and said, “Good morning!” They came up, took hold of His feet, and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus told them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see Me there….”

16 The 11 disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped, but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This is our hope. We cling to Him, we praise Him, we thank Him.

“He is Risen, Risen indeed!”

Have a blessed and thankful Easter.

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