of service, and children who have learned what it means to be dedicated and selfless.
Without our children and me, I feel David would not have made it this long, this far. Without him and his brothers he calls them we would not have the free living we enjoy. We’re a team. It’s hard to feel that way, especially when we’re apart as often as we are together. But we have our faith and hope and bigger than enduring freedom we have enduring love.
None of it would be possible except for my heavenly Father bringing our two loves together. His hand has carried us from that first hello through many good-byes, and he’ll deliver us to our final reunion, whenever that may be.
Gracious God, I thank you for bestowing peace upon us. I pray for those military couples whose faith and love may feel less than enduring. I ask that you cover them and give them hope.
“Three things will last forever faith, hope and love and the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13 NLT)
September 18
MY ARMY WIFE ARMY
For me, each deployment has had its own fresh challenges. Having to work was one of them, going to school was another, and being pregnant for part of another. The stressors mounted, particularly when we received orders for a back-to-back deployment that David could have opted out of, but, doing so would opt him out of the right career progression and leave his soldiers with inexperienced leadership. We prepared for the quick turn-around. I quit my job, graduated school, and moved in a short time frame. David was gone shortly thereafter, and I began struggling.
I wasn’t going to be able to leave the house to get this job. I didn’t know anyone to babysit. I was fatigued from caring for an infant, and I wasn’t in a military town. So I submitted a tall prayer to God.”I want something I can do from home that will make use of my higher education and will make me lots of friends,” I told him.
The struggle continued. I was eking out a living. My church friends, a very small FRG [family readiness group], were supportive and helped me remain faithful. But I still wanted what I wanted. Weary with need, I began a cursory search online “Army Wife” or “deployment support” may have been my search terms. My find was Army Wife Talk Radio in 2004.
What a Godsend. I found fulfillment there in sharing answers with other spouses and many friends who understand all the while working from home. It’s not where I saw myself twenty years ago. It may not be where I see myself twenty years from now, but it’s just what I ordered to make it through Deployment I, II, and III.
God is using me and my involvement in the online talk radio realm, now Army Wife Network, to relieve the pressure. I’m only left with one more need lately and that is to have my husband home. But I am smart enough to know that if there was no Army, there would be no soldiers (with their spouses, fiances, and families) to support. And no job for me. So, I’ll be thankful he saw fit to provide just what I needed for the time it is needed.
My, how You fulfill my need. Your strategy is divine, and I’m happy you intervene on my behalf.
“And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.” (1 John 5:15)
September 19
SOLDIER BOY’S LOVE STORY
More than missing her son David, I imagine Grandma Mary Henderson struggles, knowing David’s children miss him. There’s Thomas, thirteen, and there is the granddaughter Mary never thought she’d have, Tara, five.
I had put the thought of another child out of my head. I just kept saying I was done, until I started to feel I wasn’t. David was leaving for Iraq the first time, and we left it to God to settle the question. He answered with a resounding “yes.” Tara was born.
Just before David’s third deployment, his mother described David’s perspective on leaving his new daughter as if David were speaking:
As our eyes locked, I knew the meaning of “love at first sight.” She smiled at me as if she had known me her whole life. Her hand caressed my cheek like the whisper of a feather. My heart beat faster as I realized I had waited my whole life for her.
We have been inseparable for five months. We have cuddled and laughed late into the night. She has fallen asleep in my arms. She trusts me completely to protect her and love her always. As I watch her sleep, I try to form the words to fashion a good-bye. How will she understand?
Sleeping so peacefully beside me, she is unaware of my turmoil. She is my love, my life; everything has changed since I met her. I watch her sleep; she must be dreaming pleasant thoughts. She will not understand why I must leave. How do I explain that I must serve a second deployment to Iraq? I lean over, needing to kiss her, but not wanting to disturb her.
She smiles a lopsided grin…
I think my beautiful ten-month old daughter just murmured, “Da-da.”
My questions were plenty. Why must we separate again? Why did God allow this child to be born at this time? We don’t understand, but we have been enjoying our daughter for all she’s worth.
Lord, we don’t understand, but thank you for having a plan. We put our faith in you and resolve to revel in your wisdom and glory.
“Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time… So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11–12)
September 20
A PRAYER FOR MY COUNTRY
Father in heaven,
We come before you, Lord, to thank you for America. Thank you that before the foundation of the world, you selected us to live here; to raise our families here, and represent you to those around us who’ve never met you. We are grateful for this privilege, Lord, and stop to give you praise.
Just as you selected men and women in Scripture to fulfill strategic roles in your plan for the nations, you also intentionally called us to live here in the United States in this season of time… for this hour.
Your destiny for us was to enter this nation’s history during the twentieth century and lead it into a new era. We are Millennium Ministers assigned to take your unfailing and unchanging message of hope to a nation that has been captured by an insidious addiction to constant diversion.
