I think this is the third or fourth summer I’ve had now where I’ve been busy trying to complete a writing project. Not my ideal way of spending the summer, but I am certainly grateful for the opportunities I’ve had.
Right now, I’m working on Tour of Duty: Preparing Our Hearts for Deployment, a Bible study for military wives going through deployment. This is scheduled to release sometime in November of this year and my deadline is coming quickly. As soon as that’s completed, I’ll be giving my attention to My So-Called Life as a Proverbs 31 Wife, a book project I’m very excited about but that is very different than anything I’ve done before.
So… the blogging here will probably be on hold for quite a while except for the occasional news or announcement. But I definitely don’t want to leave you empty-handed! Let me invite you to check out Wives of Faith for up-to-date posts and articles. We have some great things planned for this fall that you’ll want to know about.
I enjoyed chatting with the hosts of Your Family Live this past Wednesday. I think Focus on the Family is really on to something wonderful with this live webcast format so let me encourage you to tune into their show which airs live every Wednesday.
Here’s the archive of the show if you missed it live. I’ve enjoyed hearing from folks who tuned in. Hope this encourages you as well.
Can I take my “professional” hat off for a minute and offer a little squeal? EEEEEEEEEEE! My interview with Focus on the Family is now live on their website and will be aired today on all of their radio station outlets. I’m so grateful and honored to have been able to go out to Colorado Springs and visit with Jim, John and Julie and it was a treat this morning to hear my friend Pattie’s voice (Our Wives of Faith blog editor) in the show’s introduction.
My prayer is that many military wives and families listening to the interview today will be encouraged and that other folks, including churches, will be encouraged to reach out and make a difference in the lives of military families living around them and in their communities.
If you’re visiting my website for the first time because of hearing the Focus on the Family interview, welcome, and thank you so much for stopping by. Please let me know you were here by commenting or signing my guestbook. Also, be sure to check out Wives of Faith - we have some great encouraging articles and a growing community of wives I know you’ll want to be a part of.
TOMORROW – I’ll be live with Focus on the Family’s new weekly webcast, Your Family Live, and we’ll be talking more about living the military life in God’s strength and not our own. Hope you’ll join me and the others who will be participating.
Praising God today for the opportunities He’s given me to share Him with others. He overwhelms me.
My interview with Focus on the Family happens this Tuesday, July 6 and I’ll be on the live web cast of their new web show, Your Family Live, on Wednesday! Hope you can join us!
FOCUS ON THE FAMILY HONORS OUR TROOPS, PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
BY SERVING THEIR FAMILIES
Colorado Springs, CO — The military and political impact of our troops gets media coverage everyday, but what about its effect on the lives of the military wives and children? Focus on the Family’s newest interactive webcast, YOUR FAMILY LIVE! is inviting all active duty, reserve and retired military families to view and take part in a very special webcast honoring military families on Wednesday, July 7th at 2PM ET.
Viewers can log on to www.YourFamilyLive.com to watch the webcast live, actively participate by calling 1-888-465-6595 with question pertaining to military family life, or post a question to a live, online forum at www.focusonlinecommunities.com. The program is also archived for later viewing on the site.
The panel will include: Yvette Maher, Host & Sr. Vice President of Family Ministry; Dr. Juli Slattery, Family Psychologist at Focus on the Family; Mrs. Sara Horn, Founder and President of Wives of Faith, a national support organization for military wives; with Cindy Wynn of Club Beyond/Military Community Youth Ministries; and Les Knotts, Lt. Colonel US Army (Retired) and U.S. West Field Director of Club Beyond/Military Community Youth Ministries, helping teens on U.S. military installations around the world.
We encourage you to forward this information and attached video file to military families and others who have faithfully served their country by serving military families worldwide. Also, be a part of the Facebook Community by typing “Your Family Live” in the Facebook search box.
To arrange an interview, contact: Carrie Kintz at 719-531-3312 or Carrie.Kintz@fotf.org.
I had the most amazing email sent to me the other day and wanted to share it with you. This is the kind of vision and passion I prayed that military wives might catch after reading GOD Strong. I’ve heard from several who are teaching the free Bible study that goes with the book in the fall – can’t wait to hear the reports of how God encourages those groups of women to lean on HIM!
Thank you soo much for being faithful to the Lord and writing the book “God Strong.” After reading the first two chapters it was almost like being under the same roof with you, I have related so much to what you have written. I’m a co-leader of a military bible study group and one of the gals asked if you were the first person to come up with the phrase “God Strong.” I told her I’ve never heard it before.
My husband is starting his second deployment and I am determined to do it God Strong this time. As the FRG is forming and everyone is using the word resiliency I’m using the word “God Strong.” I’ll be on the side ready to point the military wives to “God Strong” when the resiliency and me strong poops out on them.
Recently after dropping my husband back off at the base after his four day pass I was in my hotel room and the Lord asked me “Are you going to be God Strong or me strong?” Holding my bible I was reminded of all the people who had trials before me that followed the Lord regardless how scared they were. I was able to share what God Strong was with a military wife experiencing her first deployment. Later in the week I was able to share with a family programs employee with the army about the same thing after she used the term “pull up my big girl pannies.”
Thank you for your faith fullness and how the Lord is using you to serve other women!
I love hearing from readers on how God has used the book to encourage or challenge them!
Well, it has been a while since I last posted. I am writing from Orlando, FL where I attended the SBC (Southern Baptist Convention) this week for my new position as director of external relations for the College of Christian Studies at Anderson. Cliff and Caleb were able to come too and spent the days hanging out with Mickey while I got to share with pastors how they can pursue their graduate education.
It was a fun week. I saw many, many old friends and folks I knew from my previous jobs and in many ways it was like coming home. I even got asked to jump in and help cover a story for Baptist Press when they were short on writers due to some sickness going around in the newsroom. As I was walking back to the newsroom after my old friend and mentor Jim Veneman (who did the trips with me to Iraq for the book A Greater Freedom) had run me to my hotel to pick up my laptop, I chuckled at the image in my head of all of the invisible hats I was wearing. I have lots of invisible hats and suddenly I seemed to be wearing them all at once! It was a fun moment and I think God was probably chuckling with me. He’s the one who gave me all of those hats in the first place. Keep Reading
I wish there were four of me. Then at least one of me could adequately update my blog with all of the things that have been happening!
Those of you who have kept up with my semi-regular (and frequent not-so-regular) postings on this blog know that for the past two years, it has been a pretty challenging season for my family. My husband was laid off from his full-time job six months after he got back from Iraq, and has not been able to find a full-time position since. That’s 24 months, almost 720 days of consistent wondering where the next paycheck was coming from.
But we have definitely seen God’s provision. Cliff has had the blessing and opportunity of working several freelance jobs as well as taking on extra trainings through the Navy. I’ve had at least one book project, as well as freelance articles, etc., to keep me busy. We’ve had loving, giving family members who have helped when needed, and unexpected gifts and blessings show up in the mailbox which were definitely unexpected. It’s been tight, it’s been worrisome, but we have grown so much in our walks with God and in our marriage as a result.
New opportunities
Two months ago, I got a message from a former boss of mine who was looking for a new director of external relations to work for him at the university where he is now a dean. After praying about it and not sensing God saying no in looking at it, I told him I’d be interested in talking with him more about it. But then a few days later Cliff got a call from THE job he has always wanted. He’d applied for this position and the company was calling to have him come in for an interview! We were so excited and I hastily wrote an email, letting my boss know that until we saw this through for my husband, I wouldn’t be able to consider the position, which he totally understood. Keep Reading
I’m on the email list for the Association of the United States Navy (AUSN), and they sent this press release out yesterday which I thought I’d pass along. I don’t agree at all with the health care reform that’s happening, especially when the majority of the people don’t want it. But at least one politician had the foresight to make sure military families won’t be directly impacted (though, in the end, we will all be affected if our current administration has its way). Keep Reading
I had the privilege of visiting with Beth Wilson and Stephanie Cabrerra today on their blog talk radio show, Navy Homefront. Here’s the show if you’d like to listen. I think this is my third time to chat with them and it’s always a fun visit.
