I know I am behind in posting these days (and I have so much to tell you!) but today it’s raining in Nashville and I was reminded of a post I wrote last year. Our situation hasn’t changed very much, but I think our spirits have. God has definitely been teaching us what it means to trust and seek Him alone. So enjoy this repost, and I hope it encourages you today. Find favor in the rain. 
Originally posted May 6, 2009
I really did not want to blog this morning. I have tried to blog several times over the last month or so but the words just don’t come out right. I want to inspire and motivate my readers, not bring you down, but the truth is that the past few months it’s been harder and harder to keep the mantle of inspiration and encouragement on.
This morning I woke up to more rain. Like much of the country, Nashville has been getting downpours recently, and we may have to change our name from Music City to Noah’s City if the weather continues like this!
I got ready and made my way upstairs to the office and sat down at my desk only to hear the sound of hard showers on my roof and at my window. And I sighed. Not a happy sigh, either. A “why does it have to keep raining” sigh. And then I realized I wasn’t just thinking about the weather. Keep Reading
Saw an interesting article in last week’s Navy Times that backs up what this Navy reservist wife has been saying for the last two years.
Overt discrimination in employment and re-employment stemming from employer ignorance of reservists’ legal rights has diminished, but more subtle discrimination is on the rise, says the executive director of the Reserve Officers Association.
Retired Army Maj. Gen. David Bockel, who took over as executive director of the 70,000-member group in November, said outreach to employers has helped them better understand dthe legal rights of National Guard and reserve members. But it hasn’t stopped more devious forms of discrimination, he said. Keep Reading
A friend of a friend, Holly Smith, is the editor of A Woman Inspired. She contacted me before my trip and asked if I could write a piece for her readers and offer some suggestions on how to help encourage and minister to military wives. I was thrilled she asked! The friendship issue is one of the main issues that can come up for military wives, particularly during deployment and particularly for National Guard and Reserve wives who become suddenly military.
It’s not that our civilian counterparts don’t care or don’t want to help; many times, they just don’t understand what they can do or how they can help and so instead of making a mistake, they don’t do anything.
Have a civilian friend you wish could read your mind? Let them read this article.
I posted a new article over at Wives of Faith this morning…
“Would you do it all over again?”
That’s the question a radio host recently asked me. I was on his show to talk about GOD Strong but most of his questions seemed to focus on the plight of the military family. We talked about the difficulties military families face, the struggles of the soldier, the heartache those at home experience. I shared my own experience with deployment, talking about our first one just over two years ago and the new one we’re preparing for.
And the host wanted to know. With everything that’s happened in our world, in our country and the challenges military families face and we anticipate will continue to endure – is it really worth being part of it?
To read the rest, head on over to WoF.
As open and personal social media can be, there are just some things that can’t be said. Like announcing the reason you haven’t blogged since the beginning of the year is because you’re determined to get a bunch of things checked off your to-do list before you leave the country for a week. Keep Reading
God Strong is slowly making its way to stores this month and today (the 15th) is the official release date! Our first contest is happening right now on the God Strong Facebook page (facebook.com/godstrongbook) – if you see a copy of the book in your local bookstore, please take a pic and post it to the fan page. Everyone who posts pics will be entered to win a $10 Starbucks gift card. Don’t forget to join the fan page while you’re there! Thanks for your help in spreading the word!
The following is an excerpt from Sara’s new book, GOD Strong: A Military Wife’s Spiritual Survival Guide.
One of the hardest parts of the military life is the deployment. Being separated from your spouse can be emotionally grueling, depressingly solitary, and overwhelming. If you let it be that way.
During our first deployment, I was determined that it would not be that way. I approached this new experience in our lives with the fervor and determination of the defenders of the Alamo; whatever happened, I would not let our family down. I had a plan. I would be the Great Communicator, keeping my husband and son and the rest of our family and friends closely connected.
I would be the Great Organizer, juggling all of my son’s activities, my work responsibilities, church functions, and aforementioned family communications with the ease and skill of one who knows no scheduling conflict.
I would be the Great Cheerleader, offering an unending supply of encouragement to my husband in Iraq and to our son here at home. And to do all of this, I would have to be the Great Health nut. Yes, that was my plan. I would eat right, exercise every day, and stay fit and healthy, stress free and positively motivated throughout the deployment. I would be physically, mentally, and emotionally strong. Those incredible endorphins would keep me going!
To help in this quest for uberstrength (or what I ultimately learned is Me Strength), I brought along my iPod to the gym, loaded with the music I thought I needed to “get in the zone.” There were songs on there I had never listened to before but had bought specifically for the deployment – titles like “Fighter” and “Push It’ and “Let’s Get It Started.” I chose songs that encouraged me to push myself, to make my life happen how I wanted it to happen, to be sexy (after all, I wanted to look good when my husband came home), to be a rock star or at least live the confident rock star life. The other songs I owned – songs praising God, songs that reminded me of his goodness, his grace, and his control – were left off my playlist because I’d decided they weren’t intense enough. Not motivating enough. I needed fast and loud. I needed tough and strong.
What I didn’t realize until months later, when I was so spent and worn out and sitting on my couch in the dark, was that I had overlooked God’s strength. I had fooled myself into thinking that because I was Me Strong, I didn’t have to be God Strong. God was there, but at a distance safe enough to keep me from being reminded just how weak I am. Keep Reading
One of the exciting things about this new book (I think, anyway) is the Bible study that goes along with it. I started out wanting to put together something simple that a military wives group could do together as they read the book – a few discussion questions, a couple of scriptures. I had no idea when I started writing it, though, that it would turn into a full-fledged Bible study! But that’s what God laid on my heart to share and there is quite a bit of extra material in the study that wasn’t in the book.
Right now, the study is FREE and available on my web site. When designing this study, I wanted to make it super easy for anyone to do. You DO NOT have to have a theology degree to teach this! In fact, you’re not even really teaching. You’re facilitating – a fancy word for keeping the discussion going. Everything is written out in the study and can be read out loud and there are plenty of questions posed to get some good conversation going for each of the chapters.
Here’s a sample of the first session – let me know what you think!
Just a quick note to let you know I haven’t quit on the blog, I’ve just been juggling some other things in January. I created a group guide as well as an individual study guide for ladies to use with God Strong which I’m very excited about. I’ve also started the local Nashville Wives of Faith group back and we are doing a weekly Bible study reviewing a new study I’m in the process of writing, A Wife of Faith, which helps military wives prepare spiritually for deployment.
I don’t expect things to slow down any time soon but I hope to get back to a more regular schedule of posting soon. Until then, please be sure to check out Wives of Faith and keep checking back here.
Blessings!
Sara
I’m thrilled to let you know that my new book, God Strong: A Military Wife’s Spiritual Survival Guide, releases this month. If there ever was a book that defined what Wives of Faith is about, this is it. I wrote it to be a reminder to myself and to other wives so we can remember whose strength it is we really need to lean on.
After all, strength is a big part of being part of a military wife, isn’t it? Without it, how could we function? Yet too often we convince ourselves we can do it all, take care of everything and keep it all together – but eventually our own strength runs out. But God offers an unending supply. That’s what being God Strong is all about.
We will be having some fun giveaways and promotions later this month, but I wanted to let you know that Amazon has officially released it, and it will be available at a bookstore near you if it isn’t already (official release date is Feb. 15). My publisher, Zondervan, has the first two pages of each chapter available for you to see at their website as well as a sample chapter from the audio book.
Also, if you’d like to do the book with a group or do some additional Bible study on your own, I’m excited to tell you that I’ve created a special group guide and individual guide that’s free and available for download (visit godstrongbook.com).
We’re taking signups right now for our God Strong Street Team so be sure to check that out – Street Team members will receive a free copy of the book, a cool Living God Strong T-shirt (limited availability) as well as behind the scenes exclusives as we start doing book signings and speaking events.
If you’re on Facebook, please consider signing up for our fan page at facebook.com/godstrongbook. Media interviews, bookstore appearances and speaking engagements will all be posted there.
Thank you so much for your prayers and support. I hope the book encourages and inspires military wives to be everything God has called them to be.
(*cross-posted at Wives of Faith)
I really did not want to blog this morning. I have tried to blog several times over the last month or so but the words just don’t come out right. I want to inspire and motivate my readers, not bring you down, but the truth is that the past few months it’s been harder and harder to keep the mantle of inspiration and encouragement on.
