Tag Archive: Military Wives

Where Do You Hide?

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. ~ Psalm 91:1

In life, all of us at one time or another seek out shelter. We look for comfort, for safety, for emotional security, for the knowledge that everything will be ok. Elijah could relate. We read his story in 1 Kings 19. After entering into a major competition with Queen Jezebel and King Ahab and their prophets of Baal, and seeing God bring victory against them, Elijah still didn’t feel like much of a winner, after he learned Jezebel had put a bounty on his head. His life was in jeopardy. Elijah needed shelter in the worst kind of way. So he looked for it in a cave.

What Cave Do You Hide In?

It’s easy to find ourselves hiding in a cave of our own making.

Hey mom: need encouragement?

dotMom

We have exactly one week yesterday that my son starts back to school. I don’t know about any of you, but I am ready! While I love the less hectic pace of summer time for my son, it makes my scheduling for writing, ministry (and yes, blogging), so, so much harder. I do so much better with routine (and 6 hours of uninterrupted focus). I can focus on work when Caleb’s at school, and I can focus on Caleb the rest of the time. Makes for a much happier mama.

Speaking of happy mamas… I want to invite you to an awesome conference I just found out I have the privilege of taking part in! LifeWay has started a new conference called dotMom. I believe their first year was last year – I have a great friend, Dori, who went and LOVED it. She said if you can go, you absolutely need to go! So I’m excited that I get to go to their next one which is September 21-22 in Birmingham! Yay! So what can you expect? I’m so glad you asked!

Sharing God’s Word through Bible study

biblestudyfairchild

It is such a blessing and a fun moment to hear from a group who is using one of my books to study God’s Word and grow closer to Him. It’s also a sobering reminder of the responsibility that comes with it.

Have you participated in many Bible studies? For several years, I convinced myself I was too busy. I didn’t have time. Quiet times were enough for me. The first study I ever sat in, that I can remember, was Beth Moore’s Esther study, led by my good friend Dori Cook. Dori is an incredible Bible study teacher. I could sit and listen to her as long as she’s willing to talk. She knows how to research, knows how to ask questions and most important, has a huge heart for women coming closer to the throne of God. It was because of her that I began to see the enormous value in studying God’s Word with friends.

Here it is!

tourofduty

Thought I’d share with you what’s been keeping me away for the most part all summer long – my new Bible study, Tour of Duty: Preparing Our Hearts for Deployment! -

It’s now available on LifeWay’s website for pre-orders and comes out this fall. I am so excited to share this with other military wives – this study walks through the hard emotions we so often experience going through deployment and how we can overcome them by staying focused on the One who brings us through this journey. It can be done both as an individual and with a group. I pray it’s a blessing and an encouragement to many who are going through these seasons away from their husbands.

My first deployment was wrecked – and I do mean wrecked with emotion. The emotions of Cliff leaving, the emotions of being by myself, juggling home and child, the emotions of the fears and the worries and just the weariness that can so often hit you as you go through it. And it occurred to me much later, even after I wrote GOD Strong, how I had spent so much time preparing in every way for deployment except spiritually, and yet that was the most important way I could prepare.

So that’s how Tour of Duty was born – I wanted, for myself, a study – a tool to take me through the Bible and God’s truth - that would help me get ready for deployment and something I could refer to as well when I’m in the thick of it. I’m praying it’s a help to other wives as well.

This was definitely one of the most challenging projects I’ve worked on, mainly because of the tight deadline we were working with and my own changing situation, going from writing at home to working a 40 hour work week and then writing in the evenings. I’m grateful for the LifeWay Women’s team and all of the time and energy (and patience) they put into this project and me. Compared to the audience for the other Bible studies they do (anyone ever hear of a lady named Beth Moore? :) ), this is a small niche but they saw the importance and the necessity to have a study like this out there for military wives. I, for one, as a military wife, am deeply thankful. If you are too, you may want to stop over at their blog and let them know! I’m sure they would love to hear from you.

Before I close, let me just tell you that as we get ready to start our own deployment soon (this is our second), I’m so grateful I can share this journey with my sister Wives of Faith! These ladies are such an encouragement and an inspiration to me and I’m so excited about the plans we have for a new website and message board that’s coming soon. We have a new weekly newsletter and in my columns I’ve started writing about our experience as Cliff prepares to leave for another tour, this time to South America. If you’re not getting the newsletter, let me encourage you to sign up and we can go through this journey together.

I’ll try and post more updates as they come. In the meantime, go ahead and get your copy of Tour of Duty! :)

Focus on the Family happens this week!

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.

Share God Strong with others

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!

A Marriage of Inconvenience

A military marriage isn’t easy. Fluctuating schedules, fluctuating priorities; changing goals, changing locations; time together, time apart, time trying to establish what was before.

It’s tough to find a balance some days when you’re married and in the military. And it can be easy sometimes to want to look over the proverbial fence to someone else’s life and wish for theirs.

I spent quite a bit of time this year counseling military wives dealing with troubled marriages. Some were struggling with issues of PTSD; others with infidelity. Still others were just having problems with communication. More than one wife blamed the military for it all.