Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives - Softcover

Green, Jocelyn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802452507 ISBN 13: 9780802452504

Publisher: Moody Publishers, 2009

Synopsis

If your spouse or someone you know has been deployed recently, the stress of this situation will resonate with you.

Jocelyn Green speaks directly to the wives of deployed soldiers, airmen, seamen, and marines through the experiences of their spouses. This book is not “ten easy steps” for a painless life; instead, it is a collection of devotions that squarely addresses the challenges wives face when their husbands are away protecting freedom, challenges like:

• How does a military wife maintain a strong sense of patriotism without allowing her country to become an idol?
• What good can possibly come from moving every two or three years?
• How can I be sure that God has a purpose for my life that’s as strong as His purpose for my husband’s?

The foundation of this devotional is the unchanging character of God and the anchor of Jesus Christ, even amidst the shifting circumstances of a military family.

About this title

About the Author

JOCELYN GREEN is an award-winning author who inspires faith and courage in her readers through both fiction and nonfiction. A former military wife herself, she authored Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives and co-authored The 5 Love Languages Military Edition with Dr. Gary Chapman. Her novels, inspired by real heroines on American's home front, are marked by their historical integrity and gritty inspiration. The books in the Heroines Behind the Lines Civil War series have been honored with gold and silver medals from the Military Writer's Society of America. Wedded to War was a Christy Award finalist in two categories. Jocelyn graduated from Taylor University in Upland, Indiana, with a B.A. in English, concentration in writing. She is an active member of the Christian Authors Network, the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, American Christian Fiction Writers, and the Military Writers Society of America.Jocelyn lives with her husband Rob and two small children in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Visit her at www.jocelyngreen.com.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Gift of Solitude
by Jocelyn Green

Be still and know that I am God.
Psalm 46:10

It was a familiar ritual of mine: after dropping my husband off at his ship for a month-long patrol, I drove home with the radio on and steeled myself for the empty house awaiting me. Since we were in Alaska, it was usually still dark at this time of day and would be for several more hours, which only seemed to sharpen my sense of loneliness. Arriving home, I'd flip on all the lights and turn on the TV to fill the void of silence that always came when Rob was at sea.

I was newly married, with no children yet, and living off base. I kept myself as active as I could. If I was particularly lonely, I called another Coast Guard wife. While quiet solitude offered itself to me every day, it was the absolute last thing I wanted (remember this is before I had children)!

And yet, by casting solitude aside, I also shrugged off the opportunity to reflect, to fellowship with God and hear His voice, to just be still and know that He is God. Solitude means withdrawing from conversation, from the presence of others, from noise, from the constant barrage of stimulation. It is something that Jesus himself sought after while he was on this earth. The gospel of Luke says that "Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed" (Luke 5:16). If Jesus, who was perfect and divine, needed to seek out solitude to be renewed and restored, and to receive grace and direction from the Father, how much more do we as mere mortals need to do the same?

Jill McMillan, whose Marine husband was often deployed, thrives in the company of others. She says, "And yet, the Lord told me, `You don't need to be always in on the action. Go to the lonely places like Christ did.' That's when I really grow close to the Lord."

One writer says this: "Strength is in quietness. The lake must be calm if the heavens are to be reflected on its surface. Our Lord loved the people, but how often we read of His going away from them for a brief season...The one thing needed above all others today is that we shall go apart with our Lord, and sit at His feet in the sacred privacy of His blessed presence. Oh, for the lost art of meditation! Oh, for the culture of the secret place! Oh, for the tonic of waiting upon God!"3

While I was trying so hard to withdraw from what I thought were the lonely places, I should have taken my cue from Jesus and let myself enter into those places of quiet to pray. To dwell in the fact that no matter what I was going through, God is still God, and miraculously, He wants to spend time with me.

Ask
Am I jam-packing my life so much that I have no time to pause before the Father?
What is keeping me from sharing moments of stillness with God?

Pray
Lord,
You see how hard I fight against loneliness. You know I am trying to stay engaged in my community so that I don't have time to notice the pangs of emptiness that seek to assault me. But in my efforts to crowd out those aching feelings, let me not neglect my time alone with you. I need to be recharged by your Spirit. Comfort me with your presence today.
Amen.

Edition details

• Publisher: Moody Publishers
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802452507
• ISBN 13: 9780802452504
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272