I often get asked "how do you do it? I could never do that with my husband gone like that." I have empathy when I hear that. It wasn't too many years ago I was saying the same thing to my military friends. In fact, it seems fitting today, Memorial Day, to acknowledge all that those who serve have done for our family personally. We are truly grateful for the freedoms in our country that have come at so high a price for many families. We recognize and pause to remember those sacrifices and again to say thank you! I also have to say a huge thank you to all my military wife friends/siblings: Andrea, Tricia, Gwen, Alisa, Jenn, Dawn, Ashley, Debbie, Molly, Kristin, Kara, Angela, Anna, Stephanie, Brook, Georgia, Jill, Lauren, Joy, Kristan, Michelle, Nicole, Marion, Stephanie and any others I have left out. Thank you for your example of living well and not putting life on hold when separated or having to deal with the military schedule running your lives. To Dawn who gave the ultimate earthly sacrifice of your husband, thank you isn't enough. All of you women have poured into my life as it is now more than you'll ever know!
See, when we lived in a military community I used to ask these great girls how they did it. They just smiled and shrugged and said "we just do." They didn't hole up and hide until the deployment was over. They didn't shy away from the phone and mail in constant worry that they might get the next notice of their loved one being killed. They lived! They did normal day-to-day things. They travelled. They took kids around the world to see family or they stayed around the world from family due to friends as their support network through the deployments. Before we joined missions we considered army chaplaincy. God used these amazing friends in my life to show me that He was sovereign and in control and that his peace was enough. And now, he is still reminding me of that. We miss Ty when he travels but we have no doubt that God has him and us in his hand. We trust Him that He is good and no matter what we know He has directed our paths this way. Of course, this also makes me think of the thankfulness to His own Son for the greatest sacrifice for the greatest freedom ever!
Today, on Memorial Day we have MUCH to celebrate and be thankful for. We are rejoicing for those who serve our country and have served and given much! We are celebrating the many friends God has blessed us with who have taught us to live well no matter what our paths on earth look like, separation or not. And we rejoice and give thanks for the death and resurrection of Jesus which brings the greatest life ever!