By: Jeff

Jeff — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 20:13:30 +0000

(USA) I am currently on active duty with the Army Reserves. I am nearly half way into what will be about a two year mobilization. My wife and daughter are at home in Michigan while I will be between Indiana, Illinois and Georgia. I have also been overseas for a period of time. Sometimes I do not know much in advance when I will be coming home to visit and even when we can plan ahead it often times is very difficult especially for my wife. The emotional upheaval of coming and going, the disruption of the "normal routine" is much harder than I have often recognized and many of our friends and neighbors don’t understand what it feels like to her either. This morning I did something that I will do again and wish I had done before. My wife and daughter were snowed in on Sunday morning uable to go to church. When she called to talk early before daylight I realized an opportunity for me to lead her and our daughter in a time of Bible reading and worship. I asked my wife if she would like to do that after Addy was up. She agreed and I spent time with God to see what would be good for us to use for worship together. I chose scripture in both Matthew and Luke. It was great and I was able to personalize it for or daughter too showing her how Jesus was adopted by Joseph just like her mom and I adopted her. We talked about specific things each of us had been blessed with by God that gave us reason to praise and worship Him. It was a great opportunity of coming together to worship to overcome the otherwise great distance between us. My only regret is that I have missed so many opportunities to do this in the past. We don’t have to wait to be apart to do this but to do it while apart is a great tool to defeat the separation of physical distance. I will do this again and encourage anyone else to do it whether separated by distance or not.

Comments on: Military Spouses and Families: Heroes at Home

By: Jeff