Reality Check

It is still somewhat early this morning.  I was up much earlier than I like today.  It is still dark, of course.  The children are all in bed and my house is understandably very quiet.  I took my husband to the airport this morning.  He is off to San Antonio, where we lived before moving to Alaska, for some pre-deployment training.

He will be able to stop in and spend a day with his brother and family and enjoy some good TexMex at Taco Cabana.  I think Taco Cabana is one of the few things I miss about Texas.  He will probably pick up a cherry lime aid from Sonic too!

He will then spend a week out in the field eating MREs and doing whatever they do out there for training.  He will only be gone a week so that is not too bad.  But as I drove away from the airport this morning I came face to face with a reality check.    We have known for a while that he was set to deploy.  As the time gets closer and closer it seems less and less likely that he will be pulled from this one.  I have been preparing for him to go but somehow actually sending him off for training shook me a little.  This is really going to happen. The time is quickly approaching when we will be living  this and not just thinking about living it.

There have been several deployments that he has been tasked for and then pulled from.  We have been through one short deployment before though and it was to a safe place.  This will be by far our longest separation and our first to the front lines in the war zone.

My concern is not for us here at home.  I know I will have a task ahead of me.  The older children can at least understand what is going on.  The younger ones will be more of a challenge.  In fact, one just came upstairs crying because he has already left.  I am more concerned, however, for my hubby and his safety.

I am so thankful for a God who is sovereign.  As our family moves forward, I ask that you keep us in prayer.  Pray for hubby and his safety, pray for our children who will be missing their daddy, and pray for me that I would trust in the Lord all the more.

Reality checks are good, not always fun, but good.  Thank you Lord that you are the one who decrees all things.  Thank you Lord Jesus for being my Savior, my Rock, my Strength, and my Refuge.

Do You Fear?

I find that fear is a constant battle for me.  I tend to worry about so many things that I shouldn’t.  I fully acknowledge that this is a major weakness.  It is one that can only be overcome by the working of the Lord in my life.  I need to continually seek him for healing from fear.  I came across a quote today that slapped me upside the head!  It is something I already knew but when you come face to face with the bare bones of the issue it often makes your head spin.

Our fears are grounded in either a failure to believe in God’s strength or a failure to believe His gospel. — RC Sproul Jr

Lord,

I praise you Lord, Creator of all, You are God!  Mold me into your image, may I be surrendered, softened, and easy to mold.  Cleanse me, heal me, create in me a clean heart, one that is absent of fear and clings to you.  I know that worry can not add a single day so let me not waste the ones you have given.  Draw me closer to you that I may never fail to believe and rely upon you.  Remove my self-reliant tendencies.  May you be glorified in my life!

Amen

Should We Really Call It a ‘Quiet’ Time?

In the verbal actions of the psalms—rejoicing, asking for help, and expressing thanks (see 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)—we talk to someone else, in this case, God himself. It’s fair to say that having a “quiet time” is a misnomer. We should more properly have a “noisy time”! By talking out loud you live the reality that you are talking with another person, not simply talking to yourself inside your own head. Of course “silent prayers” are not wrong—1 Samuel 1:13, Nehemiah 2:4, and, likely, Genesis 24:45—but they are the exception.

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God wants to catch your ear in order to awaken your voice. When you have your ‘quiet’ time, or as you walk outdoors, or during your commute, may the decibel level rise to joyful noise and cries of need—and may God listen to the sound of your voice!

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via Should We Really Call It a ‘Quiet’ Time? | CCEF.

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