There are so many different blog posts on being a military spouse and the ups and downs of it all. I’m hoping this doesn’t become one of those.
Although there are many ups and downs there are many talented writers out there that have written on this topic before me. If you’re in the military community, you’ve probably read one!
No, my hope for this piece is that you get a glimpse of who God is and how he uses our lives to mirror his image in unmistakeable ways.
There are so many things that I have experienced being moved around by the military and so many things I’ve learned. By far the greatest and best take away is how much he has shown me tangibly who He is and what He does for us. Bear with me as I try and give you a glimpse in hopes you’ll reflect on your own experience and see God in the past, present, and future.
If you don’t know a thing about the military let me preface by saying that they 100% control where and when our family moves. We may get a say every once in a while but for the most part we have little say. Things can be planned, houses rented and at that moment the move will be changed. Or you can take a job only to find out after day one you’re moving in a week. (True story guys)
It can be exhausting and down right discouraging sometimes. However, one thing I tell my girlfriends who are fellow military spouses is this: How beautiful that we get to experience a very tangible way of not being in control. God has his hand over our paths and my need for control over my life is no match to His love for me.
This life has shown me in a very tangible way how to give up that control and how to be joyful in the midst of handing it over. It’s not easy and sometimes, most of the time, there are tears but so is following a life after Christ.
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Every day I write down thankfuls, blessings, praises, whatever you want to call them. Today the first on my list was for the locals here who are always so patient with me and my ten word knowledge of the German Language. The ones who smile and talk to my kids despite a language barrier. You see, because shopping out on the economy in a foreign country is kind of intimidating to me. Even after doing it for almost a year, there is still a part of me that has a wee bit of anxiety. It pushes my comfort zone.
And there it is you guys. The beauty again. All the moving, the new friends, new churches, new communities, new countries, all of it adds up to pushing my comfort zone. It never fails that by the time I feel comfortable, we’re moving again.
Living a life with a heart for Jesus and His people means having no comfort zone and if you do pushing it wide open. It means being dangerous and bold in His name. How beautiful it is that my comfort zone gets pushed on the regular in this life. This life has taught me how to find the peace in not having a comfort zone anymore and when I discover I’ve built one up… it’s taught me how to tear it down with confidence.
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With moving every few years, we have seen our fair share of seasons. I can recount my husbands Duty stations by the seasons in our lives (and semi jokingly, kids! Ha!) but with every new move there comes a new season. For example, I like to call our first move together the season of growing pains. We were newly married, I was a new teacher, we were now living together after being on our own for so long and oh, by the way, here’s a sweet baby girl to make the mix that much sweeter. So many growing pains y’all! But it’s a season we look back on with so much joy and thankgiving. It brought its own ups and downs but so much maturity happened.
Much like our spiritual walk with God. There will be seasons where you will be poured into from a community and there will be seasons where you are pouring into others. There are seasons where you are just obediently waiting for what God has and there are seasons where he is moving you to the max. Seasons of healing and seasons of meeting God the Glory. Each season is beautiful and necessary to our maturity in the Body of Christ.
This life has taught me how to love in each season. It’s showed me how different it looks in each season and that it is just that, a season.
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Every time we move a very real concern is what’s in store for our family once we get there. Will I be able to find a job? How will I keep up my credentials? Will Joey be gone a whole lot? What will his days look like? Soooo many questions that really affect our way of life. Then the last question that always pops in our minds: Will we be happy there? As quickly as it pops up, it flees even faster now. It wasn’t always like that but it is now.
Now we know that our identity and joy is not found in our careers, our environment, our circumstance, it’s found in the Lord. This is one lesson I tear up thinking about. The very real way God walks us through resting our identity in Him constantly. So the answer is always yes, there will be an abundance of joy despite what lies ahead. Because this life has taught me, in a very real way, that my identity and joy rests in an unchangeable and loving God.
Although there are so many more I have learned and continue to learn these are the ones I will leave you with. Though, not before challenging you to look at your own circumstance, look at your own experience and ask yourself, “how does this mirror or show me the very real and very tangible love of God?”
I’d love to hear from those from different walks. Maybe you’ve learned these same lessons but in a much different way. I encourage you to share, if not with me, with those around you. Lift one another in the Body of Christ. Encourage each other in the midst of the chaos.
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