For me, each deployment has had its own fresh challenges. Having to work was one of them, going to school was another, and being pregnant for part of another. The stressors mounted, particularly when we received orders for a back-to-back deployment that David could have opted out of, but, doing so would opt him out of the right career progression and leave his soldiers with inexperienced leadership. We prepared for the quick turn-around. I quit my job, graduated school, and moved in a short time frame. David was gone shortly thereafter, and I began struggling.
I wasn’t going to be able to leave the house to get this job. I didn’t know anyone to babysit. I was fatigued from caring for an infant, and I wasn’t in a military town. So I submitted a tall prayer to God.”I want something I can do from home that will make use of my higher education and will make me lots of friends,” I told him.
The struggle continued. I was eking out a living. My church friends, a very small FRG [family readiness group], were supportive and helped me remain faithful. But I still wanted what I wanted. Weary with need, I began a cursory search online “Army Wife” or “deployment support” may have been my search terms. My find was Army Wife Talk Radio in 2004.
What a Godsend. I found fulfillment there in sharing answers with other spouses and many friends who understand all the while working from home. It’s not where I saw myself twenty years ago. It may not be where I see myself twenty years from now, but it’s just what I ordered to make it through Deployment I, II, and III.
God is using me and my involvement in the online talk radio realm, now Army Wife Network, to relieve the pressure. I’m only left with one more need lately and that is to have my husband home. But I am smart enough to know that if there was no Army, there would be no soldiers (with their spouses, fiancés, and families) to support. And no job for me. So, I’ll be thankful he saw fit to provide just what I needed for the time it is needed.
My, how You fulfill my need. Your strategy is divine, and I’m happy you intervene on my behalf.
“And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.” (1 John 5:15)