My youngest son, Jessey, (who is in the DEP for the Navy) and I met a mother at the top of the Columbia Tower whose son is in the military and recently deployed. We began to chat about our children and she shared with me her fears and struggles. I shared with her my experience and stories of having all four of my children enlisted and two that were deployed at the same time. I also shared with her one returning injured and the challenge we still face as he heals. She then asked me “How did you do it with two deployed?”. Oh how I wish I could have given her a grand answer of how I stood fast in my faith and held it all together, but the honest answer was, “ Not so good. I prayed more than I breathed. I endured until a fear of mine came to reality and then I walked through it. At the end of it all, God was still good and I learned another level of trust. I learned scriptures to memorize and declare over my children and I learned a strategy for when they go to war again.” Then I prayed with her for her son and her heart that was pioneering through her first deployment and all the fears she will face as a mom.
It is meetings like these that I have more than I can count. As I consider the new things God has brought us to and through, I also must consider a new way to minister and influence others. Is it with Military families? This I do know: God has appointed me as a watchman over my family. To pray, to war, to decree, to declare, to encourage them, counsel them, pray with them and believe in them. They are my circle of influence, they always have been. They are the crowd I teach, the followers I influence, the hungry, the thirsty, sometimes the sick I visit and the poor I give to. As they grow , so do I. I never stop being a watchman over my family, but I do have to change and adapt to new territory and new battles.
The new things I feel stirring are not areas I ever wished for or thought. Do I want to be a woman of influence to understand the deep levels of the fear of our precious children at war? Not so much. But I would be a fool to ignore that God has been teaching me how to stand. It has been like boot camp for my heart. To face fears, tragedies and trials. To do daily prayer push-ups that increase my strength. What I once thought I could never do, I now find myself encouraging others in. Being a woman of influence means to take your trials and learn heavenly strategies. To pioneers and blaze a trail. To fall down and get up again. To face fears and sometimes fake courage. To crawl when walking is impossible. To not quit when quitting is screaming at you to do so. To believe there is a purpose for every hurt and remember your not alone.
Our first place of influence is in our home. Learning during precious times when our little ones are underfoot. Stories times with cookies and coco. Car rides and bible stories. Holding hands on first days of school. Holding hearts when break-up happen. Cheering them on when they chase after their dreams. Biting your tongue when you have other plans. Realizing our children have been teaching us how to be a woman of influence.
Then when the day comes and your sitting in your office, surrounded by pictures of the past, wondering what God has for you now, you can recall all that He had done for you, through you and with you. You can look back and see just where God has used you and how. It might surprise you. It may not be how you imagined your life. It may be better. Psalm 56:9b…This I know, that God is for me. He never waste the trials we have been through. He always has a plan, its just up to us if you want to follow it. No matter how scary it looks or crazy it may be. Your new beginnings and place of influence just might me where you have learned life, just a change of scenery. Don't be afraid to learn how to do new life in in familiar places.
