DAY 1

For the last four summers, I have had the privilege of spending a week in the Colorado mountains with true heroes. They are being treated to a week of ministry to refresh their weary bodies and spirits. Most of these heroes are experiencing their second or third long deployment. They are not the ones who went to Iraq or Afghanistan, but the ones who stayed behind. These are the heroes that said good-bye to their husbands once and, eight months after they returned, said good-bye again. They did not even bother to take the yellow ribbons off the trees.

     Who are these women who face life with such courage and have their lives presently defined by waiting? They are your daughters, your sisters, your girlfriends with whom you went to high school or college. They are women whose emotions stay right at the surface. Yet they are women who function anyway. Each woman is characterized by the hope she has in her husband's safe return and the fear she fights in his being called away again.

     I listened to their wisdom as they shared the things this war has taught them. I watched them serve one another in the spirit of true community. I heard them as they honestly spoke of their fears and frustrations. I watched as they prayed for one another and as they opened their minds and hearts to the refreshment of God's Word. I saw them care for their children with the constant prayer that they wouldn't do anything to "mess them up" while Dad was away. Oh, and I heard them laugh! It was cleansing laughter that bound our hearts even closer.

     In his book Heroes among Us, Jim Ryun writes, "Is one born a hero, or are heroes made? I cannot help but think that one becomes a hero through consistently making small decisions that build one upon the other, fortifying one's character through a lifetime of right choices." [1]

     I commend military spouses who are making right choices during a season of deployment. They are looking to God as their refuge and strength, their ever-present help in the time of trouble. They are looking to each other to build each other up and encourage each other. They are looking at creative ways to serve others.

     I am better for being with them. I am proud to be a military wife alongside them. They truly are heroes on the home front. - Brenda

O     O     O

Father, thank you for the sustaining power you provide in times of need. Thank you for the example of faith and courage exemplified in military spouses in difficult times. I pray you would be all they need as they wait for their own military hero to return. In Jesus' name I pray. - Amen.

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[1] Jim Ryun, Heroes Among Us: Deep within Each of Us Dwells the Heart of a Hero (Shippensburg, PA: Treasure House, 2002).