I'm not an outwardly religious person. I don't like to push my beliefs on people and I don't like them to be pushed on me. A lot of that is because I really am a religously awkward person, not ever having grown up around someone who was "into" that. I don't like to pray out loud and it always makes me uncomfortable when people ask me to; generally I just say no and end up looking like a putz because I won't even vocalize a prayer.
But, God and I talk a lot. I generally have a running conversation with Him when I am having a quiet moment. I like to pray to Him when I am holding my children, or laying next to my sleeping husband. I like to pray to Him when I am cooking dinner, or driving to the grocery store. Most times, there is no "Dear God" or "Amen" because this way I feel like I can just talk, and I am being heard. But sometimes, I do like the formality of a "Dear God..."
Dear God,
I want to thank you for watching over me and my family. Thank you for my beautiful son and daughter. Thank you for helping me help them to be happy and healthy. Thank you for my husband and his constant love and support. I want to thank you for continuing to watch over my loved ones and their families who always need you during these trying times. We are coming upon a difficult time in my families life and I want to ask that you continue to watch over my husband and my family. As we embark on this deployment in the coming months, I am asking that you help us keep our Faith strong. Please help my husband to seek out your Words and be comforted by You. My husband has always turned to his Faith, and the Bible and Church when things sometimes seem overwhelming and I know that he will need You now more then ever. I'm asking that You please help me to continue to grow strong in my journey to know and understand You and Your teachings and to teach them to my children. Please watch over my husband while he is gone from us. Please give him the knowledge to do a good job and be great and take care of himself in a physical, mental and spiritual way until he can come home and I can do that for him once again. I know, God, that we are but small people in your humble eyes, but I ask that you cast them upon my family and I and watch over us. Thank you for all that you do. Amen.
When God Created the Navy Wife...
ReplyDeleteThe good Lord was creating a model for Navy wives and was into the sixth day of overtime when an angel appeared. She said, "Lord, you seem to be having a lot of trouble with this one. What's wrong with the standard model?"
The Lord replied, "Have you seen the specs on this order? She has to be completely independent, possess the qualities of a perfect hostess for four or forty with an hour's notice, run on black coffee, handle every emergency imaginable without a manual, be able to carry on cheerfully, even if she has the flu, and she must be willing to move to a new location eleven times in fifteen years. And oh, yes, she must have six pairs of hands."
The angel shook her head, "six pairs of hands? No way." The Lord continued, "Don't worry, we will make other Navy wives to help her, and we will give her an unusually strong heart so it can swell with the pride in her husbands achievements, sustain the pain of separations, beat soundly when it is overworked and tired, and be large enough to say 'I understand' when she doesn't and say 'I love you' regardless."
"Lord," said the angel, touching his arm gently, "go to bed and get some rest, you can finish tomorrow."
"I can't stop now." The Lord said, "I am so close to creating something unique. Already this model heals herself when she is sick, can put up six unexpected guests for the weekend, wave goodbye to her husband from a pier, a runway, or a depot, and understand why it's important that he leave."
The angel circled the model of the Navy wife, looked at it closely and sighed, it looks fine, but it's too soft."
"She might look soft." Replied the Lord. But she has the strength of a Lion. You would not believe what she can endure." Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the Lord's creation. "There's a leak," she announced. "Something is wrong with the construction. I am not surprised that it has cracked. You are trying to put too much into this model."
The Lord appeared offended at the angel's lack of confidence. "What you see is not a leak" he said, "it's a tear."
"A tear? What is it there for?" asked the angel.
The Lord replied, "it's for joy, sadness, pain, disappointment, lonliness, pride, and dedication to all the values that she and her husband hold dear."
"You are a genius" exclaimed the angel. The Lord looked puzzled and said, "I didn't put it there."
Thank you Jennifer.