CONTRIBUTED BY MEREDITH NOVARIO
If you or someone you know would like to receive, via email, weekly family devotions that address issues you and your family are facing during deployment, send an email to militarydevotions@yahoo.com
It’s amazing how facing a year of family separation can catapult us into the 21st Century, sending us on quests for the latest technology to keep us “in touch”—cell phones that send text messages and photos, digital cameras that record video with sound, voice-over IP phones, webcams, instant messaging accounts, and more.
But how do we maintain a true connection when we’re literally oceans apart—a deeper, spiritual connection? When we communicate with each other, our communications run horizontally (hopefully in both directions.) When we take the time to talk to God through prayer and listen to Him through His word, the Bible, we have communication that runs vertically. Imagine a triangle.
God
Family at Home Deployed Spouse
When families and deployed spouses communicate with God, as well as with each other, they feel more of a connection—a connection that runs horizontally and vertically, a connection that is emotional and spiritual.
If you’ve never had a regular time when you all sit down together to read the Bible and talk about how God can be real in your lives, maybe this is a good time to start. Or, maybe you have a long-standing tradition of family devotions but are unsure of how to continue that tradition when your family is apart.
If you, or someone you know or love,would be interested in receiving via email a Christian devotion each week that would address issues you and your family are facing during deployment in a way even your children can relate to and learn from, please email me at militarydevotions@yahoo.com
In addition, if your deployed spouse would like to receive a devotion each week that would cover the same topic or character trait and Bible verses you are reading at home to keep that spiritual connection alive, include the spouse’s email address in the body of the email. These brief devotions will come to you once a week for approximately 52 weeks. They will cover topics like patience, faith, and courage and will always include a passage or story from the Bible, a key verse to memorize if you choose to, practical application questions to discuss, a prayer to pray together. This, like God’s love, is totally FREE! You may, of course, unsubscribe at any time.
For those new to Okinawa, I’d like to celebrate something about living overseas in a place where Christianity isn’t built into the historical/cultural fabric of the place: it brings cohesiveness to faith communities. Try visiting a military chapel in the USA, say in the DC area. Attendance is low, usually retired military and people who live on base…all of whom are the minority in most areas of the US. But go overseas to a place like Okinawa, and you’ll find the faith communities alive and active. People draw together, feed one another spiritually and socially. Personally, I found that my 5 years in Okinawa were like a spiritual retreat. I grew, and I helped others grow. I had an honset-to-goodness relationship with my chaplain (who later came to DC to marry my husband and me!!!), who also looked out for me when my best girlfriend and my fiancee both PCS’d. It’s not hard to get involved in your chapel community. I had a brief break in service, moved to Virginia, and found that being involved in my local church in Northern Virginia was more effort than the energy I had left after my commute. My relationship with God suffered there. Returning to Okinawa was a gift. I made new friends, re-linked with the spiritual community, and found that getting involved was as easy as breathing. Try it!
Great post that I’m sure will help many over there. It’s hard to feel connected when you’re so isolated and God is the only way to truly feel apart of life like that. Then of course all you do is look around you and see God’s amazing work…sunset beach, the northern-most tip of the island, even the banana spiders there. They’re all awesome sights!