Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Fail To Plan...

Fail to plan…
We spent the last 5 days hunkered down and gearing up for “Snowmageddon” or the “Snowpocalypse”. The biggest blizzard to hit the Midwest in decades was forecasted to drop at least 2 feet of snow in our area on top of sleet, ice, and freezing rain. We stocked up on milk, eggs, dry cereal, snack food and lunch meat. We bought hand warmers and candles in case the electricity went out. Why? Because we had time to be prepared. I knew that a blizzard of this magnitude could definitely warrant the activation of my husband’s National Guard unit. I knew there was a good chance that he would have to leave us here to “fend for ourselves” while he went out in treacherous conditions to help others. I knew if they called him in, he would probably be gone all week. I decided to mentally psyche myself up for his departure. I decided that I wasn’t going to whine this time. I decided for once I was going to stay strong, not text him every hour, not worry when he doesn’t call. Can you imagine me during a deployment? Fortunately, though my husband’s unit WAS activated, he did not have to go. AND the snowpocalypse only dropped a foot of snow on us. But we were both physically and mentally prepared for whatever was coming. As my husband always says, “Fail to plan, plan on failing.”
When you’re married to the military, you find yourself always being mentally and physically prepared. You know deployments can spring up on you, unexpectedly. You know they can be extended. You know that you might not like your next duty station and you know that anything can change at any time. You also make sure your Power of Attorney is up to date, all your paperwork is within reach, and other affairs are in order.
But are you spiritually prepared? When deployments come do you draw closer to God or do you resent him? When your husband gets injured do you trust God for His healing, or do you curse Him for allowing it? When push comes to shove, are you a woman of grace and strength that others admire or do you fall apart and crumble in despair? Where is God when things get hard?
The spiritual part of our lives is the easiest part to ignore, or get distracted from. It’s so easy to get caught up in the millions of tasks that we have to get done in preparation for what’s to come. It’s easy to focus all our efforts in building our relationship with our husband. Those things are important. But our Creater, the Lover of our souls deserves our heart first. Our relationship with God must always come first. The more time you spend with your Savior, the closer you will be to Him. And the closer you are to Him, the more you will trust Him. And the more you trust Him, the more prepared you will be when a snowpocalypse hits your life.

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