When I see an article on marriage, I automatically think “what does this say to a military marriage?” Ministry to military has wired me this way—thankfully. So when I read the article on FamilyLife.com entitled “5 Biggest Little Ways to Improve Your Marriage” I naturally went to “what does this say to a military marriage?”
It is no secret that my favorite book about military life as a Christian is Footsteps of the Faithful by Denise McColl. In it there is a chapter by Denise’s husband, Angus, in which he shares his heart about the demands of parenting while living the calling of military duty: At times I have really become frustrated in my role as a military man and Christian husband and father.
Excellent or Praiseworthy is posted on Monday and Thursday nights. But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness" . . . That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight…
Excellent or Praiseworthy is posted on Monday and Thursday nights. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. —…
Excellent or Praiseworthy is posted on Monday and Thursday nights. “Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with…
I am always on the lookout for good marital “helps”—especially concerning military marriages. The challenges of military life are so many and the stresses so high we need to be on high alert concerning the state of our own marriage and those of our friends. I especially appreciate articles which give advice to help friends help friends. You know—you want to help others with troubled marriages but just don’t know how . . . and are especially fearful of “making things worse.” It’s rare to find such help.
Living the Christian life. Living the Christian life in the military. Living the Christian life in the military during deployment. It’s all difficult, right? Some would say impossible, but we know better. On a scale of one to God, nothing is impossible.
I’ve made a list of things people hate to hear when their spouse is deployed. Perhaps you could add to this list, but these are the statements about which I’ve heard complaints: “I’m sorry.” “I know how you feel. I was a single mom.”
In the last pages of What Did You Expect?? Paul David Tripp summarizes his writing with this: “What has this book been about? It has been a detailed description of the daily work of love that must be done with commitment and joy when a flawed person is married to a flawed person and they are living in a fallen world." Did you catch that—“Daily work . . . So how do you do that under the challenge of deployment?
Have you wanted to memorize Scripture during deployment? And have you decided to memorize a verse(s) that would challenge and motivate you to live a pure life even under trying circumstances? Paul wrote such a message to the believers in Corinth, who were surrounded by immorality and corruption in their society—and even struggled with similar problems in their church. John MacArthur says that in these two verses we find five commands—the Corinthians were “to be alert, firm, mature, strong, and loving.” What follows is an examination of these commands and other verses to support them: