The Lord my Rock in Time of War

As some of you have heard already, DM is deploying in just about two weeks, which is sooner than we expected. Of course we are disappointed to have to say goodbye so quickly but what he has to do is really important and I'm glad that he is ready. The commander called from Iraq and said 'I need my essential personnel here now. Pull them out of training and send them over immediately.' So DM got a voice mail yesterday letting him know that he will be on his way to Iraq really soon and that they will only spend about 48 hours in Kuwait instead of the usual 3 weeks. Thankfully he has received all of the training before so he will not miss anything even though he is going to be taken out of the training class before it is over.

Now we're looking forward to Easter weekend since DM should get a long weekend and his Dad is coming up to take DM's vehicle and spend a few days with us. Another nice thing about that is we won't have to share my car for too long, DM isn't a big fan of driving around my bright yellow 'bumblebee.' :)

It is also good that we found out about the earlier deployment date when we did, we were planning to go look at an apartment and sign a lease yesterday before we found out. Now we don't have to worry about setting up a household and then having to undo everything in two weeks. We're just going to stay at the Econo Lodge a little longer. It's not beautiful or spacious, but we have a place to sleep and it's easy.

I think God was preparing me for this, I had a dream about a week ago and all I really remembered when I woke was a feeling that God had told me DM was leaving very soon. Last night when I was mulling over the deployment I thought of that verse at the beginning of Psalm 144 that says God 'trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.' So I looked it up and the whole chapter is rich in meaning for us right now so I will share it here along with some of the thought it inspired.

Psalm 144

Praise be to the LORD my Rock,
who trains my hands for war,
my fingers for battle.
He is my loving God and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
who subdues peoples under me.
O LORD, what is man that you care for him,
the son of man that you think of him?
Man is like a breath;
his days are like a fleeting shadow.
Part your heavens, O LORD, and come down;
touch the mountains, so that they smoke.
Send forth lightning and scatter the enemies;
shoot your arrows and rout them.
Reach down your hand from on high;
deliver me and rescue me
from the mighty waters,
from the hands of foreigners
whose mouths are full of lies,
whose right hands are deceitful.
I will sing a new song to you, O God;
on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you,
to the One who gives victory to kings,
who delivers his servant David from the deadly sword.
Deliver me and rescue me
from the hands of foreigners
whose mouths are full of lies,
whose right hands are deceitful.
Then our sons in their youth
will be like well-nurtured plants,
and our daughters will be like pillars
carved to adorn a palace.
Our barns will be filled
with every kind of provision.
Our sheep will increase by thousands,
by tens of thousands in our fields;
our oxen will draw heavy loads.
There will be no breaching of walls,
no going into captivity,
no cry of distress in our streets.
Blessed are the people of whom this is true;
blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.

(New International version, retrieved on 3/31/2010 from
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%20144&version=NIV).

For DM and I, our family, and all those who fear the Lord He is our rock, fortress, shield, stronghold, deliverer, He cares for us even though we are temporary beings, He reaches down from heaven to help us, He rescues us from deceivers, He cares for our family members when we are apart (v. 12), He makes sure we have a home to return to and that we are provided for (v. 13-14), He protects us and hears us, we are blessed by Him, we are blessed because we are His people.

Some of the things that seemed especially applicable to DM and Dan: He trains them for war, He rescues them from foreign enemies, and liars, He cares for their families when they are absent. Another image that caught my attention in the context of battle was that of the mountains smoking after God's touch, I thought of missiles and bombs routing the enemy. This may seem violent, but to me it says that God will fight for His people and defend them against deceitful and evil enemies. The final verses appear to me to give the reason for war; the purpose of combat is to protect your family and your countrymen from harm and captivity so that they can live in peace and experience a blessed relationship with God.

I am thankful that we believe in a powerful God who loves his children and can protect them even in the midst of battle.

Savoring the last weeks before deployment

My husband is getting ready to deploy in the next few weeks, we don't know exactly when because it's the Army and things change constantly but it will be soon. My sister in law encouraged me to start a blog so that he and the rest of our family and friends can find out what I'm up to. I plan to post updates when I hear from him and try to write interesting blogs about what I'm doing for him and anyone else who is interested in travel, learning, food, and adventures across the United States.