Hope for the Home Front
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The wife of a Navy SEAL veteran publishes a new book called “Hope for the Home Front: God's Timeless Encouragement for Today's Military Wife," a compilation of her thoughts, reflections and experiences in coping her husband’s call to service.
Marshele Carter Waddell, whose husband Mark is deployed in the Middle East, offers her experiences and scriptural encouragement to others who bear similar burdens of fear, loneliness, anger, disappointment, temptation, frequent moves, single parenting and separation from loved ones.
"Nearly 19 years of marriage to a military man have brought with it many trials and crises, all opportunities to learn to trust and fear only God," Waddell writes in the book. "His Word tells me that 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised' (Job 1:21). My husband, my children, my health, my home and my future are gifts from God for this life only. I am learning to let go of Mark and all else that is dear to me here. The safest place for my treasures is in God's hands, not mine."
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Marshele sad she was able to learn the art of “Militareses.” "The contents of Mark's pockets ... introduced me to a language not taught in any school," she writes. "I have never seen Militarese 101 or Interpreting DOD 102 offered at any educational institution. It took me three months not to equate CO, XO and OPS-O with uh-oh and Cheerios. It took even longer to remember that the OIC and the AOIC were human beings, not to mention my husband's bosses."
In dealing with a husband away from home -- possibly in the line of fire -- while raising small children, Marshele’s book offered comfort and reflection. She began keeping a journal of her experiences, which is what she drew upon to write Hope for the Home Front.
"The number of Mark's days were ordained, determined before one of them came to be, regardless if he is a gunslinger or if he sits behind a desk and pushes papers," Waddell writes in the book. "The number and quality of all my days are equally in His loving control. Mark's job is demanding and dangerous. The amount of danger he faces, however, in no way alters God's sovereignty. In contrast, it serves to keep my will on the altar."
By Pauline J.
