Over 45 years of marriage, 34 years of which were spent serving in the Army, we have seen many answers to prayer. The vast majority of these have been in the ordinary everyday events of life but we have embraced the knowledge that, ‘Nothing is too great for God’s power, and nothing is too small for God’s love.’
We have moved house at least 18 times in that time and on every occasion, we have known the Lord’s guiding and protection – even when the Army decided to post us to places where we didn’t really want to go! We always found other Christians to share fellowship with and a church to go to. Some churches were more to our liking than others, but we went where we felt led.
We are blessed with 3 wonderful daughters who are all following the Lord (and we now have 9 fantastic grandchildren). Even though my husband was away for the first 2 births, I was well cared for by family and friends and knew that the Lord was with me. For example, when my middle daughter was born, my husband was in the Falklands, and it was long before the days of computers and Facetime. However, my mother-in-law managed to talk her way through the system to get a call through to the Falklands with the news – before the phone lines went down for 3 days. As our daughter was already late this saved a lot of anxiety for my husband waiting for news. The official Army signal finally arrived when the phone contact had been restored!
Each deployment has been safely completed, and the family have survived the periods of separation without any major incidents. We very definitely felt God’s protection for us when one of our best friends (a neighbour at the time) was killed in a road traffic accident in Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War, when both husbands were away together and actually sharing a room at the time. One of the hardest times of my life was supporting my grieving friend and her children whilst my husband was safe and well.
One of our daughters served in the Army and is now married to an Army officer. Our prayers have been answered for their protection and stamina as they too move regularly with 4 children! All of the children are now in boarding school where they have settled well and are very happy – another answer to prayer.
We know we have been protected by prayer throughout the time with the Army and since, as we support military families where we now live. Our support has come through the prayer groups that have prayed for us throughout our marriage as part of the Armed Forces’ Christian Union prayer support groups. We are indebted to them for their love and faithfulness. But above all we are thankful to God and His abundant love and faithfulness as we seek to serve him.
*Photo Credit: https://www.pexels.com/@jairus-abiasen-2161361444