***This post is part of the series The Real Army Wives of Fort Hood. A new chapter appears each Monday….Okay, well I aim for Monday anyway! Enjoy! Click here for last week’s post.***

I am telling this particular story from my own faulty memory. Facts are as recalled, not necessarily completely accurate.

While most of us were digging in to the second half of the year-long deployment, Sarah was preparing to welcome her husband Zack home from the war. Then they were planning to immediately exit the Army and move down to San Antonio, where they were from.

Bless her. Sarah was dealing with all of these enormous life changes, and none of us had a clue as to how to relate. Sarah had a large support network that included not only our group but many other in-town friends, as well as sisters she was close to, her parents down in San Antonio, and our Sunday School class.

Have I mentioned that somewhere along the way Sarah started going to church with me too? Cloe and Sarah both went to First Baptist Killeen with me. In fact, that’s where we met Kayla.

Sarah, 2003, hanging in my living room. Kitty was in the background, and judging by the pumpkin on the porch, it was October.

First Baptist was a traditional church in downtown Killeen. It’s still a church, but they moved to another campus years later.  Traditional Baptist churches have an hour of Sunday school, followed by an hour-long service of singing and preaching. It’s all I’ve ever known, but I know that many denominations do church differently.

Well, that first hour of Sunday school was balm to our souls that year!

Not only did we get together and listen to a lesson. It was ever SO much more than that! We had a class of around 40 people, half of which were spouses of deployed soldiers. Our class teachers were Jerry and Wanda Lewis. They were ever so much more than teachers! They were our parents away from home.

Jerry and Wanda made it about more than listening to a lesson. We all sat in a gigantic circle. Then we all went around and said our names because there were always new faces amongst us. Usually we’d tell our names and answer a random question, like “Which is better, cake or pie?”

There was a prayer request time too. Many teachers hesitate to have one because people talk too long, with too many details, and it takes away from their amount of time to lecture, but it was part of what made this class great.

We were sharing our burdens with each other every Sunday morning.

Ashley, me, and Wanda (I wish I had a photo with Jerry in it too!)

The lessons were good too, full of sound teaching, but it was the LOVE I remember the most. Having a whole group of people who want to know your name and whether you think football is more interesting than baseball–a whole group of people who will listen when you say that your husband was in a convoy attack and you are praying for the safety of the troops with renewed gusto.

Jerry and Wanda, along with my friends Theresa and Ashley (who were also in this class) didn’t make it only a Sunday morning thing either. They designated Theresa and Ashley to put together gatherings once a month, you know, game nights, progressive dinners, and such. They’d open their homes to us, and we’d just gather.

Wanda also made a regular habit of calling those of us she felt needed it and checking in on us. Talk about making you feel special!

Greg, Ashley, and Suzanne at Wanda’s house playing Bunco: You can see how much fun we had. ****All names of current service members and their families are changed in all of my posts.****

In this way, we weren’t just talking about how God cares for each one of us. We are actually being his ears and arms and heart to each other. This is true fellowship. It’s how the church should function.

Classes like this are how souls are saved.

Sarah was one of those souls. She had grown up Catholic, and she already believed in God. But there were so many questions she wasn’t sure about. When you go through classes and get baptized on the Church’s timeline, it can be easy for their schedule to not match your own heart and head. Maybe you heard all of the lessons, but it never translated to a salvation experience in your heart. That’s how it was for Sarah.

In Jerry and Wanda’s class and in examining the scriptures for herself, Sarah came to a saving knowledge of Jesus. She believed and prayed for Jesus to save her and be the Lord of her life.

I remember her telling us about getting saved. We were sitting in my living room when she told us, and I recall that she said she’d talked to Wanda about it. I was just so pleased and excited for her.

Is there anything more encouraging to your own faith than when you see someone else’s blossom? What a blessing!

Katherine and Sarah at our Christmas dinner at my house

Sometimes it takes a hard time to bring us to a place of faith. We were certainly in the trial of deployment, but Sarah had even more than hard times driving her to her knees. She had a group of encouraging friends walking down the paths of life beside her. It’s easier to find faith, hope, and love when you’re surrounded by that kind of positivity.

You may wonder how Sarah is doing now and if I ever hear from her. I’m sad to tell you that while I figure she’s doing well, we aren’t really in touch. I can’t find her on Facebook anymore, and I haven’t seen her since 2006, right after we’d both had babies just months apart.

I do know that there were many hard times ahead for Sarah, as Zack left her and the baby soon after he returned from the war. However, Sarah went on to have two more children and was always a grounded, mature person with a strong close-knit family there in Texas. I can guarantee you Sarah persevered and is raising a beautiful family.

Sarah, if you read this, email me– or call me. My number never changed!

*****

I know that this topic of belief and faith in God and finding salvation in Jesus can leave many people with questions, so I want to end by saying that if you have any questions, feel free to comment below or email me: storiesofourboys@gmail.com. I’ll be happy to answer any questions.

SaveSave

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October 31. It isn’t just Halloween–a very odd candy holiday in which perfectly happy, normal people throw skeleton decorations in their front yards. I don’t mean to be the Halloween Scrooge, but Halloween gets on my nerves. I passed a house yesterday with three fake tomb stones in the front yard. On the stones, the family had written the names of their children (living children).  Weird, ya’ll. I don’t care what holiday that is. It’s weird.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s a day where my children eat too much sugar and ask me to spend a bunch of money on costumes. Then we attempt trick-or-treating, until some neighbor takes it all too seriously and comes running out with a hockey mask and a chain saw. One of my children always gets scared and wants to come home.

Or, the funny thing is, they are so excited to have six pieces of candy in their bag, they say, “Yes!  Let’s go home and eat all this candy!!!”

I’m much more intrigued by a whole other event that took place on October 31, 1517. Yes, THAT Martin Luther: the one that started the whole Protestant Reformation. I mean, it had to be done. In those days, the Church was selling “forgiveness for sins” in exchange for money. What! Martin Luther was a highly dedicated Augustinian friar, with a doctorate in Bible, so he knew his Word backwards and forwards. He wrote down every single way in which the selling of indulgences was unBiblical and an exploitation of the poor. He sent this letter to his bishop. Some say he even nailed it to the door of the All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg.

Now you know I’m on board with someone who takes that kind of stand.

This is not to say anything against the Catholic Church nowadays, but in Martin Luther’s time, reform desperately needed to happen. As for the church now?

Psst….When it comes to Christianity, being a follower of Christ does not depend on what denomination of church you go to. All churches consist of lost and saved people alike, I am convinced.

What matters is the heart. That’s what God looks at. Is your heart right with God? How does one even get “right with God”?

Well, the Bible says that we can’t really, on our own. None of us are righteous, no not one. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

The Bible states that we are all in need of a Savior, and that savior is Jesus.

In 1517, the Church (not God’s Word), also taught that we needed a Savior, but not just that–we also needed enough good deeds, and we could just buy the good deed part by giving money to the church.

Wrong.

A clean heart cannot be bought.

I think John describes salvation best, in the verses that we always teach our children first:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

John 3:16

To be right with God, we need to come to a place where we see our sins for what they are–sins. We need to confess that, ask for forgiveness, believing that we can get that through Jesus. Why Jesus? Because he lived this life as a person, even though he is God, and he never sinned. However, he took OUR punishment for sin upon himself, simply because God loved us.

Jesus reconciled us to God.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.  Ephesians 2: 8-10

It’s a choice we all must make: to believe or not to believe, but if you choose not to believe, I hope you have well researched that decision. Life is so much better with Jesus in it.

Don’t you love a man who stands up for what he believes is right? Martin Luther didn’t turn his back on the church because of all the hypocrisy. Instead, he tried to change it. He educated, he persuaded, he was bold, and he was brave.

Eventually, change did happen, but at first all Martin Luther got for that was……excommunicated from the church. As it turns out,  choosing to stand up for what’s right isn’t always popular.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

A few facts you may not know about Martin Luther

1. Martin Luther taught other reformers to not resort to violence in their quest for church reform since that is not Biblical. That reminds me of how Martin Luther King, Jr. also sought non-violent means to promote Civil Rights. There’s the connection.

2. Martin Luther wrote catechisms to teach the basics of Christianity to the people.

3. He also wrote a new Mass in German so that the common people could understand it, and he omitted everything that “smacks of sacrifice.” Luther preached that Mass was a gift, not a sacrifice.

4. Luther wrote gobs of hymns.

5. Luther translated the New Testament into German, but they say it was slanted towards his interpretations.

6. Luther always took the firm stance that communion was literal, not symbolic, as many reformers believed.

Happy Martin Luther Day! Have a great weekend.

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.  1 Corinthians 16:13

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A while back, I typed out the story of how and why I have chosen this life of following Jesus. However, I made the mistake of never actually posting it on my home page, so many of my blog readers have never read this particular story, and it is the most important story I know. This set the entire course for my life.

Click here to read My Story of Faith. I would love to hear stories of faith from all of you!! I’ve often heard people in church circles say that the only testimony that they think is powerful is one where God saved a person from a hard life of drugs or such. While yes, that is a great testimony to what God can do, I think all believers have a great story to tell. What’s yours?

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