Our church (Bethlehem Church) is reading Sun Stand Still by Steven Furtick in small groups for the fall semester. The book focuses on the prayer Joshua called out to the Lord to let the sun stand still over Gibeon. He asked The Lord to make the day longer so that he could lead the Israelites to the Promised Land. As the sun went down the battle was unfinished, the remaining enemy was to slip away unless he had more day light. (Joshua 10:12)
The author Steven Furtick talks about a book which he says was the first Christian book he willfully read, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire. On page 23 of Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, Steven reads "I despaired at the thought that my life might slip by without seeing God show himself mightily on our behalf" . That quote lead to the idea of having a Page 23 vision, a mission or vision that makes you ask Lord to make your sun stand still, the quote lead to reading out with audacious faith. Asking outside of the day to day prayers, God wants us to ask for the big things. He finds it insulting if we do not ask for help in reaching what WE believe is the impossible...He can make the sun stand still, we just have to ask.
Throughout the course of my small group J and I had been in the process of selection for our next assignment in the Army. There are always so many variables that go into making that decision. Yes there are times the Army just says this is where you are going and that's that. This time we were given a preference list and asked to rank them in order. Before "the list" came out I had offered up a thought to my small group that I might want to placed in a position that I could offer some guidance to the girlfriends/new wives of incoming soldiers. I wrote this idea on page 35 of my copy of Sun Stand Still. The thing is, I had ladies I looked up to as I came into this life and I could not have done it without them but when J was still in college there were not very many wives that were currently in today's Army. They had not been in the deployment cycles like we are in now and they had not experienced life in a war time Army. My point is I would love to be that wife to offer up the nitty gritty of this crazy life. I announced that I might have found my "page 23 vision".
The day I said this out loud to my group J called and said the preference list had come out. The list was full of ACRC slots (meaning an active duty personnel working with the reserves) and ROTC positions at random non-military schools. Neither option was appealing to us but we listed them and returned it. We both wanted an ROTC position but for different reasons, my page 23 vision and it's just something J has wanted to do, but we wanted a big name military school not Boise State! No offense to anyone reading that went to Boise :) We were looking at it all wrong. Sometimes the unexpected places, the not so obvious places, are the places that need people who want what you have. But the list had gone in and our top choice was Ft. Jackson, SC chosen because it was close to home.
After meeting with my small group again and continuing this study it became more and more obvious to me that I really desired to be stationed at a college. I was making lists of ways to help these cadets and events we could host. I reached out to other spouses that were in cadet command. I can honestly say I was a little sad thinking about getting an ACRC slot.
Fast forward a few weeks...2 hours before J was scheduled to return to Kuwait he received his assignment. Ft Jackson, SC but with duty in Camp Atterbury, IN...um not what we wanted and not what we thought we were getting when we asked for SC. So J called his branch manager and asked if there was any way we could get a different assignment, if there was anything left on the list or anything new since the list had been released. Guess what?? The only assignment they had to offer was a teaching position with the ROTC at Southern Illinois University.
In order to get the position J's name had to be placed in "a hat" and go through a selection process that can take up to 60 days. Not even a month later J got the word that he was selected. We are moving to Illinois in March. Whoa God
Let's recap...
-I said I wanted to minister/advise new/soon to be Army wives
-J gets a list that has ROTC positions on it, we ignore those options
-We get what we wanted attached to something we didn't want, we questioned and were offered ROTC yet again
-We get ROTC
I can not for one second ignore what is happening here and the orchestration that God has performed.
I am so excited about this upcoming assignment. I have prayed since September for this opportunity and now that God has given me the chance to act on my wants I am feeling every emotion possible. I refuse to let the fear of letting myself down, letting those cadets and their partners down, letting God down to deter me from doing the best I can with this. I am praying daily that God gives me the words, the ideas and the courage to make this happen.
Throughout the course of my small group J and I had been in the process of selection for our next assignment in the Army. There are always so many variables that go into making that decision. Yes there are times the Army just says this is where you are going and that's that. This time we were given a preference list and asked to rank them in order. Before "the list" came out I had offered up a thought to my small group that I might want to placed in a position that I could offer some guidance to the girlfriends/new wives of incoming soldiers. I wrote this idea on page 35 of my copy of Sun Stand Still. The thing is, I had ladies I looked up to as I came into this life and I could not have done it without them but when J was still in college there were not very many wives that were currently in today's Army. They had not been in the deployment cycles like we are in now and they had not experienced life in a war time Army. My point is I would love to be that wife to offer up the nitty gritty of this crazy life. I announced that I might have found my "page 23 vision".
The day I said this out loud to my group J called and said the preference list had come out. The list was full of ACRC slots (meaning an active duty personnel working with the reserves) and ROTC positions at random non-military schools. Neither option was appealing to us but we listed them and returned it. We both wanted an ROTC position but for different reasons, my page 23 vision and it's just something J has wanted to do, but we wanted a big name military school not Boise State! No offense to anyone reading that went to Boise :) We were looking at it all wrong. Sometimes the unexpected places, the not so obvious places, are the places that need people who want what you have. But the list had gone in and our top choice was Ft. Jackson, SC chosen because it was close to home.
After meeting with my small group again and continuing this study it became more and more obvious to me that I really desired to be stationed at a college. I was making lists of ways to help these cadets and events we could host. I reached out to other spouses that were in cadet command. I can honestly say I was a little sad thinking about getting an ACRC slot.
Fast forward a few weeks...2 hours before J was scheduled to return to Kuwait he received his assignment. Ft Jackson, SC but with duty in Camp Atterbury, IN...um not what we wanted and not what we thought we were getting when we asked for SC. So J called his branch manager and asked if there was any way we could get a different assignment, if there was anything left on the list or anything new since the list had been released. Guess what?? The only assignment they had to offer was a teaching position with the ROTC at Southern Illinois University.
In order to get the position J's name had to be placed in "a hat" and go through a selection process that can take up to 60 days. Not even a month later J got the word that he was selected. We are moving to Illinois in March. Whoa God
Let's recap...
-I said I wanted to minister/advise new/soon to be Army wives
-J gets a list that has ROTC positions on it, we ignore those options
-We get what we wanted attached to something we didn't want, we questioned and were offered ROTC yet again
-We get ROTC
I can not for one second ignore what is happening here and the orchestration that God has performed.
I am so excited about this upcoming assignment. I have prayed since September for this opportunity and now that God has given me the chance to act on my wants I am feeling every emotion possible. I refuse to let the fear of letting myself down, letting those cadets and their partners down, letting God down to deter me from doing the best I can with this. I am praying daily that God gives me the words, the ideas and the courage to make this happen.
