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By Charlotte Packard
 Sometimes life can look overwhelming as we look ahead. Life in the military is especially full of overwhelming moments. Uncertainty sometimes seems more common than plans. I remember an October morning that was the beginning of one of these moments that lasted for months.
The car was packed to take my husband TDY, yet again. It seemed that the hellos and good-byes were coming more and more frequently. I was living with a colicky child in a place that seemed more like a foreign land than home. But the farewells were said, last hugs given, and Grant and I stood on the doorstep waving goodbye. My son was in an unusually grumpy mood, having just had surgery to place tubes in swollen, infected ears. My husband Mark was already running late, having stayed with us until we got home from the hospital. He climbed in the car and turned to key, but nothing happened. He tried to start the car a few more times before we frantically transferred everything from one car to the other so he could get to SOS in time for check-in.
That was how the deployment began. I was sitting on the front porch, waiting for the tow truck to come check on a car that would not start, holding a groggy two-year-old who was not feeling well, waving goodbye to a husband that was going TDY one more time, and trying to stop the tears that would not be denied. Those are life’s moments for a military mom. Moments that are hard enough one at a time, but put together, seem impossible to bear.
Mark was gone almost three months that time, and he missed Thanksgiving. I was supposed to go eat with friends, but when an ice storm cancelled those plans, Grant and I went to a local restaurant instead. I was feeling sorry for myself, sure that I would be the only one who did not have anywhere to go on Thanksgiving Day, but the place was full. Grant had a wonderful time, waving and talking to everyone while I tried to convince him to leave the other people alone and eat something. Three people came up to us that day and thanked us for brightening their lonely holiday. (I guess that even I had some fun that day, too, but don’t let my husband know. He still feels really sorry for me.)
That was also the deployment when Grant thought the wrought iron railing along our stairs would be a wonderful place to stick his head. It fit in just perfectly. It did not come out so easily. Now I don’t know about you, but I do not have tools in my house to cut one-inch thick wrought iron. I tried lots of other things, but finally, after about a pound of Crisco, I gave up. I sat on the stairs beside him, trying to calm us both down a little by reading a couple of books. I tried to think of anything other than calling the fire department for help. Did you know that once a child settles down and Crisco heats up, a child’s head will just slide right out of wrought iron railing?
Mark was also gone for our fifth wedding anniversary. He asked a friend to have flowers waiting at the church for me, but there was some sort of mix-up and a funeral arrangement was delivered instead of an anniversary arrangement. At least we are still married, and I can’t wait to see what kind of flowers I will get for our twentieth anniversary. He still feels badly about this, too.
Sometimes life is hard and looks like not much fun. If I had known ahead of time what those three months would hold, I would have said I could not make it. But God has such incredible plans for each of us. In Jeremiah 29, verse 11, God says, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
As I look back at those three months, I am amazed at how those times taught me that I was so much stronger than I would have ever imagined. I learned that I can have fun with a two-year-old for company. I grew as a mom when I learned that children can usually get themselves out of the messes they get themselves into. I learned to laugh even when I did not get what I expected. I learned to trust a big God with broken down cars, sick children, travelling husbands, and stressed-out moments, because God is bigger than any of these and he has a plan just for me.
I don’t know what your “military mom moments” look like. They may look a lot like mine or they may be very different, but no matter what they are, God has a plan uniquely for you. Take hope in that and may you learn to grow and laugh and trust with each moment that enters your life because God will use these moments to fulfill his plan for you.
Charlotte Packard is married to a veteran officer of the USAF. (They were stationed at Tinker AFB, OK, where he worked with AWACS; the Pentagon where he worked NEACP/MCCSS; and Peterson AFB, CO, where he worked for US Space Command.) She and her family currently live in Colorado Springs, CO. Charlotte volunteers her time as the MOPS Military Ministry Coordinator, communicating with MOPS groups on or near military bases around the world, and providing support and resources to meet their specific needs. For more information on Military MOPS groups, contact her at militarymops@juno.com.
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