Happy Memorial Day, Key Club!

Happy Memorial Day! On this day set aside to remember and honor those who have and are making tremendous sacrifices for our country through serving in the Armed Forces, join me in praising God for our men and women in uniform who defend our nation and preserve our freedoms.

Sacrifice is a word often associated with the military. We think of fallen soldiers. Long, physically draining training exercises. Deployments to potentially dangerous locations. Spouses and kids missing their deployed parent, especially during holidays and special events. Frequent moves and saying goodbye to wonderful friends.

I think it’s safe to say that military personnel, and their spouses and children, know sacrifice well.

But there’s One Sacrifice that unfortunately, many in the military community don’t know personally. Many don’t know of the Ultimate Sacrifice that was made just for them. Would you join me in praying today for the souls of our military. Pray that service members and family members alike, would come to know and experience the love and grace Jesus, who made the ultimate sacrifice on the cross for all of humanity.

Many of the folks in the Key Club either are currently serving or have served in the military. To those folks and their families, I’d like to say thanks for your service!

And for everyone, thanks for partnering with me in serving our troops by praying for them and their families! Thanks for having an eternal impact on the military community.

Blessings,

Beth

Praise note, Many have asked how my dad is doing, and I’m happy to let you know that he’s doing well and this is his final week at Balad AB, Iraq!! He begins his journey home next week. : )

Dear Key Club,

Hope this finds you doing well.

Last week I shared a huge praise with you - prayer and financial support from Eaglebrook Church. This week, I’d like to continue praising God for his providence. Four Corners Assembly of God in White Lake, WI has also taken me on as one of “their” missionaries. The folks at Four Corners have been a tremendous blessing to me over the past months. I’ve been really encouraged by their huge heart for missions. I’m looking forward to visiting Four Corners on Sunday!

After visiting Four Corners, I’ll be sharing about Malachi with a small group in Wausau, WI on Sunday evening. I’d really appreciate your prayers as I meet with this group and share the vision of military teen ministry and my passion to serve in Germany.

I may have another sharing opportunity at a nearby church. At work this week, I spent some time visiting with the camp chaplain - a husband and wife team up to lead chapel once a week for the veterans at the camp. As I shared with them about military teen ministry, they expressed interest and said they’d chat with their church about having me come and share and a possible donation. Would you join me in praying for this potential partnership?

It’s so encouraging to see God at work in providing supporters and opening up doors to share with potential supporters. Thanks for joining me in prayer for this. I hope you’re encouraged too as you see the Lord answering these prayers!

Blessings on you,
Beth

Stars and Stripes: "Pacific schools offering additional counseling for kids with deployed parents"

I came across another article in the Stars and Strips this week. It discusses a new form of support the military is providing for families. As I've shared in the past, studies are revealing that long, multiple wartime deployments are taking their toll on children of service members. Counselors and mental health experts are being contracted by the military to provide support for students in schools. Although many teachers have great hearts for their students, it seems that many just aren't equipped to handle the emotional stress their students are experiencing. It appears that one of the most helpful things they are doing is opening up the door for communication between teachers and students. Counselors are letting teachers know which of their students have a parent serving elsewhere and may be dealing with some added stress as a result.

I think it's great to see the military stepping in to offer support for military families. I consider it a privilege to be able to support these families as well through serving with Malachi. What draws me to serving with Malachi, as opposed to working as a counselor in a school, is I have the freedom to really get to know students on a personal level and point them to Jesus.

While living in Okinawa, I subbed at Kadena Middle School fairly regularly for 3 years. During that same time I also worked with the middle school youth group. As I've reflected on my time in the school and in the youth group, I really loved how relational youth group was. Because school is more formal when it comes to adult-student relationships, I felt more limited in how I could engage with students.

So while I'm happy that schools have identified the need to help students cope with stress generated by their parents military service, I do feel it's equally important for students to plug into youth group and build relationships with adults who know Jesus. Ultimately, it's Jesus who can heal these kids and relieve their stress. I pray these students will come to know Christ and experience Peace like only Jesus can give.

Click here to read the article.

Dear Key Clubber,

Wow, can you believe May is here? And even though snow flurries are in the forecast for Northern Wisconsin later this week (seriously!?), summer is just right around the corner (I hope, at least!). Back in February, my dad left for Balad Air Base in Iraq for a 4 month deployment as a contractor. Now that it's May, I can finally say he'll be home in a month! Of all the deployments my dad made during his 30 years in the Air Force, this trip has been the longest. The 6+ weeks of training he had to attend prior to his deployment, made this trip 6 months long. I've been thinking about what it must be like for kids whose parent deploys for a year or more. Growing up, I hated it when my dad was even gone for a few weeks or months. I can't imagine him being absent for 12 months in a row.

Tomorrow, May 6th, is the National Day of Prayer. Would you join me in praying for all the men and women who are serving our nation around the world - many in harms way each day. Let's pray for their safety, endurance, and spiritual encouragement. Deployment experiences leave many asking deep spiritual questions. Pray that hearts would be open and that God would chose to reveal Himself to them in profound ways.

Let's also pray for the families of the deployed. May is the month for high school proms, end of the year band/choir concerts, award ceremonies, and for seniors - graduation. Both students and deployed parents are bummed that military service is separating them from experiencing these events together. Deployments are often extremely difficult for spouses, who are forced to become single parents while their service member is away. With this Sunday being Mother's Day, would you join me in praying for all the military moms out there. Let's pray God would encourage them in special ways.

Over the years I can think of a number of people who invested in me and offered encouragement while my dad was away and our family was stressed out during his absence. As a Malachi worker, I'm looking forward to coming alongside students and encouraging them in the midst potentially challenging times. I look forward to pointing families to Christ and teaching them to walk with the Lord and embrace His love and experience His peace.

Thanks for partnering with me in reaching the military community for Christ. As you can see, there's are so many ministry opportunities within the military and I'm so thankful for and encouraged by your support.

Because of Christ,
Beth