Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives

This is a fantastic book that every military wife should have in her hands. Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives was written by Jocelyn Green, with contributions from several other military wives. Their spousal experiences range from married to Active Duty to Reserve or Guard; Enlisted to Officer; Air Force to Navy (and all of the other branches)--with an array of positions that their husbands have held during their services. The book has won two Bronze Medal awards, one from the Military Writers Society of America and the other from Branson Stars and Flags Book Awards.Military life is a sensitive subject to write about, especially from a spousal point of view. Wives have trained themselves to be independent and can be dismissive when it comes to hearing advice, but Green's book had me grabbing my highlighter from the first story--something that I rarely do. I found myself nodding in agreement, smiling at the similarities between the stories and my own, and, at times, wishing I had heard the advice earlier in my journey. Some of the topics discussed are "Guarding Our Hearts," "Viewing Our Role as a Ministry," and "Giving Up Our Attempts to Be in Control.Faith Deployed is divided into topical sections (e.g. Section One: Taking Every Thought Captive: Training Our Minds to a Biblical Perspective), as opposed to chapters. I was confused at first as to how Green picked her topics for encouragement, and then found in the first paragraph of the Introduction that the book addresses different challenges that military wives face in their lives. The subtitle is, "Daily Encouragement for Military Wives," and while the book certainly is encouraging, I would have preferred for the "Sections" to be labeled instead as "Challenges." I realize this sounds picky, but knowing this little fact helped me to categorize how the author selected the topics and how they applied to my life. I also felt that the Section subtitles were a bit redundant and only clouded the main ideas. These were my only concerns with the book.Each section contains about ten or so stories from the contributing wives that pertain to the challenge. The stories are written in first-person format. They begin with a Bible verse, then tell the story, and end with a few personal growth questions and a short prayer.I didn't agree with everything written. There were a few stories that didn't apply to me or made me think, "I'm not sure many people would feel that way." However, the great thing about the book is that when there is a story about one end of an extreme, there is usually a different story that discusses the other end of the extreme. For example, while there is one story that encourages wives to reach outside their comfort zone of the military life and into the civilian world (83), there is another story that cautions us against exclusively creating friendships with civilians in an effort to avoid painful military friendship separations (90). The book does a good job of covering its bases and includes struggles of all kinds.The stories were inviting, written with a tone that said, "I'm not perfect. Here is what I did wrong and here is what I learned." I never felt as though the writers were talking down to me. Instead, I felt like I was sitting around a café listening to my friends who care about me. The advice is biblically sound and is spoken with love for the reader. For the most part, I felt that the stories were written by women who are mature in their faiths and have successfully overcome the issues they were discussing. By the time I finished the book, I was challenged in ways I didn't expect to be challenged.In all, I enjoyed the book and expect to use it as an encouraging reference during the next deployment or military struggle. I look forward to sharing it with my friends and would love to see it passed down within military units from wife to wife, encouraging those who serve outside the ranks.

I am a bibliophile. Which means simply, that I devour books. I am also an Army wife currently in my 3rd deployment, he has been gone simply 4 of the last 7 years. I suffer and I suffer mightily when my other half leaves, as we all do. Each deployment has been different in many ways. I however, felt trepidation greater during this pre-deployment period than I have ever felt before. A fellow wife recommended this book to me and I ordered it on Amazon. I live in Germany and God delivered this book on Angel's wings, it was here in two days which is a miracle. I am 7 weeks into this deployment and have never ever felt the spirit of the Lord guiding me as I have this time. I owe so much of that to this amazing, well written book. It speaks to both enlisted and officer's wives. It has no condescending message. It has the message of Truth and PEACE. My poor book is tattered to pieces as I carry it everywhere and when I have two minutes I open it up and devour the message that God has for me. I urge every single soldier's wife regardless of rank, service or whatever, to purchase this book immediately. It has helped shelter my soul and guided me through rough patches with my children. It has eased my suffering and helped me to ease the suffering of others. I have grown in leaps and bounds in these 7 weeks, perhaps more than I have in the last 30 years of being a Born Again Christian. God is Faithful and is walking this deepest of valleys at my side and he has sent this wee little book to be a light when it is sometimes so dark, I cannot see beyond my tears. Thank you Jocelyn for such a compilation and for all the love and support you show your sister soldier's wives. This book will be my companion through the remainder of OUR military career. I could not give it higher praises as I have not the gift for those words. God Bless all of you and please, please, do not hesitate, you NEED this book. It will work wonders on your heart, mind and soul.

I was very excited to get to read and review this book because I had heard great things about it, and I was not disappointed. Jocelyn Green along with 14 other military wives from all different branches, has written a wonderful selection of 86 different devotionals filled with scripture verses, faith, and encouragement.Each devotional has verse that goes along with it, and at the end of each has an "Ask" and "Pray" section which asks you questions that make you think about what you just read and a written prayer for you to pray aloud. There was a wide range of topics that covered almost every area and aspect of military life including main topics such as:-Taking Every Thought Captive: Training Our Minds to a Biblical Perspective.-Guarding the Heart: Protecting Ourselves from the World's Temptations.-Ambassadors for Christ: Viewing Our Role as a Ministry.-Taking Orders: Living the Life That Has Been Set Before Us.-Total Surrender: Giving Up Our Attempts to be in Control.-The Price of Duty: Overcoming the Trials Inherent in Serving.-Active Duty Faith: Leaning on a Faith that Sustains.-Hope of Victory: Recognizing God's Goodness.This book really hits close to home with real-life stories of other military wives and their daily struggles. There were so many things that convicted me and really spoke to me through this book and also so much to learn from! I was able to get something out of every single devotional in this book, and walk away feeling encouraged on a daily basis. There were some sections that just brought me to tears, because of how much I was able to relate, or because of something that God used to show me. This is a book that women of all ages, no matter how long they have been a military wife, can relate to. It's something I will definitely be reading again and will be passing on for others to read as well!

I found this book quite dictatorial and the subjects in it rather odd. It was more like a daily lecture than daily encouragement. Don't rely too heavily on your friends but rather rely on God?! Don't be tempted when your husband is away?! Most wives don't even have time to entertain that kind of idea! I just need something to get me through the day!I wanted gentle and supportive Christian advice, not a bossy bible study.This may be good for a very devoted Church-goer, but not for an army wife that would like the odd reminder that God is there during really tough times.