prayer request

[Imblessed]

Hello, brothers and sisters....

I have a prayer request. My husband has been seriously considering joining back up with the military(Coast Guard).

He was in the army reserves when we first married. He has always spoken positively about the experience, liking the commaderie(spelling?) and the feeling of doing something meaningful. Although he is not a hyper-patriot, he does feel the need to contribute to the country in some way...

He also likes the fact that it kept him organized, forced him to be more efficient with his time, etc etc

What the deal is, is this: He works for GM, and you all have probably heard of the issues and problems GM has been having. He's been there 5 years, is in the middle of an apprenticeship that he cannot take with him should he lose his job, and they just froze his pension. They have also frozen all payraises for the next 4 or 5 years. In short, he's not seeing a bright future there.

He's always been interested in aviation, and he tested very high on the asvab, so there is a good chance he can get in learning something he's interested in. Since he has prior service, he can go in at a higher ranking. The retirement is good, health coverage is good, he has opportunity to advance to officer pretty quickly, I guess.

He's worried about the affect being a "military family" would have on us, worried about the fact that we'd have to find a new church anytime we moved(a good one that is), the fact that initially, pay would not be as good as he gets now(but we could go in pretty much debt free if we work it right). And worried about being shipped overseas without us.

He can't get it out of his mind though. I hadn't realized how much he had been thinking about it until last night when he spoke to me about it. The big issue is that if he's gonna do it, he has to do it soon, because he's 34 and you cannot rejoin the military after 34. He's afraid if he doesn't do it, he'll always regret it--but he's also afraid he only wants to do because he's a "grass is greener on the other side" kind of guy, and is worried about his future at GM.

Can you all pray that God will give him discernment about this decision? Possibly the biggest one he's ever made. I told him I would support whatever decision he makes. I want him to be happy in his life's work.

Thanks everyone! The more praying for him the better!!!!

Love you all!
windi

 

[Terri]

I will be praying for your dear husband Imblessed

 

[JJB]

 

[tryme]

Praying for discernment in this matter.

 

[pinkieposies]

And you also have my prayers, for your husband, you, and your family.



God Bless You, Imblessed!
Erin

 

[edie19]

Know that you and your family are in my prayers as you deal with these difficult decisions.

edie

 

[Imblessed]

thank you everyone!

We've been talking(ALOT), and researching, and praying.


I'll keep you updated, just wanted to let you know that the Lord has given me peace about this whole situation, and I'm sure it's due to your prayers for me and my family! Please keep it up!!!


windi

 

[Terri]

Still keeping you and yours in my prayers Windi and praising God for your peace.

 

[Brother Simon]

In my prayers!

With love,
Simon

 

[strengthinweakness]

I'm definitely praying for you and your husband in this decision. I praise God that He has already given you such peace! I'll keep praying

 

[Terri]

I'm still thinking about and praying for you and your dear husband Imblessed.

I know how hard these major life decisions can be to make.

Please keep us updated.

 

[Imblessed]

Thank you!

Right now it looks like our best option is for him to rejoin the Army Reserves until his training is complete--they claim that he can go full time later. He needs to research that though, because when he was in Army Reserves before he tried really hard to go full time and they absolutely would not let him(but that was 10 years ago, when they weren't desperate for soldiers and in the middle of a war!)

As it sits, he's talked to the head guy down at Ft. Knox about going into that aviation program and they do want him. It'll be about 6 months of training at Ft. Knox, which will be hard, but well worth it.

there's also the chance that he can go directly into Officer training due to the schooling he has had and his real-time experience with metal-working etc....

That would be good because obviously officers get better pay and quarters(living space) if he does go full time.

Doing the reserves until after he gets his officer status is also good because General Motors makes up for any loss in pay while he's training and while he's on his weekends with the Army. And it will give us time to get more equity into the house before we have to sell--because if he goes full time, we don't know where we will end up.

So, the research is going on. I'll keep you updated!

Oh, I don't know if I told you this but the Coast Guard suddenly cut their recruiting numbers and they don't even think he could get in to reserves, let alone full time. Funny how that happened right after Matt prayed about God making the choices easier for him! LOL

 

[Imblessed]

I thought I'd give you an update. Right this minute, my husband is meeting with the recruiting office about joining full time.

We've been discussing it (alot) and praying(alot) have come to a few conclusions.

One things he's always wanted is to help others, and he's the kind of guy people open up too(even when he doesn't ask or doesn't really want them too, if you know what I mean). He was looking and looking on the army site and they have a position available that he really thinks he'd enjoy. It's called mental health specialist, and after reading it and what it entails, I really do think he'd be good at it. Yesterday Matt went to a trusted friend of his who is a Methodist pastor and spent about 5 hours talking to him, getting his take on things. This is a guy who's known Matt since Matt was a young teenager. After he came home, he really felt comfortable with the decision he had come to, which was to pursue the army full time.

When he saw this type of job available, it was like a light had gone on in his head. He really got excited about it, because he saw a chance to actually do some good. Suddenly he feels like he's wasted half his life on something that doesn't fulfill him. He's never actually had an opportunity like this before. The biggest obstacle he has is that he doesn't have any background in this area....I guess we'll see what happens---that's why he's at the recruiting office right now.

He's going to see if he can get in "delayed entry" which would mean he'd sign up now but not report for another 3-6 months, giving us time to get our ducks in a row so to speak. We'd have to get the house ready to sell(thankfully we got the house for about 10 thousand less than it appraised for) and get our finances in order.

Luckily they have a substantial sign up bonus for former service, I don't know when you get it, but it will help out.

Matt is amazed that I'm still at peace about it. It's a big change, and certainly not how I envisioned things, but I know God is in total control, and I know that Matt and I haven't gone into this without a lot of prayer and research. I know God will take care of us.....

I'll keep you all informed as we hear more.......

 

[Truly Blessed]

For your DH.


I will leave out all my opionions - retired army.