I have the pleasure of working with Catherine Fitzgerald at Christian Military Wives where she fills the role of ministry leader of the small group leaders — she leads the leaders. It’s always good for folks to realize how much support we give one another in the military community. If we didn’t have one another to lean on, the military would not function as well as it does — at least IMHO.
STAR NEWS ONLINE
By Amanda Greene
Amanda.Greene@StarNewsOnline.comEXCERPT
Each night, just before her 7:30 p.m. bedtime, 2-year-old Grace Fitzgerald pulls off a sheet of toilet paper at her Hampstead home. The little white square marks one more day without her daddy who is deployed with the Marines in Central America.
Her mother, Catherine Fitzgerald, holds the roll as her daughter sings a little ditty for her daddy. Usually, “Daddy’s coming home. Daddy’s coming home! Clap, clap, clap.”
In the second short deployment of their marriage, Fitzgerald knows the frustrations of being a military wife. But she also knows – with a 30,000-troop surge planned in Afghanistan – that longer deployments are in her husband’s future.
“The biggest stress is that anticipation. You’re kind of torn because you want to enjoy that time with him, but you want to prepare for him being gone,” she said. “Sometimes at night it’s harder to sleep because you don’t feel as safe. There’s a lot of depression, anxiety and isolation with military wives because there’s always the worries of the things that can happen in deployments.”
Fitzgerald has sought refuge in her faith, hosting Bible studies for military wives. She was recently tapped to head up ministry support for group leaders in the Christian Military Wives organization. The CMW is a social network supporting military wives and a ministry of The Christian Military Fellowship.
Fitzgerald started a bi-monthly Bible study and military wives ministry at Scotts Hill Baptist Church called Operation Hope Front that has attracted about 15 women so far. But she knows there are more in the Hampstead and Wilmington areas who could use the support.
“When you move this far out (in the Hampstead area) you miss out on some of the base resources at Camp Lejeune,” she added. “Just to have that support of other military women who know what you’re going through is such an important part of our life.”
At Operation Hope Front’s December meeting, nine women sat in a circle discussing a passage on bitterness in Hebrews.
“Maybe it’s just a female thing, but sometimes we’re just in a mood, and it makes us feel better to be bitter,” one woman said.
“How does bitterness affect a marriage and the children of a bitter parent,” Fitzgerald asked the women.
“I know in my case there’s nothing more convicting that when you hear your child say something bitter that you know where it came from. And that you said it,” another woman answered. READ MORE
I am glad that there is help for some but it is not the rule for all.