Whatever Is Excellent with Leanne Tuggle
Encouragement and Inspiration for women choosing to rise above the “just survive” mentality and instead set their mind on thriving in all that they say and do. The ultimate goal is to equip you to pursue whatever is excellent in the midst of your ordinary life and in all that you say and do.
Whatever Is Excellent with Leanne Tuggle
33: Uprooted Yet Anchored - Your Home in Christ with Emily Curtis
The search for stability in an ever-changing world resonates with all of us, but perhaps none more deeply than military families. In this heartfelt conversation, Emily shares her fourteen-year journey as a Navy spouse that has taken her family through eight different homes across multiple continents.
With refreshing honesty, Emily begins by revealing how she once declared she'd never marry someone in the military—only to fall in love with a Navy man just months later. What follows is a rich exploration of how constant relocation transforms one's understanding of what "home" truly means. From the practical challenges of decorating new spaces to the deeper spiritual questions about where we find our security, Emily's story touches on universal human longings for belonging and permanence.
The conversation takes a profound turn as Emily reveals how her military lifestyle has deepened her understanding of heaven as our ultimate home. Drawing from Scripture, particularly John 14 and 2 Corinthians 4, she articulates how fixing our eyes on the unseen provides stability when everything visible keeps changing. Her vulnerability about struggling with their latest move to Hawaii—despite its paradise-like setting—reminds us that beautiful surroundings don't automatically create a sense of belonging.
What makes this discussion particularly valuable is Emily's practical wisdom for anyone feeling uprooted or disconnected. Rather than offering superficial solutions, she suggests leaning into those uncomfortable feelings and bringing them before God. Through her own wrestling, she discovered how she had been idolizing previous homes and missing the gifts of her current situation. Her insights on finding community through church groups, Bible studies, and military spouse organizations provide tangible steps for others in transition.
Whether you're a military spouse, someone facing major life transitions, or simply longing for deeper security, Emily's perspective will help you reframe your understanding of home and discover how God might be using your very instability to draw you closer to Him. Listen now to find encouragement for your journey toward making your heart at home wherever you are.
Connect with Emily via email -> emilyannecurtis@gmail.com
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Emily, it is so great to have you on the show today. You are such a dear friend and amazing woman of God and you are also no stranger to transition and change and holding it all together through the unknown. As a military spouse, you have walked through seasons of waiting and moving and letting go and through it all I know that you have clung to a deeper truth that this world is not your home and in the midst of a life marked by earthly instability, you found eternal security. So today I cannot wait to hear you share a little bit about your perspective of how your faith, your marriage and your sense of home has developed this like biblical perspective. So I'd love to start at the beginning. Can you share a little bit about your story, a little bit of your story as a military spouse?
Emily Curtis:Yes, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me Leanne. I'm so excited just to share a little bit about what God has done in my life as a military spouse. What's funny, I have to start by saying, before I even met my husband, I remember distinctly talking to one of my college roommates about dating and you know all this stuff, and I said to her well, I definitely don't want to marry someone in the military. And I have to laugh at that now because, not like two or three months later I met my husband and, um, you know, as we were dating, he shared with me that a dream of his was to join the military. And, um, I thought, man, I really love this guy. I think, I think I'm going to end up being a military spouse. So I just kind of have to laugh at that. Um, god always knows what's best and truly being a military spouse has been one of the blessings, biggest blessings, of my life.
Emily Curtis:So my husband and I have been married almost 14 years. He's been in the Navy that entire time. We one of those quick military weddings where we got married on a four day weekend and, you know, because that's all the time they have off of school or training or whatnot. His career in the Navy has taken us all over the world and back a couple of times. We're now stationed in Hawaii. This is our eighth home. We've moved seven times and just have loved the adventure of being a military family. I consider it a privilege to get to live in all of these incredible. I mean we live in paradise right now, right Like people pay lots of money to vacation here and I look out my window and I see palm trees and I hear the birds and I can see the water. It's just beautiful. We've lived in Germany, which is where you and I first got to connect. I've loved that. We have two kids that get to be on this adventure now with us too. We have a seven-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son, and they're really proud to be military kids. We just had purple up for military kid day at their schools and it's been neat to see the blessing that this has been for them too.
Emily Curtis:So as much as it's been a wonderful adventure, as much as it's been a huge blessing and privilege, it's also been really challenging, and I know that anybody listening as a military spouse I know you, leanne can probably share in this too. It can feel lonely. Sometimes it can feel isolating. We're far from family. We miss our nieces and nephews. Being a part of not being a part of family celebrations is hard. It's hard to move to a new place. It's hard to be on your own. Sometimes I've seen God work through that loneliness and I've seen him work through that feeling of being uprooted, um feeling of being uprooted and um his presence has has, um he's made his presence more known to me through those times. So it's kind of a bitter and sweet thing it's. It's been beautiful and rich and and wonderful, but it's also been hard, which I think is true of so many things in life.
Leanne Tuggle:Um so I love what you say to just at the beginning about saying I never want to marry a military man. I that just cracks me up, cause I used to say I never wanted to move for a guy and that's like literally all I do now for my guy. So I just love that. I love that when we surrender our own desires and our own things, god really does know what is best for us and he gives us what we need not necessarily what we want which I think is really, really cool. So I know something that has been on your heart a lot is just this idea of home and this conversation about what home means. So how has being a military spouse helped shape your understanding of the word home? Like, what does that word mean to you? Now?
Emily Curtis:Yeah. So when I, when we were first married we were newlyweds we talked a lot about going home, like, if you know, we he had leave or we were going to go see our family over the holidays, we'd say, well, let's go home. Home for us is Washington state, that's where we're from. So we would say, let's go home to Washington. Now we don't use the word home to describe where we're from. We say, well, let's go, let's go to Seattle, let's go back to Washington.
Emily Curtis:So it's been interesting for me just in that, like you know, cause one of the first questions you ask when you're a military spouse or you're meeting other people is where are you from, where's home for you? And home for me used to be the place that I grew up, and now home is. I've had eight homes, you know. Right now home is Hawaii, home has been Germany, home has been, um, you know, home has been all over the place, and so that idea of home is just shifted and changed. And, as I was kind of thinking and praying about this, I think the ideas that come to mind are that home is where my people are, for people in my family, that is my home. Home is where I feel safe and feel secure. Um, home is where I feel safe and feel secure, and every time we move, I try really hard to make the physical space that we're in feel like home. We've got pictures up on the walls, we've got our favorite quilts, we've got our you know um, our dining room table that has seen you know so many different um, kitchens, um, and, and all of our different moves, and so that space is really important for me, and because we move around so much, I think sometimes I cling too tightly to my physical space as a means of finding security. You know, I gotta gotta make sure that I have the perfect decor on my like entryway table, or gotta make sure the patio set looks like you know table, or got to make sure the patio set looks like you know Pinterest perfect, because I have believed the lie that if I do that then maybe I will feel secure. You know, I can't tell you how many times we've moved somewhere and I've just walked the aisles of Target or TJ Maxx, like looking for inspiration, like what's the thing going to be that's going to make me feel that this new place that is so foreign and unfamiliar feel like home. And so, as I wrestled with that word, of that idea.
Emily Curtis:God has brought kind of a deeper meaning of the idea of home to me. You know that my home is in him, my home is, I mean, ultimately my home is in heaven, is in him. My home is, um, I mean, ultimately my home is in heaven. You know this is this earth will pass away and our ultimate reality is that we will. You know, for the believer, we will be with him in heaven forever.
Emily Curtis:That is our home, um and so while we're here on earth, I want to live in light of that fact. I want to create a safe, beautiful home for my people, but I want to build my life on the solid foundation which is Christ, because that will never change. No matter how many times we move, no matter how many times the movers come and pack up boxes and ship everything all over the world. My home being in Christ is not ever going to change and that's, um, that is the desire of my heart truly is that I would rest in that security instead of, you know, the decor in my house. That's never going to satisfy, that's never truly going to make me feel at home. Right.
Leanne Tuggle:Right. Oh, that's so beautiful, that security coming in Christ. When the world around you, when the moves and the unknowns, where are you going to go next? When are you going to move? All of that is up in the air as a military spouse or even just as someone who is facing career change or whatever it may be. So being able to root yourself in the security of Christ, I think, is huge. So, since you were talking about heaven as your true home, since you were talking about heaven as your true home, how do you practically fix your eyes on the unseen, on heaven, when the things of earth feel loud or pressing?
Emily Curtis:Yeah, oh, it's such a good question. I it's um, it's hard, I think, to do this. Um, you know, we've been talking with our kids a lot lately about how do you know what is true and what is a lie. You have to know the truth really, really well in order to know what the lie is and I think that applies to this situation too we have to fix our gaze on the promises that are coming for us, our future sure hope. Otherwise, we do get, we are easily distractible. We've got, you know, a little four, whatever, six inch piece of whatever phones are made of in our pockets that distract us, that tempt us, that lure us away from truth.
Emily Curtis:The world is full of temptations and things that might satisfy us, and so for me, when things get loud, I need to turn that noise off. I need to put down my phone, I need to stop, especially when we first moved someplace and I'm feeling like overwhelmed. I need to stop strolling aisles of target. I need to stop, you know, online shopping. I need to just get quiet with the Lord and um, be with him and bring bring kind of that tension to him. Like Lord I'm I know that I'm I'm falling victim to kind of some of these distractions and these temptations help me to fix my eyes on you. And when I fix my eyes on him, the slowly you know, the things of earth kind of drift away.
Emily Curtis:And one of the scriptures that really encourages me when I think about that kind of tension between like living in this earthly reality but knowing that heaven is our home, and what that looks like, is from second Corinthians four, 16 through 18, which says, therefore, we do not lose heart, though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal. So for me, practically, it's just going to scripture and reminding myself this is not my home, this is not forever, this is not always how it's going to be, this is not going to satisfy me. Here is what will satisfy me, and just trying to stay rooted in that as best as I can is the best way I've found to keep that temptation in check.
Leanne Tuggle:Oh, that's so good. That's a great scripture too, about the unseen and the seen. That's really really lovely. So I'm curious, since we're talking about heaven and our home being there, what does it mean to you personally that Jesus is preparing a place for you?
Emily Curtis:I this. That scripture from John 14, two is one of the um, oh man, it just gives me so much peace. You know, I, a friend of mine, shared that scripture with me when my husband and I were dating and he was like no really, I'm going into the Navy. And I had this moment where I was like what does this mean for me?
Emily Curtis:What is like, lord, this is not what I wanted. And she and I was sharing with her my idea about home. And you know part of my story yes, as a military spouse for 14 years. But when I was growing up, my parents divorced when I was really young, and so my sister and I moved between our parents' houses pretty much from the time I was four to the time I was 18, every week. So I lived in two homes growing up. Not only that, but they moved, thankfully close by, but each of them separately moved a lot. So, and then I moved every four years of college. So I have moved probably like I don't know 25 times in my life, truthfully.
Emily Curtis:So home, even before becoming a military spouse, home has always been this place where I just want something stable, I just want something secure, I just want something to not change, like deeper and bigger than just I want to paint the walls or I want to rip out these cabinets. I want something that's going to last. So the idea that Jesus says to his disciples and ultimately this truth is for us too that he's going there to prepare a place for us. And then further, verse three after that says and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you may also be where I am.
Emily Curtis:And so, and yeah, I just finished this great revelation, um, bible study by Jen Wilkin with my Bible study, and so the first time I really studied revelation, which has sort of intimidated me for a long time, if I'm being perfectly honest. But it talks at the very end about this place that it's going to be and how glorious and wonderful and amazing it's going to be, and fixing my eyes on that gives me so much hope and excitement. There's a place for me in heaven. Like God saw me, I get to go there one day. And so, um, clinging to that truth is what gets me through the uncertainty of this life, that ultimately I'm going to be with him in heaven in his beautiful, glorious place. That's better than anything on earth that I could ever imagine.
Leanne Tuggle:Oh man, it's just painting such a beautiful picture in my mind of this home and I love what you said about that he's going to come and take us there. So, even like we, we don't even have to try to navigate that on our own Cause. There's a lot in the military world, as you know, that we're trying to figure out as we go and it's stressful and we don't even know. I mean, you've probably had a similar situation where you've had to move into a house, site, unseen, like pick it out from overseas, it's like it's a lot, um. So just knowing that he's preparing a place for you and then also it's going to take you there, it's just like, oh, it's so comforting and rooting your heart. That is huge. I love that. What would you say to someone who is maybe struggling to find joy and contentment in their current season because maybe they feel unseen or uprooted or disconnected?
Emily Curtis:Oh, I'd say solidarity because, honestly, honestly, I feel like I'm right there with you right now. Truthfully, as much as we're sitting and talking about, heaven is my home and I have this, this, this hope. That's true and that is real. Um, this move, especially, has been really hard for me. I remember Elianne I don't know if you remember this, but when he found out that Hawaii was a possibility, I called you and I said I don't want to go, help me figure out how to be okay with this. And, um, you know, it's so hard for anybody that moves. Um, you know, cause, I know it's not just military, there's lots of, you know, people who go through job transitions and move. Like there's this grieving process where you feel really sad about the place that you left. And the place I left.
Emily Curtis:We were in Norfolk, virginia. We had this amazing street with kids on it. Just every house had kids. We would gather together for Friday night, pizza night, we could walk to the elementary school. I mean, it was idyllic. We just I loved it, I was happy, I didn't want to move and even though the move was to Hawaii, which, as I said, is, you know, a place where people like, oh, they would just, you know, love to come here.
Emily Curtis:I didn't want to go. And so the past I don't know nine months or so that we've been here. I've really wrestled with this because as beautiful as it is here, as wonderful as it is here, and I am so grateful and I don't want you know to that that's true I do feel grateful and so thankful to be here. It's also been really hard. It's it's different than anywhere else I've ever lived and it's hot and there's bugs. I didn't think there'd be bugs here. There's a lot of bugs here. Like there's just all these little things. That just it's been hard.
Emily Curtis:And I have felt disconnected because my kids are in a different stage of life, you know, they're a little bit older. They're both at school for at least part of the day. So I'm like, okay, what do I do with myself now? What does that look like? So all that to say, I hear, I hear that, um, in my own heart right now I do feel a little disconnected and uprooted. Um, so, practically speaking, what I'd say is um, first of all, whenever I feel disconnected, I, I, I gotta bring those struggles before the Lord, you know, and ask him what, what do I need here. What, what would you have me do in this season? Do I need to just get quiet with you and, you know, take some beautiful walks in this beautiful place that I live? Do I need to go sit on a beach and be in the word? Do I need to get out and meet people? For me, like extrovert, I got to go out and be with people. I get lonely really easily. So getting connected looks like I usually start with. What stage of life am I in? Well, like I said, that's been hard. But when my kids were little I went to the mom's groups. I went to mops um stroller strides, you know workout groups for for moms and kids.
Emily Curtis:Um, here I've tried to get connected with my church. You know we go to community group. I do a women's Bible study. There's a fantastic ministry. I know you've been a part of it before too Leanne Protestant women of the chapel that's on various military bases around the world. That has been incredible. Just the fellowship and growing in the word and just being with other people has made me feel super connected. So that's what I would say on that practical piece.
Emily Curtis:But I would also add and this might surprise you for me to say this, but on that feeling of being uprooted, I would say to lean into that. I would say to lean into that feeling and bring that before God and say why do I feel uprooted? What was it about that place that was so special? Why do I feel like I'm having such a hard time getting connected here? And for me that wrestling has been really, really fruitful. I realized that I was idolizing that place that we had lived so much is this perfect, idyllic, happy little home.
Emily Curtis:And as I look back, yes, it was that there were a lot of things I think the Lord needed to kind of change in my heart about my attitude about that place. And I think I've been, because I've been missing it so much. I've been kind of a little bit bitter maybe here and not really fully embracing with joy in my heart all that this place could have to offer us. So, yeah, I think it's an uncomfortable feeling because I think I mean God put that desire in our hearts for us to feel secure and stable and at home and sin has marred that by the brokenness in our world. Right, like he's put that desire and longing there, it's just going to be fulfilled in heaven. So, wrestling that out with him. I think has been really helpful for me and, as hard as it is, that's what I would encourage someone in the same situation to do.
Leanne Tuggle:Oh, that's really, really lovely and I like how you say lean in to that feeling of uprootedness. Something that we did more with the kids but I realized it was really helpful for me too is, when you're feeling that tension, to say, and I would have them go around and we'd say, one thing we miss about where we just were, but then one thing we are grateful for in this new place. And over time we had to do that less and less because we realized there was a lot to be thankful for in our current place and it was just really really great, kind of as a way to wrap up this conversation, because I know we could have. We have so many more things that we can talk about. You are supporting your husband in his military career. How do you rest in the security of God in this?
Emily Curtis:unpredictable life. Oh yeah, it is so unpredictable. I mean just last week we thought we were moving next summer and now we think we're staying here. I mean it's just like whiplash all the time right, like you never know what's happening. Yeah, I mean, I think it goes back to what we've talked about a little bit before just resting in the promises of God and trusting him.
Emily Curtis:You know, we used to say, well, I don't know if you've ever seen these signs, liam, maybe you have one in your house, but a lot of people I know have that like home is where the Navy sends us, or home is where the Air Force sends us signs, and it's like really cute, and you've got like all your different duty stations hanging down from it. I used to have that mentality like home, okay, whatever the Navy decides to do, the Navy is going to do. It's not the Navy, no, it's, it's in God's hands, and remembering that he is sovereign, remembering that he has a plan for our lives that supersedes anything that the Navy, I mean, would do, right, Like it's all in his hands, and so I think remembering that is really key, especially you know it's hard, your husband, you know, works so hard and there's times, maybe, where there is a disappointment or they don't get selected for a promotion or they don't get the job they want. It's really hard. You want to encourage them and know that they're putting in all this effort and work and but remembering, even those situations are are God is sovereign over, and there is something to be learned through that. And I just think I am so thankful that God knows me well enough to know how much I need that deep need for security, how much I long for stability, and he gave me the exact opposite of that in this lifestyle I'm living, and he has used it to change my heart and to help me be more adaptable and to help me be more flexible and to help me surrender my life to his.
Emily Curtis:I mean all of us, no matter who we are. Our lives are not our own, whether you're in the military or you're not. It's, it's just not. But I'm thankful that every couple of years or every, you know, so often, when there's all these changes and uprooting all of this, god shows me that in a really tangible way and I think it's, I hope it's made me more like him. Um, as hard and as uncomfortable as that can be Sometimes, that process of being sanctified, uncomfortable as that can be sometimes. That process of being sanctified he has. He has really used it to grow me and draw me closer to him and so, despite all the lack of stability and security, I'm so thankful that he's used this military lifestyle to draw me closer to him.
Leanne Tuggle:Wow, emily, there is so much wisdom, so much wisdom in your heart, and I am so thankful for you sharing all of this with us. If there was anyone listening who wanted to connect with you, what would be the best way for them to do that?
Emily Curtis:Maybe my email. Okay, yeah, that would be good. Yeah, we could drop that in the show notes, maybe the best way to do that. Okay, I feel like I connect with people all the time. You know, it's so funny, there's like people coming and going. I just yesterday I had a friend from Germany who's maybe moving to Hawaii and wanted to connect, you know, and so there's always military spouse connection connections, but, yeah, I'd love to chat with anybody about this If that's helpful, wonderful.
Leanne Tuggle:Yeah, thank you so much for coming on today and sharing all of this amazing I'm. I know I'm going to listen back and take some more notes on all of the things you shared, because there's a lot of value here. Whether you are a military spouse or you are not, there is just so much goodness in what God is doing for us. And you're right, he is sovereign and he is good and he has a plan for you and it is for your best, so that's amen.
Emily Curtis:Yay, well, thank you so.