EP 31: Our Deployment Just Got Extended, Help Me Process and See Clearly

The finish line moved. Your heart did too. We’ve been there—staring at a new date, feeling the anger rise, and wondering how to help our families keep going when the mission keeps changing. Today we open the door on the real emotions of a deployment extension and show how lament can be honest without getting stuck, how faith can be steady without being naïve, and how purpose can grow even when the calendar won’t cooperate.

We start by naming what an extension feels like on both sides: the spouse who prepped for homecoming and the family still waiting for a start date that keeps sliding. From there, we walk through a path that has carried us and many in our churches: lament that turns toward God, not inward. With Scripture as our guide—Ecclesiastes on seasons, Hebrews 12 on endurance, James 1 on trials, Psalm 23 for comfort, and Psalm 31:14–15 for trust—we reframe the story. The military sets dates, but God holds time. You don’t need next week’s strength today; like manna in Exodus 16, grace shows up daily, just in time.

We also get practical. You’ll hear how to choose community that encourages growth over wallowing, swap self-focus for a mission mindset, and build small, sturdy rhythms that steady your home: Scripture before screens, one honest check-in, a simple prayer walk. We highlight resources that expand perspective—The Hiding Place and biographies of Elisabeth Elliot—and share how seeing deployment as both a military and gospel mission changes everything. On ship, in a squad bay, or on your street, God is at work in a thousand unseen ways.

If your plans just broke, you’re not broken. Take the next faithful step, one day at a time. Subscribe for more conversations like this, share it with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review telling us your go-to verse when plans change.

SHOW NOTES:

EMAIL US-  hello@militarywellnesscollective.com

Scripture From Todays Episode- Hebrews 12, James 1, Exodus 16, The Book of Joshua, Psalm 31:14-15, Psalm 23

BOOKS: 

2 Part Biography of Elisabeth Elliot, see both book links below. Start with Becoming and then move onto Being.

Becoming Elisabeth Elliot: Vaughn, Ellen, Tada, Joni Earekson: 9781535910934: Amazon.com: Books

Amazon.com : being elisabeth elliot

Transcript

Welcome And Topic Setup

SPEAKER_05 0:22

Hey y'all. Welcome back to the Military Wellness Collective. I'm Britney. I'm going to be your host for today's episode. And as always, I'm joined by my husband, Joshua.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

Hello.

What An Extension Feels Like

SPEAKER_05 0:30

And our good friends Brian and Kelly O'Day. I guess. Hey, y'all. And we're really excited. This episode's maybe tie in a little bit to the last episode we did, but on Wars and Rumors and Wars. But this week we're going to talk about this. Our deployment just got extended. Help me process and see clearly. This is something we talk about often. And I have the privilege of walking through with a lot of women in our church because it seems like you know, the guys are the ones. We do have a couple female military people, but a majority of our military people are men and they have wives as spouses. So I get this question a lot.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Yeah, just I think the Marine Corps is still 95% male. Um it's it's high.

SPEAKER_05 1:18

Yeah, and that's our ministry context right outside of Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. So we're all um ministering in that area. Brian and Kelly are at Pillar Church of Jacksonville. Our church was sent out from that church as a church plant in 2020. And then we're Pillar Church of Topsail. So as we talk about this, we have real life experience one as ourselves when our husbands were military and these guys were in, and two in military context of ministry as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

So have you ever had did any of your deployments get extended?

SPEAKER_05 1:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:51

Yeah. We had horrible. Tell me about that.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Tell me about that.

SPEAKER_05 1:57

Two of them were extended. Yeah. What were you saying? It's not fun.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Well, it's just not fun when you're like when you're getting geared up to go home. And I mean, this is for anything, but especially when you're just super excited to be home, to like see colors again instead of tan and brown to eat real food, to be with your spouse, to be with your kids, to not miss things. Like you're super excited, and then when you're told, hey, by the way, you're gonna have to wait a little bit longer. Man, it is demoralizing.

Start Lines That Keep Moving

SPEAKER_02 2:31

It's like that. It's like those evil runs where you you've taken people on these runs probably where you know you're you're like, I'm about, I'm like, okay, I can see, I can see the parking lot where we started, and I'm I'm ready, I can make it to that parking lot, and then the guy leading the run just keeps right on going right past that parking lot. That's what it feels like when a deployment gets extended. You're like, I could make it to that line right there. I've convinced myself I can make it there, and then all of a sudden the line moves.

SPEAKER_05 3:04

I love the run analogy because on the wives side, I was just talking with a sweet woman who I love dearly, and this they're walking through this, and she used a run analogy. She said, It's like I signed up for a half marathon and I got out on the course and they and they're dragging me through a full marathon. And many of you are runners, you know what that's like. 13 miles is very different than 26. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

When you see the marriage.

SPEAKER_05 3:30

I was like, that's a great analogy.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Yeah, because when you see the finish line and you're all excited, so then you like all of the like pains and hurts in your body, you you just kind of forget about them, you just try to push through. Yeah. But then if you start getting close to that finish line and you're like, I'm almost done, and you're just excited to stop running and relax. And then all of a sudden the finish line just gets pushed back another 13 miles, you go, oh, and all those pains just immediately come right back.

SPEAKER_04 3:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

There's another interesting situation. So it's so you're walking with some folks in your church. Our churches are near each other. Uh but you're working well, you're walking through folks with your church whose deployment is getting extended. We're actually walking with a few couples where the start line is moving. And it's moving later and later. And these two things are connected.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

But that could change. But that could change. They could change tomorrow. Right. They could move up, they could move earlier.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

And so that's, I think we're talking about all the above, like all those changes because the start line moving, sometimes that start line's scary too. You're just like, man, if he would just leave already or like countdown started. Go, right. Yeah, then we could start the thing. It's like you're walking to that start of the half marathon that then becomes a full marathon. And they're like, no, no, no, just walk a little farther. The start line's a little farther. Oh, the start line's a little farther. Wait a little bit longer, stand still in the cold a little bit longer, whatever the case is.

SPEAKER_05 5:01

One thing that living the military life taught me, especially with start lines moving or deployments getting extended, something I really had to wrestle with was like a feeling of anger towards the military and remembering, wait, the military's not really in control. God is in control. He already saw this before I ever did. And the longer we walked through that, the more I saw prepared. I needed to be prepared, which we talked about in the last episode. Just being prepared that, hey, this could shift and change. I can't put my faith in a date or a time. I need to put my faith in who I know controls all this and trust that when it moves, God has a greater purpose and a plan. And I need to surrender to that plan and not hold so tightly to my plans. And if you've listened to previous episodes, you know Brittany has a slight control problem. And that was stripping for me. Now that might not be your issue, but for me it was. I don't know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

And I think it's important to, I don't know, for me to start with just lament. Yeah, that's just like I don't know, just feeling like getting out what all the feelings are fear, the the despair, the sadness, the whatever. Like this is not what I thought it was gonna be. And then from there it's important where you go.

SPEAKER_02 6:21

And you can listen to our lament episode. Right. You can have a good cry.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Yeah. Yes. Like I remember, I mean, this was a sweet moment with our deploying well group. We have a small group Bible study where we meet with, you know, spouses who are in all different levels of deployment pre-during and post. But there was a situation where the deployment was extended and they came and they came into our house the day they all found out. And they were just like angry.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

All the things.

Lament That Leads To God

SPEAKER_00 6:53

Yeah, all the things. And you know, we just gave them space to air that out. And I think it was really good. And I just saw their like the Lord just working in that moment of just then like getting it out. And because we need to just kind of I don't know, just get out where we are. Like, Lord, what is it? Like, am I trusting you? Am I and then we can go towards truth to start with the water.

SPEAKER_02 7:17

We did lament together that night. They cried, they vented anger at the military, at God, at they they had deep vitriolic questions like, is God still good? What is he doing?

SPEAKER_00 7:39

Like I want him home with me. I don't want him there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

And then we were able, hopefully, to turn them to the Lord.

SPEAKER_05 7:47

I like what you're saying. Turn them. Turn them. Like if we stay in the place of lament, lament should turn our hearts toward God, not keep us in a depressive state. So there's a difference between lament and falling into depression and anxiety and just wallowing. I think that is a very dangerous place to be. If you're if for two months you've been depressed and sad because your deployment got extended, you are not lamenting, do not be deceived. Like lament will turn you towards God and and confront some of those hard questions you're answering or asking and where you're thinking wrong about them.

Choosing Growth Over Wallowing

SPEAKER_00 8:25

And one aspect that we talked about that night was, you know, we talked about this on earlier episode about how it's a great opportunity for the gospel. And we had talked about that specific deployment. There was amazing things happening on it, you know, on the ship. And like with Bible study and stuff, and just you know, we were kind of just like, what if the Lord has, you know, more people to save during this extension? And it was just like a cool way to just be like, we have no idea what God's doing. But would we be willing to, you know, continue on another two months for others to know the Lord? Like that was a cool way to just think about it. And God is doing a million things that we can't even see.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

Yeah. I hope to try to oversimplify this, but also I'm really scared to oversimplify this because I might miss something here. But what I'm hearing you guys say, and what I've seen in the past, what you guys have told me in the past is back here on the home front, a young lady's husband is gone for a period of time, they get extended, or they're just in the middle of the deployment and they're struggling through that. And they fall into one of two categories. They either wallow, they stress, they freak out for a period of time, they have anxiety, but then they cry about it, they talk about it, and they come out of that with a peace and a patience and a long suffering, and they see all of the goodness and grace and the things that God is doing through it, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:56

Or and if they go that way, that that fruit will last for the rest of your life if you let it so like that's not just hey, that's gonna get you through tomorrow. Yes, yes, the Lord's building that in you for who knows what for the rest of your life for hard circumstances that will come.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

Yeah. What's the other side? The other side, because we've all probably have seen this happen before. The wallowing consistently keeps coming up. The and the reason the wallowing continues and the complaining and the worry and the freaking out is because they're surrounding themselves with people that are encouraging it or even allowing it, and then just like allowing them to stay in that space and then give excuse for it. Like, oh, her husband's deployed, so she can just cry all day long every day, and just like that's all it's gonna be. And then where that leads is that crusty military wife to where they're just mad at everything. You know what I'm saying? Like they're just like all this is evil, and they just fall into this dark space and they stay there, and they end up in in like this self-preservation mode. They become uh just don't have a better word for it, crusty.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

And our our goal is to like pull you out of that.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

Yes, I think that's a selfish place to be. Like you're looking at only you, poor me. And and I think I know this because I was confronted with this like early on, just like I did want to just be like, this is hard. I don't want to do it. Poor me, just you know, but it's like when I was looking through the lens of only myself, but God is doing so many other things, and in those many things, it's it's working in my own heart too, and just trusting that, you know.

Is God Enough In Separation

SPEAKER_05 11:44

I know something that I had to walk through with that was the question that I had as a young military spouse was aren't we supposed to be together? This isn't good. God doesn't want this for our marriage. I had an older, wiser military wife, they were retired, and she told me to read through the book of Joshua during Joshua's deployment. And she said, and I just want to ask you what you see there. Joshua's there, read through the book of Joshua. While my husband Joshua was deployed, because in the book of Joshua, Joshua, the biblical character of historical narrative, there is deployed a lot. He's at war. And she just asked me to come back and tell her what I saw. And I realized war is not a new idea. Deploying is not a new idea, that there were great men of God who left their families for military missions, and and God was doing great things through those men, advancing the kingdom of God to other nations, or you know, waxing other nations, which that's probably not the right thing to say on this podcast, but that was happening in the book of Joshua. And and it was helpful for me. And I've had women ask me that same question and thankful for the wisdom that was given to me. Like, hey, yeah, God did ask you to marry your husband, like he called you to that. Yes, it's good you're together, but we really can't question God and be like, is this right? God, look at what you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

And God is enough. Yes, he is enough for us when we are not together with our spouse. He is enough, and so that's a big yeah, confrontation that's happening too. Like, is God enough for you?

SPEAKER_02 13:32

Yeah, I think it's good to like reducto de absurdum that that idea of like we're supposed to be together, like so 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the next 60 years, you're supposed to be together. No, probably not.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Probably not. Would you let your spouse leave for an hour for the purposes of God? Right. Would you let your spouse leave for a day for the purposes of God? Would you let your spouse leave for a month, a year, two years, whatever the case is? We have to ask ourselves these questions in clear thinking and to truly go to his word and go, okay, what is your character, God, and what is true here?

Trials That Build Resilience

SPEAKER_02 14:17

Yeah, I also think sometimes one of our fears is that this is gonna break us. Like this experience is going to be the end of us. And I just want to encourage us that men have been going to war for around five thousand years. And most of us come out of that experience stronger and more resilient. And the Christians that have done so have actually come out of that on the other side and been more faithful and more connected with the Lord, more devoted to their families, and more devoted to do some pretty awesome things for for God and with God in the rest of their lives. And so most of us come out more resilient. And on the home front, man, you military spouses, y'all are rock stars. Like it is impressive. Like when I get around like wives who's who haven't had a deployment and or marriages that haven't had a deployment, sometimes I'm like, eh, your marriage just needs a deployment. Like, or or like, you know, the wife that like is is you know very helpless. It's like you just need your husband to go away for a little while and uh realize like you can do this. Like you can do that thing that you think you can't do. You can do it.

SPEAKER_00 15:41

And it happens a day at a time. You know, like I think at the beginning of a deployment, you look to the end, you're like, I don't know, I'm gonna do it. But the Lord sustains you day by day. You take one day at a time, and that's what happens when you get near the end, you almost forget that, and you're just like, we're almost, you know. And so when you get the news of like the extension, you have that same feeling of like, how will I do it? I can't, but one day at a time with the Lord sustaining you and helping you, you will do it. That is how you'll you'll get through and you'll look back and be like, I I got through it.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

Yeah, yeah. And what you guys are saying about this growth and what you need maybe is a deployment in a family. Nobody wants to hear that. But and and in no way are we saying, you know, this this couple needs a deployment for some sort of thing. Right. I thought people are gonna take it the wrong way. People might take that the wrong way. People take me the wrong way all the time.

SPEAKER_05 16:35

But the point being Also, I don't think we should just wax out nations. That's not what I was thinking. Just to clarify, we're clarifying.

Daily Bread Grace For Extensions

SPEAKER_01 16:43

Go ahead. Well, well, the point being like you you are capable of being so strong in the Lord, but in order to get there, you do have to go through trials. Right. You can't you can't just wake up one day and be uh an Olympic athlete. Right. There are there are things you have to work through to get to that level. And so what we've keep saying in this podcast is the military is like a fast track for your marriage, it's a fast track for growing in your faith and maturity, and a deployment is one of those things. So don't let it pass you by. Um like actually live it so that you can grow from it and feel it and truly process it well.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

Yeah, I want to I wanna circle back to Kelly said day by day. Day by day. Day by day. Exodus chapter 16 describes how God met his people and provided for his people while they were wandering the wilderness after the Exodus. And he provided manna, bread from heaven that showed up on the ground every morning. And if you read through Exodus 16, you'll come to realize that God gave them only enough bread for that day. And if they tried to gather extra, it didn't work. And it just didn't work. It would ri except for on the Sabbath. But anyway, the strength that you need for this deployment, the strength that you need for this like moving start line or finish line, God is gonna give that to you one day at a time. No, you can't borrow from at times he's gonna give it to you one moment at a time, one hour at a time. He's not like you don't get next week's grace today. You get next week's grace next week. You get today's grace today.

SPEAKER_05 18:46

That's good.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

And so God's mercies are new every morning. His provision is day by day.

Times And Seasons In Scripture

SPEAKER_05 18:51

So good. It also makes me think of Ecclesiastes when in chapter three, where he's listing like there's a time for this and a time for this, a time for this and a time for this. And obviously, not all deployments are war deployments, but he even says the last verse, there's a time for war and there's a time for peace. These deployments, our spouses are going on, they're prepping, they're training, they're in places in the world in case something happens. Like this is not catching God by surprise that your stuff got extended. Like he knows what's happening in the world. Like Brian's talking about, and Kelly and Joshua, like every day you need the grace of God. There's a time for these things, and you need to trust what he's doing in them. And it also makes me think of Hebrews 12 where he talks about, let us run this race with patience, the race that's set before us. Like you need to run your race that's been set before you. And and we do that by turning to the Lord and trusting. Like, if this deployment extension is part of your race and he's teaching you something, then that can point us to James 1 to count it all joy as we face trials of various kinds. A deployment is a trial of a various kind. Right. Yeah. That extension is guess what? Another added trial. It's not the same trial, it's another trial.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

Yeah, we're gonna say I was just thinking how it reveals your heart. You know, and that's what one verse I remember writing down during a deployment in my journal. That is one of my like fighter verses. It's Psalm 31, 14, and 15. But I trust in you, O Lord. I say, You are my God, my times are in your hand. And just remembering that, like yeah, like you said, I mean, none of this is happening that's surprising God. Like exactly.

SPEAKER_02 20:35

Did that say the times or my times?

SPEAKER_00 20:38

My times are in your hand. What was that verse again, Kelly? Um, Psalm 31, 14, in the beginning of 15.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

Yeah. So I think so often, like, just this is very personal. And we've been talking about this very personally, right? These are massive world events that are changing deployments, generally speaking. And it's like, yeah, and and so we're trying to meet you in this place because it is personal. And we just want you to know God is a very personal God. Like, God is sovereign over the affairs of this world and the movements of armies and militaries, and yet at the same time, he is with you in your little piece of the pie trial that this is the world events are having in your life.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

Yeah, that's our testimony, and that is why we do this podcast. Of what like the Lord has done.

SPEAKER_05 21:30

Yes, yes. I you saying that makes me think of a quote that I have written in my Bible in James chapter one by John MacArthur. He said, If your Christianity is genuine, then it has to show up in trouble. If it doesn't show up in trials, then frankly, it is no good. We have to the trial is working something in us, and what is it working like? If if we don't run to the Lord, it's showing us something about our heart. Don't don't miss that.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

If your Christianity is no good in trial, then it's no good. Is that something like that?

Faith That Shows Up In Trouble

SPEAKER_05 22:10

Yeah, if your Christianity is genuine, then it has to show up in trouble. If it doesn't show up in trials, then frankly, it's no good. So if you feel like you can Never get a grip. Like we gotta ask ourselves some hard questions. I just trials are a testing ground. Temptation is different than a trial. God does not tempt you. That's from the enemy. He tests you. And I've said it on here before. I know Kelly has mentioned this, but Joshua likes to remind us that the teacher is silent during the test. Like you need to prepare for these things and know the teacher and that he's there. One of my favorite psalms that I pray often is like, Lord, remind me, you go before me, behind me, and you are all around me. Like in those trials when the deployment happens or the start date moves or the it gets extended, we have to remember who God is. He's going before us, he's behind us, and he's all around us. Like, do we believe that? Because that's going to impact what we believe about the trial we're actually walking through.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

And only God can give us a joy and a peace amidst that.

SPEAKER_05 23:20

Yes, yeah. Apart from him. Right. If you're trying to muster up your own strength, my friend, you are going to fail. Been there and done that. I'm warning you. Run to Jesus.

Resources And Reframing The Mission

SPEAKER_02 23:30

Yeah. Or you'll succeed for a very brief time. But it will fail. For a very brief time. You will hit a wall. Yeah. We have, you've written down lots of scriptures there, Brittany. And I just, if you're new to the Bible, somehow we haven't gotten to Psalm 23 yet. Um, but if you're new to the Bible or you're new to memorizing the Bible, let me just encourage you. Psalm 23 will be familiar when you open it up, almost certainly. Open it up, but read through it, meditate on it, and I would recommend memorizing it. It is going to be a salve for your soul. God is our shepherd, and we shall not want. And it goes on from there. And just let that be beautiful for you and let God minister to you through that psalm.

SPEAKER_05 24:24

I love that psalm because it talks about God being our shepherd, and it talks about he comforts us with two things, the rod and the staff. And the rod is he's disciplining us, he's teaching us things, and that staff is to guide us. Like he's with us in everything. If you guys could give a resource or a recommendation to something that has really been beneficial during a deployment extension or a move date, whether you've walked through it yourself or with other people, I know we've said the Bible a lot. That's the first and foremost. But is there anything else that was has been helpful? Maybe a piece of advice somebody gave to you, or a book, or a reference, or a Bible study, anything?

SPEAKER_02 25:13

So definitely scripture. We've said a lot of scripture today. Go to the scriptures. We've got lots more we could say. There's actually a mental exercise that's helpful for me. If I were in charge of the military, then I would not want to think too much about how it's affecting the lower level troops on like their home life and some of those types of things. If it's like if it's time for war, it's time to go. I don't want to spend too much time thinking about that. If we're trying, let's I I like using World War II because it's long enough ago, and maybe most of us generally know what's happening. Like if you're stop, if you're trying to stop Nazism spreading across Europe, I don't want to think about, oh man, that's gonna mean I have to extend these guys three more months.

SPEAKER_05 26:01

Right.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

Like, no, do that. Like, let's let's go. Let's do that thing. And so sometimes that's just that's just a helpful mental exercise for me. Like, well, don't think about me. Think about the mission, think about the thing we're trying to do.

SPEAKER_05 26:15

And it keeps it from being self-centered, right? Because like I we tend to think just like me, like they're doing this to me. And it's like, no, his CO was not thinking I'm doing this to Britney. Like that, hopefully that didn't cross his mind. I'm 99% of the time. But that's probably not what's happening.

SPEAKER_02 26:32

Yeah, the mental exercise gets me out of the way. Right. And so any mental exercise that just gets me out of the way is usually helpful for that's so good.

SPEAKER_05 26:42

Yeah. Dude, were you gonna say something maybe?

SPEAKER_01 26:45

I I can go.

SPEAKER_05 26:46

I thought you moved, so I was like, he's gonna talk.

Closing Encouragement And Share

SPEAKER_01 26:49

I just there's a whole bunch of different resources I could think of. Not just Bible, but also like world history 101, just to like wrap your mind around some of the things that have happened in the past. But if when you were talking about World War II, what what popped out in my mind was this book called The Hiding Place. That's a great book.

SPEAKER_05 27:11

Need to read again. If you read that I have a couple women reading that right now. So good.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

If you read that prior to, during, or after it gets extended, and and you go, Yeah, my trials are so hard, then you have a selfishness problem. And you you are not seeing the world properly. Because in this book, it talks about Christians living through the whole Nazi concentration camps, all of the all of the brutality going on. And so it may be a good comparative study, but it's also seeing what God is doing even in the midst of the craziness of the world.

SPEAKER_05 27:52

And it is a true story. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:54

True story. It's a memoir of a Christian who was hiding Jews. Yes. Not a Jewish person. Yeah. Yeah, and then their family gets taken in the concentration camp. Right.

SPEAKER_05 28:06

And how hiding the word of God was so important for them in their hearts. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:10

Yeah, that's a great genre of Christian biography. That's like a memoir biography type thing, but mainly a memoir. So that would be helpful. I think we've I think we've all read, maybe not Joshua, not to call him out, but the Elizabeth Elliott two-part biography by Ellen Volden. It's so good. Just it's a very different kind of suffering. It's missionary suffering, death of a husband suffering. But it's it's really good.

SPEAKER_05 28:37

I think that is good. Both of these, because they were kind of missionary-ish. If you looked at your husband's military deployment as a mission, not just a military mission. Yeah, like this is part of your mission as well. Like, who are you ministering to during this deployment? What other spouses are you meeting with? If you look at this as a mission given from God instead of just a mission given from the military, it would help shape your perspective a little bit more clearly. Like I remember Joshua being in Iraq and they had an interpreter. And do you remember this? I don't know. With the dog.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

He had lots of interesting.

SPEAKER_05 29:17

Well, there was one interpreter that y'all would talk about. And I if I'm remembering correctly, like you guys had talks about Christianity around women with they were making you guys tea, chai tea, like homemade chai tea. And Josh was telling me about this interpreter. I mean, he didn't get to call very often, but in some letters, and then they had been separated. I don't know what happened to that interpreter, and they got a new interpreter. I don't know if Joshua remembers, but that helped me see, like, oh, my husband is in a Muslim country and he's able to share the gospel there. Like wherever your husband is around the world, if he is living on mission, then he's taking the gospel with him to that place. Um, I don't even think Joshua and them had this interpreter with them very long, but it was just a cool experience. Josh was a young believer. And for me as a wife, my first thought was honestly, why are you drinking tea from the enemies? Like they could poison you. But then I had to like gather my thoughts and be like, wow, okay, what he's really trying to tell me is like he was able to share the gospel. This is really cool. So I just think those resources you've given can impact your life as a military wife if you see it as a mission calling that is your mission. For sure. Did anybody have anything else? I know we're running out of time because I could talk a lot. Yeah. Go ahead. Kelly. Okay. Well, this concludes another episode of the Military Wellness Collective. If you found this episode helpful, this is real life. We want to provide you guys practical tools, biblical encouragement. We want to see you guys thrive, not just survive the military life. And so if this, if you're not in a deployment state, but you have friends who are in a deployment state or they're getting ready to deploy, we just ask, like, share this episode with them. They might find it helpful. And we'll see you guys back here again next week. Thanks, guys.