Military Wellness Collective
Military Wellness Collective is made up of four friends — two retired Marines (Joshua and Brian) turned church planters and their wives (Brittany and Kelli)— who have lived life both in uniform and on the home front. Together, we share real stories, hard-earned wisdom, and practical, biblical encouragement to help military members, and their families thrive in every season. Whether you’re navigating deployments, adjusting to life in a new town, or simply seeking hope in the middle of your military journey, our mission is to equip you with truth from God’s Word and tools for a healthy, resilient life.
Military Wellness Collective
EP 42: Help... I'm Marrying a Military Man
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Nobody hands you a clear map for what happens after you marry a military man, and the gap between the wedding-day dream and the day-to-day reality can feel brutal. Brittany Brown sits down with Joshua Brown, plus Brian and Kelli O’Day, to talk straight about military spouse life and why there’s real hope on the other side of the hard parts.
We unpack the mindset shifts that protect a marriage from resentment, especially the trap of treating military marriage like a transaction. We talk about the unique “whole family” pressure of military service: PCS moves, deployments, long hours, and the emotional weight of uncertainty. Joshua brings in 1 Peter 3:7 as a call for husbands to live with understanding, honor their wives, and lead with empathy instead of brushing off how difficult this life can be.
From there, we get practical. We share how to think about grief and “mini deaths” when you leave home, career plans, friends, and familiar rhythms. We also name the emotions many new military wives feel but rarely say out loud: loneliness, confusion, anxiety, and the loss of control. You’ll hear simple tools like learning when to troubleshoot on your own versus asking for help, why blaming the military for “doing military things” can make you bitter, and how “don’t compare your hards” can keep you united when both of you are exhausted.
If you’re engaged, newly married, or supporting someone who is, hit play, share this with a friend, and subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next. If the conversation helps you, leave a review and tell us what topic you want us to tackle next.
What do you want us to have a conversation about? Let us know by shooting us an email at hello@militarywellnesscollective.com
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Hey, welcome back to another episode of the Military Wellness Collective. I just want to say that because if you listened to a few episodes a little while back, I gave you the wrong email address. So hopefully you looked at the show. It's hello at militarywellnesscollective.com. I think I said it twice. So whatever. Here we are. We're just real
Welcome, Email Fix, And Our Mission
SPEAKER_05people trying to be helpful. And sometimes it's not. But I am Brittany Brown. I'm going to be your host today. I am a retired military wife and serve alongside my alongside my husband at Pillar Church of Topsal in Sneedsbury, North Carolina, outside of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. And I'm joined with my husband Joshua. Hello, who happens to be one of the pastors there. And we church planted there in November of 2020.
SPEAKER_01It just happens to be.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. It just happens to be.
SPEAKER_01He just fell into it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05He's like my favorite. So we're joined by our friends Brian and Kelly O'Day. Hi. It's Brian's birthday. Happy birthday. Oh, happy birthday, Brian. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01Also, my spiritual birthday.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Look at all this. It's fantastic.
SPEAKER_01I've been a Christian for 25 years.
SPEAKER_05Oh gosh. You're dating us now.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I didn't say that. I didn't say what age I was saved to, but two years old, so he's 27.
SPEAKER_05No. I love it. And Brian and Kelly serve at Pillar Church of Jacksonville in Jacksonville, North Carolina. And cool fact, they were our sending church, as we church planted over here on the other side of the base. So today we're going to chat about help. I am marrying a military man. And so if you're a guy listening, please don't tune out. Hang in there because our guys are going to have some directions for how you can help your fiance, maybe even your wife, if if you're there already. Are we married? Yeah. Yeah. We'll talk to you about it. So don't shut us off. If you're if you're a dude friend, don't do that. Hang around. Uh, and if you know somebody who's about to marry a military man, this might be a good episode to share with them uh as we get into this conversation. So as I said, I'm Brittany. I'm gonna be your host today, and we're just gonna jump right in because I feel like as we get going, we're probably gonna be like Joshua, our director, is gonna be like, five minutes, one minute, you are over time. I feel like this could be an episode like that.
SPEAKER_04So y'all need to be wrangled in from time to time.
SPEAKER_05I'm just saying. Yes, we do. Yes, we're gonna do that.
SPEAKER_01Shout out to Carrie, who encouraged us to have 30-minute episodes.
SPEAKER_05Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_01That is why we have 30-minute episodes. So shout out to Carrie.
SPEAKER_04I know. So if you don't like the 30-minute episodes, just be mad at Carrie because you don't know and just leave it. Common name we haven't said for the last minute.
SPEAKER_05No, we want to be digestible for you, like not choke you with a bunch of information. So Brian mentioned in the last episode our goal with this podcast is to give you resources and tools and to be an encouragement to y'all as you walk this military journey. He mentioned their amount of time in the military, 10 years active, and then retired reservist. Joshua and I did 20 years active duty, and both of us couples have been together the entirety of those military journeys. So we're just here. We want to see you thrive, not simply survive this life. And we believe you can. And so today's topic help. I'm married to a military man. If you find yourself in this position, don't fear. There's hope, abundant hope, and it can be a great life. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Our marriages survived. We're at how much we're at. Oh gosh, we're about to celebrate.
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna let you do that. Come on, Brad, you can do that.
SPEAKER_0122. 22. We're about to celebrate 22 years of marriage. Y'all are 23. Right. And so we survived. And I I think we have a pretty awesome marriage. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Praise my body. I do too.
SPEAKER_04And a lot of our time in the military actually helped us grow into that great criticism. Absolutely. Which has been a great help and it's been wonderful.
SPEAKER_05So just so no, it can be a fast pass, but it can be a good fast pass. If you're at Disney, you want the fast pass, right? Like you want to get ahead of the line, maybe?
SPEAKER_01Right. I was gonna say, I was gonna say, don't listen to all the haters that are gonna like talk about divorce rates around among military. That's bad. That's a legit thing. You should pay attention to those things. But it's not a death nail. Um there's some things we can do, and there's some biblical principles that uh sometimes in the military we're prone to ignore and excuse our way out of that we need to cling to, maybe even tighter. And so, yeah, God can be really faithful to us.
SPEAKER_05Do you have a biblical principle that's coming to your mind right now?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, right away, as you started the introduction, First Peter chapter three, verse seven. First Peter three, seven says, Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing
Marrying A Military Man With Hope
SPEAKER_01honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. And so, Brittany, you are encouraging the men to not sign off and not listen to this episode because the way we worded the title for the episode, I'm marrying a military man, well, that's a experience that your fiance, girlfriend, wife is going through. And so God would actually call you, husbands, to understand that and to live with her in an understanding way, to live with her realizing this is really hard. This is a hard thing for her to do. And we we've now in like pastoral ministry, we've seen wives come and join their husband, their brand new husband or fiance, as he's already in the military. And we've watched, like, man, that's really hard for her to do. And you ladies have lived that. And so, husbands, our call is to seek to understand her and to help shepherd her through that, not to say, hey, suck it up. This is easy for me, it should be easy for you, or you knew this, you knew this when you signed up to marry me. You knew like all that's probably not helpful. Let's understand what's difficult and then help shepherd her through the difficult.
SPEAKER_05Thanks for that. Um you know I love definitions.
SPEAKER_01So I think we take weak when we hear that, like in a in a give me a distorted way instead of you're referencing where I read the w honor the woman as the weaker vessel.
SPEAKER_05Like she's gonna need some help, you understanding her and to fortify, to provide some strength to and you do that by understanding where she's at, not just brushing it off. When I think of help on marrying a military man, I think back to being 19 years old, there was war going on like crazy, and I flew to Southern California to marry my high school sweetheart with my mom and his mom. That was it. We were getting married in this tiny strip mall chapel and went to Chinese food after because at that point I didn't know I had celiac disease and was so sick, you know.
unknownWow.
SPEAKER_05But I just think like when you're in this season of engagement and it seems so cool, maybe he's wearing his uniform at the wedding, and like you're coming into this so hopeful. But you might be moving away from your hometown, or there's about to be a major life change. When we marry military, it's not just we got married and we moved five minutes away from my parents. Now, some of you did, our daughters did that, but that's not the norm, right? Like, unless your father was military or mother. But in the in our experience, us as wives, we're wives and the guys were military, so that's who we're speaking to. Um, but there's a lot of change that's about to happen for you, and if you can think through that on the front end, it can be really helpful. Like, okay, I'm about to say goodbye to all my friends, but I'm gonna make new friends. And this is it's a new season. And if there's a book by Paul E. Miller called The J Curve, and he talks about how we have many M-I-N-I deaths that lead to resurrection. And so the death of a season of like maybe you're leaving your high school town, there's something really cool and it can be greater coming. And if you look to that as you're getting married and into the military, like, what are some I just want to challenge you to think about like what are some things you're expectant on, like hopeful for? What are you excited about? A lot of times I think when I talk with women in premarital counseling with Joshua and they're gonna get married to this Marine, it's like all the hard things are coming up. Well, this is gonna be hard. I have to do this. I'm leaving everything for him. So when he retires, like they're thinking 20 years out already, he's gonna do this for me. Those are the wrong mentalities and attitudes to come in with.
SPEAKER_01That is transactional. Yes. Yeah, I'm going to suffer for this period of time: four years, six years, eight years, twenty years, thirty years, whatever it is that you actually don't know at the beginning. And then he's going to reciprocate that. That's transactional, and that's not marriage. Yes. Uh, it needs to be we're in this together. This is this is different than so many occupations. This is an all-encompassing occupation for the whole family, it affects the whole family. A few episodes we talked about, we recommended do not be a geobachelor, a geographical bachelor, unless absolutely necessary in very exceptional circumstances. But this is a whole family thing. The whole family moves, the whole family endures deployments, the whole family endures long hours, the whole family endures the very real possibility of dying young. The whole family like that that's a whole family thing. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. I think that's thing to think about. Yeah. Were you gonna say something, Kelly?
SPEAKER_00Well, I just think, and we're speaking to everybody today from a perspective where we see the unique privilege that it is because of what God taught us in the different seasons and the different things. I think back to when, you know, I first started dating Brian. And
Grief, Surrender, And Building New Community
SPEAKER_00then I I'm thankful for the grace of God to already had been teaching me, you know, I went to college with plans like I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna be an engineer, I'm gonna pave the way for women in engineering. And I had all my plans to be this independent woman. And then I met and fell in love with this guy that was joining the Marines. And I really, and the Lord, I was also in my my spiritual life just surrendering my life to the Lord at that moment and just learning like my life is not my own, you know, it belongs to the Lord. And so I changed my major, my senior year, and and all my desires started changing. Like this, you know, I was gonna conquer the work world. That started changing where I wanted to get married and have a family and uh like every yeah, my dreams were just changing. And that's okay. Right, yes, and then ushered right into real military life because Brian, I mean, it was like war time and Brian deployed right away, and it was hard, but I also like drew near to the Lord in that time and just you know, the I feel like we hear it in the room core like simper gumby, be flexible because military life, like you can't make plans, you can't say, We will do this, and then we're gonna make this plan for next year. We couldn't even plan a vacation in those first three years because it was like, Well, I mean, you probably won't get approved for like who knows what you're doing in the next, you know, few months, but just really learning like my life is not my own before the Lord, but then even in the military, like it's like just being open to whatever God has and trusting him. And then I think too, it made me so thankful for the time that I did have with my husband because our first three years he was gone more than he wasn't. And while that's hard, it changed the way we were together when we were actually when he was actually home. It just and I think if I if I wouldn't have had that experience and if we were just civilians, you know, like I would take it I don't know, I would just take it for granted.
SPEAKER_01Probably that's interesting. I think one thing I've had to understand is everything you just said and and what Brittany alluded to, these mini deaths, which means that there's a grieving process, right? And so like you had career aspirations. You probably also had aspirations to go live back at home. Like you love your family, you love your parents, your sister, your brother, like you you you had aspirations of all of that. And so those you had to go through the grieving process. So I think some of that, like, hey, in four years, we're gonna go back home and I'm gonna do all those things. A lot of that is what in the grieving process we would call fantasy or bargaining, where we're like, well, yeah, but in this alternate reality, this thing's gonna be true. And and what we need to do instead is we need to grieve all of that and come out on the other side of that with acceptance of this new reality and as Christians accepting God's purposes in this new reality.
SPEAKER_00No, I think it's surrender, like surrendering it, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So, like, yes, you may be grieving some high school friends or some college friends, but open your eyes to the Lord having new friends and new relationships. You may be grieving, leaving, you know, a church family that you loved. Well, open your eyes last episode, two weeks ago, whatever it was, to this new church family that God has for you. You may be grieving a career and open your eyes to this new reality that God might have for you. And so we as husbands, we need to help her think through that. And we need to love her through that grieving process.
SPEAKER_05I think one of my favorite books again, my Elizabeth Elliott, is Let Me Be a Woman. And she talks about the vocation of being a wife. And that's not like a popular term. We don't use it often, but vocation is a summons or strong inclination to a particular state of course of action. And so we talked about whose work, who am I working for in the glory in the last episode? But stepping into military wife, like Brian mentioned, it is all-encompassing. This is not my husband goes to work for IBM and comes home at 4 30 and the day is done. It looks different. Yeah. And we and we don't want to sugarcoat that. There are gonna be really hard times as a military wife. But one of the things that helped me in that book when Elizabeth Elliott addressed the vocation, is that yes, I made a choice to marry a military man, and you're gonna hear that. I just want to tell you people, when things get hard, your family that doesn't understand or friends. Yes, friends that don't understand, you're gonna hear that often and it's gonna sting. But you can take that and apply it, like, okay, I knew that it doesn't make it easier right now. But this is my vocation. I'm gonna dedicate myself to being a wife. My husband's job is military, and that impacts us. Like, I used to joke all the time, like the Marine Corps's a cult. Like, it feels like it. Like, you need to learn the acronyms, you need to learn the language, you need to learn all these things. If you don't know something, ask. Just ask. We had a book we were given back in the day, Rosency. I know. I think I still have it. And we had a class. Yes, yes. You we had a class as we came in to be military. I know. I mean, I remember sitting in Bass Chapel. They gave us this cute little red leather bag. It had a
Learning When To Ask For Help
SPEAKER_05hammer, some screws, some like home things that we might need as I get that. That's nice.
SPEAKER_04Well, back then it was the housing was still owned by the military. And you had to fix your military.
SPEAKER_05They don't call us. Yes, and the guys were leaving to go to Iraq, and so they gave us the wives. We checked in. It came with roses and thorns, and this little it wasn't little, it was long as it could fit a hammer.
SPEAKER_01You might need this. We should do this in our churches and wedding ceremonies. Like, there's that's a it's a little bit of a metaphor, right? Like you're gonna have to figure some stuff out. And I gotta be honest with you, I you military spouses, you military wives are pretty amazing. Like the stuff that y'all figure out is especially once you've embraced it, like I don't need to bug him with this. I can figure this out. It is awesome to watch that.
SPEAKER_00Like, and I've been thankful to learn that. Like in the moment, maybe not. Maybe there was some whining of like this is hard, and I don't I wish he was here to do this. But I I can see the value of it now.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you know, when we say the fast pass, it's not just for like your marriage, it's for a lot of things in maturity. You're you have to learn to do really quick. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05I remember Josh was in Iraq and I'm pregnant with Tatum, our oldest, and I'm like nine months pregnant because maybe eight. So my belly is huge, and our washer broke. And we were in military housing that was owned by the military at the time. And my dad is on the phone from Indianapolis trying to walk me through how to fix this washer. Cause at that point, I hadn't learned to ask for help. So that was something that God taught me. So I bent over this washer drum with this usually, and I told my dad, I'm gonna have to call you back. And I just sat on the floor, had a moment, cried it out, got back on the phone, and fixed that washer. And then later I had to learn, like, oh, Mr. White from church could have I could have asked him and he could have come help me. But like moments like that, you're gonna face stuff that young wives probably don't face out in the civilian world. And you'll laugh at that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think something practical. That's a good story. I think something practical is just praying for wisdom of like when is this a like I can figure this out moment and you know, call dad, call YouTube, call whatever.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, we didn't have to do that.
SPEAKER_01And let me figure this out. Or hey, let me call Mr. White from church, he can probably help me out with this. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? So just the wisdom and when to do those different things.
SPEAKER_05And he did help me with a lot of things. It's good. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he fixed the car.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that probably wasn't one I think you anyway. I just so when we talk about oh, go ahead, Brad.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, if you know, you kind of alluded to something people say, if you're listening to this podcast as like you love somebody in the military and you're trying to help understand them and their life, something unhelpful to say is like, well, you signed up for this. Like, that's just unhelpful. Yes, we signed up for this, we're an all-volunteer military, and I don't think anybody clubbed a woman and drug her into it. If they did, that's wrong. You should not do that.
SPEAKER_05We would like to do that.
SPEAKER_01But like, that's just not helpful. Well, you signed up for it. I signed up for all sorts of things that became a lot harder than I thought they would be in the moment. It doesn't mean that I was wrong to do so, and it doesn't mean that this thing is easy.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I think you live them well by walking through that with them in those seasons.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, help me understand.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_05Um, go ahead, Ben.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, something I just want to say is that I think a lot of times people run into the situation where they're looking for someone or an entity to blame for all of their difficulties. And so, like the situation you were just in with the washer or a car breaking down, or your husband's gone for a period of time and you're lonely, there are things there's a reason God has you for that. So look for that reason, reach out, join a church, do all the things we've talked on this podcast many, many times about. But don't blame the military for doing military things. So, in the same token of, you know, yeah, it's not helpful to just say you signed up for it, but also know, like your your husband's in the military, he's gonna be doing military things. You can't just sit around in a wallow and blame the unit or the battalion or the Marine Corps or the whatever service you're in and just be mad at them. That's how you become that crusty military wife that's just very irritated and angry about everything, and you don't want to go down that path.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. God is sovereign over all the things. Kelly, I want to ask you this. What are some emotions that you would tell a young woman that they may experience coming in on the other side once they're married? Josh said loneliness, and it made me think there's a lot of emotions that you're about to be flooded with, and maybe if you know that up front, oh yeah, you can dig into the word. Loneliness is one, yes, for
Loneliness, Confusion, And Letting Go
SPEAKER_05sure.
SPEAKER_00And I think just our little kid fleshness of like, this isn't fair. Or, you know, like comparing like our friends maybe back home that get to see their husband every day or get to plan a vacation or a time to go visit family, like you know, like things that are kind of more set in stone of that, like that kind of stuff. I'm trying to think. Yeah, loneliness is a big one.
SPEAKER_01I think confusion is sometimes one. Oh, that's a big one. Like we We military guys aren't great at explaining what's going on to our wives. We use so many acronyms and so much jargon and so much assumption that they were at the brief that you were at. I would even argue the military is not great at telling their people what in the world's going on. And so I think confusion is just kind of a big piece of the game. And sometimes that's intentional. Like everybody doesn't need to know everything in the work that we do, but also like some of it is not always necessary confusion, but it is like it's a confusing time. And so if you're confused today, like you know, just understand that others are confused as well.
SPEAKER_00But I I can see so many ways in all those emotions, how God like used that in such good ways in my life, like the loneliness, just me kind of coming to a place of like, God, you are enough for me when my husband's not here. When I want to rely on him and him to help me, I don't have him. Like, you are enough. In the confusion, like, God, I'm confused, but you're not. You know what's going on. So good. What was the other one that we said? Oh, like it's not fair. Like, I don't know what fair is, you know? And like God just has specific things. And I can just look back and see so many things that have blessed our marriage, like so many different ways that God has blessed our marriage through those hard things that I that's why I say it's a unique privilege to be a military wife. If you can view it that way, with like what the Lord is gonna teach you in those unique circumstances, you know.
SPEAKER_05One of a couple of the emotions I think of are anxiety or lack of control. Yes, my friend, if you are type A, you need to be prepared. The Lord is gonna teach you some things about your lack of control. And all the control you've ever thought you had, it was a lie. It's all fake, it's a facade. But I firmly agree with Kelly. It is a unique privilege to be a military wife. I mean, 23 years married, Josh has been retired for a few years now, but I cannot hear the national anthem without crying or like hear certain things read or be at Memorial Day events or 4th of July. Like, it is an emotional day for me. I just the freedom that we have takes on a different meaning and you appreciate life in a different way. So those moments of anxiety that I had when I didn't have control, is Josh coming home? Is he not? It's really given me a different appreciation for the ordinary things in life. You know, like, okay, your socks are on the floor. I don't care. I will gladly pick those socks up and put them in a hamper. Please leave them on the floor so I can serve you in that way. I know it sounds weird, but when he was deployed in Iraq, I remember thinking that used to make me so angry. I know. I mean, I was like, Lord, just bring him back his socks, can live wherever they want. I want to pick them up. Like, I'm really with the cubs.
SPEAKER_00Um yeah, like when we were first married, we you were to school the first two months. A couple of weeks. And you know, when you get married, like when that sets in, like, okay, we're getting on each other's nerves. Like that happens at some point. He left cups. He'd like leave his cups of water or whatever, and then get another one, you know, and I would just find cups everywhere. I remember being like, here's your cup, because I used the same cup for days still. And I would be like, Why did you get another one out? There's one right here and over here. And and I remember like really getting annoyed by that. And then you were gone. And I remember thinking, I wish I could pick up his cups. And I would pick them all up. I just please just be here so that you can leave cups in every room. And I'll get them and I won't complain. And I remember like that was just like a small way of like when we were back together, I was not gonna complain about some stupid cups on a, you know, in a room, in another room, whatever. Because he was home and that was good. And so it's just like helped that shift of like, I'm not I'm not gonna be annoyed about those small things because perspective.
SPEAKER_05Right. Yeah. Like, what does it really matter? So good. If I could oh, go ahead, babe.
SPEAKER_04Oh, I was just gonna say expectation management uh would be really, really helpful for anyone getting into a a marriage right now, especially in a military context, because you probably have this vision in your mind of what it's going to look like, how it's gonna flow, how you're gonna feel, like all of the things.
Expectations, Teamwork, And No Hard Olympics
SPEAKER_04You I mean, ladies, you guys are way better at envisioning things better than the guys most of the time.
SPEAKER_05Well, we have spaghetti brains.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, exactly. And you're able to think through all these things. And the problem with that is it's not gonna look the way you think it's gonna look. And the second you realize that and go, okay, I I submit to whatever it's going to end up being, uh, you're it'll be greatly helped.
SPEAKER_05One piece of advice that was very helpful early on in our marriage with me coming in as a military wife was from a retired Navy, I don't remember what he was, but he was this older retired Navy guy. And he taught our young marriage class. And something he emphasized, I feel like it was every Sunday, was don't compare your hearts. If you want to have a good solid marriage, do not compare your hearts. Because I think coming into the military lifestyle, their job is difficult. Your husband's job is tiring, it's exhausting, it's difficult. And and I don't know what you're doing. Kelly's a teacher, maybe you're a stay-at-home mom, maybe you obviously you don't have kids yet, maybe, but when they come, or you're at home because you haven't found a job yet and you're just setting up home, and he comes home and is like, Oh, what'd you do all day? And you're like, Well, I did this and I had to set up our insurance and I had to blah, blah, blah. And you start comparing who is working harder, it will destroy your marriage real fast. And so if I can give one piece of advice, there's so many things I would like to say. But as you come into this life, men and women, do not compare your hards, appreciate what each other's doing. Like appreciate that things she's doing is hard in a different way. Yes. Yes. How it's hard. Yeah. Don't don't slough it off, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. Suffering is not a competitive sport. It's a team sport. So like your you and your spouse are in this together, suffer it well together.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that's a good word. I know we're coming to a close of time. So a lot of things that Brian has something he wants to say, though.
SPEAKER_01Brittany, you rattled off several, but any other just what's what are the good things about this life? Yeah. This married military life.
SPEAKER_05Adventures. Yes. You're gonna go so many places that you probably would have never gone and see places you never would have chosen to see and find beauty in God's earth in different ways. I loved that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think I had mentioned not taking our time together for granted, but also the amount of amazing people that we have met and continue to meet. Like I look forward because I know just living in a military town, that the Lord continues to let that be just a part of our lives, that we get to know so many cool human beings. Which is just a privilege.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the number of people the typical person is able to keep up with is a hundred and fifty. Somebody studied that, some sociologist somewhere.
SPEAKER_05That's crazy. That feels like a lot to me.
SPEAKER_01Does it? I was gonna have to. No, no, no, I'm sorry. Right.
SPEAKER_05Oh, but you said keep up with. I'm getting like maintain relationships.
SPEAKER_01You can generally know what's going on in their life and what's going on. And for us, part of this is military life, part of this is pastoral ministry, but like that number's way higher for us just because we have built community in four, five, six different cities where the Lord has taken us.
SPEAKER_05I would say resiliency. I know we hear a lot about military kids. Oh, they're gonna be resilient. But I think as families, it builds resiliency in a way that I would have never understood how to suffer well and see the goodness of God in the midst of it. I think it would have taken me a lot longer to figure that out. Same. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think as well, we we have an appreciation for what it takes. Like I grew up maybe relatively patriotic, but I didn't really know what that meant. I didn't really know what it takes. And now I know. So like you talked about the listening to the national anthem and thinking about that. And like I I know what it takes. I know what it takes for the service member, for the wife, for the kids, for the moms, for the family, like the entire everybody that touches that service member, it takes sacrifice. And most of those people are actually doing so willingly, and it is a good thing. It is a good thing to sacrifice for others. And whether it's the ultimate sacrifice of laying down one's life for others, or whether it's all the little tiny sacrifices along the way, it is a good thing, and we get to know what that is and see that. And we actually get to know Jesus better in his sacrificial love for us, and so it's just a beautiful, beautiful life. I can't imagine otherwise, honestly.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I can't either. And we've lived our whole Christian life in military communities, so it's been amazing. We came to know the Lord because of it. Well, y'all, we are over time today. Uh, if you found this podcast helpful, we encourage you to share it with someone you know and love and that you would follow us wherever you're listening, whatever podcast platform you're listening on, click that follow button. And if you want to connect with us, you want us to talk about something, email us at military or hello at military wellness collective dot
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SPEAKER_05com and we will talk about what you want to talk about. So until next time, friends, look in the show notes and we'll see you soon.