We all have dates that stick in our mind. You know the ones: birthdays, anniversaries (hopefully
), 9/11 
, etc.
But there are a few other days that stick in my mind.
10/23/2001 – the day I entered the Active Duty Air Force
9/22/2009 – the day I separated from the Air Force
I had so many expectations as to how my career in the military would have gone…
I wanted to be a fighter pilot, but later I found out I couldn’t because I needed 20/20 uncorrected vision – I wear contacts, or glasses.
I wanted to retire at 20 years, but I was basically forced out of the military at 8 years, due to my commander not approving my enlistment (I did have an honorable discharge…there is a story here).
As age 38 (when I should have been retiring) came and went, I saw a lot of friends I had served with retire their uniforms, but now me.
I had plans for my life, but God has HIS plan.
Come to find out, 6/10/2017 would be another day that would be etched in my mind forever. That was our Line of Demarcation. The day when there was a before… and an after.
On that day, Michele had her strokes. Yes, strokes. She had a massive hemorrhagic stroke, a TIA (mini stroke) and a seizure, all at the same, while she was 6 weeks pregnant.
If I had still been in the military…
I might have been deployed and unable to be here for my wife and 3 boys;
I might have had to take a hardship discharge at 16 years of service, unable to finish my retirement still;
We might not have lived close enough to a hospital that could have supported Michele, having succumbed to a stroke as bad as hers. We were told that if she had arrived 15–20 minutes later, she would have died.
Additionally, the hospital Michele had been sent to has a doctor who specializes in Moyamoya disease, which is what caused the strokes.
Moral of the story: If your plans have been upset… if you have had goals which you haven’t been able to achieve… yet, we are called to “Take heart.”
God has a plan for you, and it’s perfect. It will come about in His timing, in His way.
We are also told in the Bible that:
“But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance,” 2 Peter 3:8-9.
Trust in Him; He will not disappoint!
Journey23 