How Fear Became Faith
The momentous decision was made, and yet the mountains had not moved. We tried to rest in the fact that God’s plan was much larger than we could imagine, and everything was to work out for His Glory in the end. However we were acutely aware that God’s glory and our comfort we two very different goals. To explain our situation, I need to give you a short lesson in how the Coast Guard handles transfers.
The short version is that every 3-4 years, depending on where you get stationed, the Coast Guard transfers you out. There is a whole group of individuals who handle the logistics of these transfers. These individuals are called detailers. When it comes time to transfer, a detailer looks at your experience, and what you may need to advance further in the military; this, along with a “dream sheet” of where you would like to go determine where you get transferred to.
So to bring it back to our story, this is the situation Nicole and I were facing. My enlistment was to end in 2020, but I was due to transfer in 2019. Not only was it my time to transfer, but I recently had been promoted too, meaning the odds of a transfer where even higher. This was a very stressful process that had no guarantee from any side on what was to happen.
The Bible tells us that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Proverbs 18:21. Nicole and I took this seriously in regards to our situation and began to thank God in our prayers for our new home and church family. Instead of praying from a place of fear regarding the unknown; we began to praise God for what we could see around us. At the end of the day we will never be able to see tomorrow. There are times I can hardly see what is for dinner let alone what is going to happen months from now. But as Christians we live by faith, through grace. That means we will always having something to worship God for, to be thankful for.
As a musician my favorite book of the Bible is the book Psalms. One of the most important verses for me in this season was Psalm 34:1 says “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips.”
Once the dust had settled from our decision, we shared with our church family that we were staying, leaving behind the Coast Guard and putting roots down. This may seam like a simple action, but it was so vital for us. Telling someone else what we were doing made it concrete to us; it gave us accountability for the faith we were beginning to see well up inside of us.
As I had mentioned above, I was due for transfer and although Nicole and I had found a somewhat higher sense of peace about the situation, there was still a chance that all could go awry. Shortly after we shared our plans with our church family, I received an email from my detailer telling me that he had learned of my intentions to end my enlistment at my current unit and agreed that it would be for the best to not transfer me. Just like that God took our biggest worry and made it a fairly insignificant part of this story! At the end of the day the worries we carried only made the walk down the path God laid before us more difficult. God would have made a way regardless of my employment, but this encounter was such a faith builder for Nicole and me, and with what was to come, we were going to need that faith.
