AL: Joni, last month we celebrated the fourth of July, but you and your team celebrated the freedoms we enjoy in this country in a different way...
JONI: That's right, Al... just a short time ago we had our first Warriors Getaway.
AL: What’s that all about?
JONI: Well, it was a four-day retreat – wait a minute, that's the wrong word; soldiers don't retreat. We took all these soldiers – 24 of them – wounded soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan and we “advanced” – four days of an advance into God’s Word, a lot of soldier-savvy fun, and, boy, did their wives and children love it...
AL: ... well let's hear from one of the family members now?
JONI: Okay, let’s do it right now.
DANNIE: My name is Dannie Field, my husband is Sergeant First Class Brian Field and he was in Bagdad and stepped on something and now he is a bilateral below the knee amputee. That is at the top of the list, you know. He can’t hear out of both ears and skin grafts everywhere – all that kind of stuff, and the nonexistent TBI that doesn’t exist because he forgets he has it and everything else, too. So that’s always a challenge. You know for me throughout all of this of course when I got the call I’d pray, pray, pray, sometimes taking it minute by minute. As I’ve said, it was a very difficult few months and things got a little bit easier and so praying less and taking back that control and turning to God in a weak moment – as I call it – and crying out. You know what it comes down to is that I can’t do this; it’s not me. Brian can’t do this and there is only one way to really experience life and live life to the fullest and that is to absolutely turn your life over. As a mother, I think I owe it to my children to give them a foundation. It has just been a back and forth – one foot over the line. Yes, we’ll go to church sometimes and I’ll pray when I feel like I need some extra support and back and forth, back and forth. The biggest thing for me is meeting other people that have experienced this disability in their lives and how they have handled things and how their walk with the Lord has helped them and their family.
JONI: You mean like the “getaway” has been helpful to you?
DANNIE: Oh, absolutely, absolutely! But honestly the most special thing for me has been watching my husband meet other men who are strong men and it’s okay to have a great relationship with the Lord. It’s okay to say it out loud, it’s okay to own it, and it’s okay to share it. He is seeing what changes it has made in other people’s lives. You know, Jonathan and Ken and other soldiers and he is finally going, “This really is okay. I can be a macho guy and I can climb the rock wall and I can jump out of airplanes and I can water ski and ski and I can go around telling people this is what you need to do. I know the answer. I know what’s going to help you,” so that has been amazing. The camaraderie among the soldiers and getting to know the other families and just seeing all these people coming together to support wounded warriors and their families and to help them and lead them down the path with the Lord is amazing.
AL: What a great program today, Joni. Thanks for sharing Christ with our brave men and women from the Armed Forces who are returning from war from Iraq and Afghanistan and not just the soldiers, but their wives like Dannie Field whom we’ve just heard. We will certainly be praying for your next Warriors Getaway for many more wounded soldiers and their families and these personal stories that stir our hearts to the depth.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 93176
© Joni and Friends!