“The Military Table”

Today’s Menu

****** HEAVENLY HINDSIGHT ******

PRAISE LEADS THE WAY!

“But I must confess that there are days when my circumstances don’t seem to lend themselves to worship. Days when I feel so caught up in my own problems or so pulled down by my own depression that entering into worship would almost feel hypocritical. What am I to do on those days? – On those days I am to worship anyway! I am to bring the Lord what the Bible calls sacrificial praise: ‘So through Jesus let us always offer to God our sacrifice of praise, coming from lips that speak His name.” Author~Claire Cloninger

Psalm 148: 5-14 Let every created thing give praise to the Lord, for he issued his command, and they came into being. 6 He set them in place forever and ever. His decree will never be revoked. 7 Praise the Lord from the earth, you creatures of the ocean depths, 8 fire and hail, snow and clouds, wind and weather that obey him, 9 mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, 10 wild animals and all livestock, small scurrying animals and birds, 11 kings of the earth and all people, rulers and judges of the earth, 12 young men and young women, old men and children. 13 Let them all praise the name of the Lord. For his name is very great; his glory towers over the earth and heaven! 14 He has made his people strong, honoring his faithful ones–the people of Israel who are close to him. Praise the Lord! Amplified Bible

AWE-GOD PRAISE EXPRESSION!

Lord we praise You. Let every military family praise You today, Lord God, as we look with Heavenly Hindsight upon our lives and see how You have made us strong! We praise You, Jesus that You are always close to us, right now, today You are our Way-Maker. We thank you that we can look back and see Your faithfulness to our United States Military. We are so grateful for Your great and powerful name, that at the mention of it, mountains move and lives change! Praise God!

Hebrews 13:15 Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name. Amplified Bible

FAMILY HEART WISDOM

“We will come to understand the part a difficult circumstance has played in our lives. Hindsight makes so much clear. The broken marriage, the lost job, the loneliness have all contributed to who we are becoming. The joy of the wisdom we are acquiring is that hindsight comes more quickly. We can, on occasion, begin to accept a difficult situation’s contribution to our wholeness while caught in the turmoil.” Quote By Karen Casey

2 Samuel 7:18 King David went in, took his place before God, and prayed: “Who am I, my Master God, and what is my family, that you have brought me to this place in life? But that’s nothing compared to what’s coming, for you’ve also spoken of my family far into the future, given me a glimpse into tomorrow, my Master God! What can I possibly say in the face of all this? You know me, Master God, just as I am. You’ve done all this not because of who I am but because of who you are–out of your very heart!–but you’ve let me in on it. Message Bible

Heavenly Hindsight Speaks Of  God’s Faithfulness

Heavenly Hindsight, the seeing of God’s faithfulness in our past, gives us the faith that boosts our prayer life in our current situation that our military family is “growing through”! God has spoken to our future through the Promises in His Word just as He speaks to us of His trustworthiness through Who He has been in our past. Our Heavenly Hindsight shows a perfect path of the realism of His care for our military family and gives us hope for deployment times to come because we can look back and see just how much He took care of us and our soldiers!

Philippians 2:14 Do everything readily and cheerfully–no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I’ll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that. Amplified Bible

Heavenly Hindsight Is God’s Miraculous Moments

Heavenly hindsight really trumps the assumptions right out of our faith life. When we look back in hindsight and see the miraculous moments God worked out in our lives, then we are less likely going to second-guess whether we can handle what is ahead for us. Heavenly hindsight helps us move forward, carrying a light of faith and confidence in God and for others.

Psalm 18:29-35 In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall. God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection. For who is God except the Lord? Who but our God is a solid rock? God arms me with strength, and he makes my way perfect. He makes me as surefooted as a deer, enabling me to stand on mountain heights. He trains my hands for battle; he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow. You have given me your shield of victory. Your right hand supports me; your help has made me great. New Living Translation

Heavenly Hindsight Speaks Of God’s Promises

God left us here on earth with a “Heavenly Hindsight” filled with Kingdom Promise! Just remember as a military family member, as you drive through your unchartered life journey of “Great God Adventure” here on earth, use your rear view mirror and occasionally glance behind you, remembering the God Promises spoken on your behalf; the miraculous musings of His faithfulness towards you, through the promises spoken on your behalf. Fully face Awe-GOD, because He is Your purposeful destiny. Be confident in the heavenly hindsight of God’s fulfilled promises and cling to the promises of God that maintain your faith as you “grow through” challenging times in your military family, hoping huge in Your God Who you know will translate His Promises into your heavenly hindsight.

THOUGHTS FROM THE HEART!

“There is nothing, indeed, which God will not do for a man who dares to step out upon what seems to be the mist; though as he puts his foot down he finds a rock beneath him.” Quote By F. B. Meyer

Heavenly Hindsight Is Ours, Gratefully So!

Gratefully, in this life we can look back on things and see “Heavenly Hindsight”! In Heavenly Hindsight, we see the good that God brought forth out of a really bad situation. Or we don’t see anything we can “wrap our finite”minds around, but we see how God “grew us through” a very hard situation. Heavenly Hindsight stirs up our hearts in a thankful kind of way that is very good for the condition of our soul. If we are “growing through” a tough life season, it is AWE-GOD Gratefulness that feeds the perseverance as we glance back with “heavenly hindsight” at the Promises of God played out through His Kingdom Purpose and paid forward in God Goodness! AWE-GOD!

Heavenly Hindsight Shows Off God’s Good Work 

There are so many things that happen in war that it is hard to wrap our minds around and many times we never do. We are finite and God is infinite! One question a lot of people ask is: Why do bad things happen to good people? I have even heard it in this posture: Why did the Marine next to me die and I lived? Why did the bullets hit him and I was bullet proof? Tough Questions! What makes them tougher to answer is in the fallen world we live in, there sometimes is no one at fault or no logical answer, just that we live in a broken world and war and the casualties of war is just a sign that many live with a fallen human condition! War happens, maybe because war is symptom of broken humanity living outside of the Presence of God. War hurts and sometimes the casualty of war is an inner pain in our memories, which never quite goes away, but can be managed and endured as we step into God’s Peace that has that incredible way of saturating our soul and bringing us inner rest! God’s peace surpasses all of our understanding and there is no rest that can be found like the peace of AWE-GOD! Romans 8:28.

Heavenly Hindsight Stirs Up An “All In” Trust

We may not ever understand the atrocities of war. But we can look back with “Heavenly Hindsight” and see the Presence of God and His power behind us that changes, heals, restores and strengthens our hearts to help us endure and “grow through” the very difficult life issues that war brings up. When I look back with “heavenly hindsight”, I can see just how much God did in me, I realize the heart treasures I gain from the “tougher seasons” of life are my greatest life worth! Many times I am discontent with the way God brings me, but all the time, I am content and very grateful for the outcome that I could not see in the dark unseen, or even begin to hope for or imagine in the light of my reality. God may give me what I ask for, but it is the way that He takes me to get to it that makes me not understand His Ways. God knows what He is doing and the more I experience His Way, the more I trust Him completely as I step into every new life season with the heavenly hindsight of the past season of life.

A Marine Mom’s Heavenly Hindsight

I have been the mother of a United States Marine Warrior for twelve years and each deployment was a new lesson of trust, learning how to let go and let God. I prayed and I learned how to let go and give God time to work out His purposes in His Way, which I never really understood by my viewpoint, but learned to trust from His Kingdom Perspective.

God’s Warrior

My warrior was fully vested in protecting, defending and preserving the freedom of the United States of America. I knew without a doubt, he would and was willing to give his life for this country and for his brothers in arms. When he hugged me goodbye on the tarmac and headed for the bus that would take him on the first leg of his journey back to Afghanistan, for the third time, I savored the hug, the kiss on my cheek and the words: “I love you mom”, because I knew He was God’s Warrior and whether I saw him again this side of heaven, was God’s Sovereign will, not mine.

Hope In Heavenly Hindsight

To say that I was not emotionally wrecked at that moment, as I watched the bus until it was out of sight, would be a lie. To say I did not fall to my knees myriads of times during that deployment and cry out in desperation to God, would be a lie. I clung to God, I dug my roots deeply into His Kingdom. As I heard the news of the Marines advancing toward the city to take it from the Taliban, those three long weeks without any communication from my son, it was in my Heavenly Hindsight, that I took my hope as He “grew me” through some of the hardest moments of my life the last 12 years could bring.

Vital-Vertical Relationship

Because of my vital–vertical relationship with God, I grew up in complete trust of God as He proved He would finish what He started in my wounded warrior. From the day he was wounded until he found his way back from Afghanistan to Germany and then back to the United States and into surgery to rehabilitation, to surgery again and more rehabilitation and then eventually to be medically retired. I can say without a doubt, during all this time, and all the previous 12 years, there was never a moment, God was not sovereignly there. AWE-GOD!

Heavenly Hindsight Says So, Powerfully So

Yes Lord Jesus! I stand in AWE of YOU. My Heavenly Hindsight says so! You are faithful! You are trustworthy! Your promises are true. You are so amazing in our Military Family life! AWE-GOD! Oh sweet heavenly hindsight that glows the touch of God-Glory! AWE-GOD, Your Heavenly Hindsight Is Powerful, Especially When I See Your Will Weaving Through The Seasons Of Our Military Family And Leaving A Living Legacy.

The greatest history we can leave is a living legacy that points to the greatest King Who ever walked this earth, our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. He was, is and always will be our history. His heavenly hindsight of history pays forward eternity, something no one can paint the canvas of this world with but Him. AWE-GOD! Kimberlymac

There has not been a moment that God was not with my Marine from the moment the IED went off, to year of surgeries and rehabilitation, to the medical retirement and on to civilian life. God was with him and us! There was not a moment that we were without GOD! He is trustworthy and good and will never forsake His Military Families! AWE-GOD!

THOUGHTS FROM GOD’S HEART!

God has wisely kept us in the dark concerning future events and reserved for himself the knowledge of them, that he may train us up in a dependence upon himself and a continued readiness for every event. Quote By: Matthew Henry

Proverbs 3:5-6 Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. 6 In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths. Amplified Bible

“I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain.” Quote By: John Henry Newman

Romans 8:28 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. The Message

Sudden Derailment

When a situation suddenly hits your military family and it derails you emotionally, and God does not give you understanding, you are never able to wrap your mind around it, but you are able to “grow through’ by the grace and strength of God, you have “heavenly hindsight”!

Share Your Heavenly Hindsight

We have to learn to share our “Heavenly Hindsight” with others, because when no visible good comes out of your bad situation, and no real understanding is revealed to you, God may have purposefully allowed it, so you could share with someone who is currently in the same place.

Empathy Leaves Courage

You experienced a suddenly and you can empathize with them, who have suddenly been overwhelmed by exactly the same situation you just grew through. They may be facing the onset of a situation that has left them with no courage and way too much hopelessness and through your “heavenly hindsight” you can impart them God courage and God wisdom and help them become strong and brave, full of huge hope in God.

Heavenly Hindsight Gives Hope

Someone else who has despair can be given hope because of your “heavenly hindsight” and that is the good of Romans 8:28, where it says ALL things will be used for the good of God’s Kingdom! ALL things, even the things we can’t understand or wrap our mind around, when we share with others the “heavenly hindsight” of our military family “growing through” with God, and how He was with us, never left us, and was our simply-significantly enough, then kingdom good happens!

All Things Are Eventually Good

“Military Family! What you suffered through, it becomes a good thing when the “heavenly hindsight” is shared with others and they realize that ALL things are eventually good! ALL things are used for good by God in military families!” Quote By:Kimberlymac

Matthew 10:26-28 So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. Amplified Bible

Trust Him when dark doubts assail thee,

Trust Him when thy strength is small,

Trust Him when to simply trust Him

Seems the hardest thing of all.

Trust Him, He is ever faithful,

Trust Him, for his will is best,

Trust Him, for the heart of Jesus

Is the only place of rest.

Quote By: Anonymous

Psalm 27:13-14 What, what would have become of me had I not believed that I would see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living! Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord. Amplified Bible

Prayer For Our Military Families

Lord Jesus, what an honor it is to pray for our Military Families. Father God, You have called them to this military life and we know You will honor them and equip them with all they need. Their military life becomes difficult when we forget to be thankful for the sacrifices they make for our freedom from moment to moment. Our military families need our encouragement and our prayers and I pray Lord God, You would raise up an army of prayer warriors for these military families! People who will passionately call their families out to You and pray wholeheartedly for them. War time has been long and hard for these families Lord God, we pray you would equip all of us Americans with your encouragement for our Military Families and we would give abundantly of it, just like You do Lord God. Holy Spirit encourage and comfort our military families, let them know how appreciated they are, how much we honor them and hope huge for them to be infused with Your strength, Your courage, Your peace and Your Presence!

We owe a debt we can not repay for the sacrifices made for our freedom by military and their families. At The Military Table, in The Bridegroom’s Cafe, we will always be honoring, encouraging and praying for our military and their families, it is the least we can do for them. Please pass this post on to any military family member you know by using the social media button below and let’s encourage them and pray for them always. God bless you MUCH, KimberlyMac