Nothing In Life Is Free

Prayer pays off!! I am a living, breathing, testimony of God's faithfulness. Eight months ago my daughter left on deployment with the United States of American. Standing at only 5'4" tall, and maybe 120lbs soaking wet it was hard to imagine her facing what lay ahead. Plagued with kidney stones, and severely homesick it looked to be a very long deployment. My first instinct was to steal her back from the government but this is something I knew she needed to conquer. My second option was to worry myself sick about her, which maybe unconsciously I did. But my best option was to place her into the hands of her creator and just believe that he had everything under control. Friday at noon, I stood at the end of the pier shoulder to shoulder with 6 other people who love her almost as much as I do as the same ship that sailed out several months ago, sailed back into the port they call home. Many of my friends expected me to be screaming for joy... instead I just stood there in tearful silence, searching for the cherub face of my first born child. A thrill and a pride washed over me that had to have resembled the pride and admiration that washed over God as he watched his only Son rise from the dead. Words cannot adequately express the feeling you have when the child who came from such and imperfect womb accomplishes something far beyond your imagination. As she sailed back into her home port I knew she was coming back a much different person than she left. The last day of our visit we stood on Mount Solodad reading the plagues of those who have fought and died for our freedom. My daughter turned to me and said "Mom, I never really understood what would cause someone to love their country so much they would actually die for it, but after being in so many different countries, I totally get it. This is the greatest nation of all and I totally understand that it is worth dying for, your little girl is a Sailor Mom". Not only did God safely bring back my daughter safe and sound, he brought her back as a woman who loves her country more than she thought possible and has a new appreciation for the blessings so many take for granted. Nothing in life is free..... Especially freedom.