Day 4: Girlfriends are Important!

Girlfriends are important!

But what do you do when you live in a remote location? Put it together with living in a country where they speak French, Italian, German or Dutch and you find that your ability to make girlfriends is a bit trickier to navigate than ever before. But God had a plan for me as you will soon find out!

What is PWOC?

For those of you who aren't part of a military community, you probably haven't heard of PWOC. It's just one of many acronyms that are part of a military lifestyle. PCS (permanent change of station - or MOVING - saying goodbye again and again), TDY (temporary duty - or your spouse is away from home for a "short" time - the kids get sick before he's even left the base/runway/etc.), OPSEC (operational security - there's a list of things to do and watch for/"loose lips sink ships," vary your way home), to name a few! Some people would think we're talking gibberish or alphabet soup but we aren't!

PWOC stands for Protestant Women of the Chapel. On military bases, our churches are called chapels and have at least one military chaplain (minister) assigned to hold non-denominational services for those stationed/posted at that military base or post. At the chapel, the women's ministry is called PWOC and my first glimpse of this was at AFNORTH Chapel in Brunssum, NL. We visited it for the first time in Fall, 2001 and I was greeted by two lovely ladies, Cheryl R. and Tracy J. They greeted me with warm welcoming hugs and I felt like I had come home! From that day, I learned more about what a difference sisters in Christ would make in my life. I met Mary Beth H., Karla C., Ann W., Inga S., Chris Y., Cindy M., Carol B., Sara M., Melody H. and Tanya K. and many others as the years have passed.

We were blessed by the chance to study the Bible together in weekly studies, sing praise and worship music, pray together, cry together and support one another through life's challenges far from our relatives. God is good - All the Time! We even were able to attend group conferences over in Willingen, Germany where we had amazing speakers from around the world come and share their messages (some serious - Victoria R., and some funny - Carol S.) and music (some of which I count as friends and still keep in touch with through Facebook, Frances D.) which we were able to apply to our lives and families. Times are changing and now these big conferences are a thing of our memories but we still continue to meet weekly at our chapels and study God's word, sing together, pray together and love one another as only sisters in Christ can!

Anonymity...

Oh how I missed these ladies when we lived in Italy! It was a long three years of the absence of an important part of my life with girlfriends with whom I could feel connected and safe. Some may think, but you were in Italy -- what's not to like... We were posted in a town one hour South of Rome where very few people spoke English. We did have a few friends who we met along the way but there was no church home for us and no PWOC! The closest base was two and half hours away in Naples.

Back "home"

In 2013, we moved back to Belgium (our third time living in the Tri-Border Area and attending the same base chapel) and we live over an hour away from our chapel and today I'm worshiping at home because my husband is working and I need the break from the long drive. I'm sitting here praying for my friends, praying for my family, praying about the message the Chaplain is sharing, thinking about the hymns and looking out at the beautiful world God has created and it is a good day -- an AWESOME day in Belgium!

This is the day the Lord has made;

let us be glad and rejoice in it!

Psalm 118:24