Women on the Wall

Each year we visit the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in a war that was so far away.  So many of these young people were sent into a war that they did not understand, not as a volunteer, but as a conscripted soldier - chosen in a draft.  However, some that went to war volunteered. 

A few years ago as I stood at that wall, reading those names, the man standing beside me turned to me and asked if I knew how many women were on the wall.  I must admit, I had never thought about it.  He told me that there were seven.  I now know that there were seven Army nurses and one Air Force nurse.  

This man had been wounded in Vietnam and was cared for by 1st Lieutenant Sharon Lane at the 312th Evacuation Hospital.  This same hospital was later hit by rockets and Sharon Lane was killed.  He was at the wall, not only to remember her himself, but to make sure that others remember.  He pointed me in the direction of the Women's Vietnam Memorial, where I found a picture of Sharon Lane at the base, along with flowers and poems from the men that remembered their nurses. 

These women volunteered, along with 265,000 others.  Their compassion and caring was more than their fear of war.  Of those women that served in the military during this time, more than 10,000 were in the country of Vietnam.  While most of them were safe from the guns and rockets because of their nursing status, they were still in harm's way.  They died in hospitals that were hit anyway.  They died in planes and helicopters.  They died evacuating children.  ...and one died of a stroke at 52 after serving in World War II and Korea. 

As we remember the men on the wall, let us not forget those women who volunteered to go and the ones who gave their lives to serve.   

Astounding Grace

I woke up to the sound of thunder rolling and rain falling.  I love a good storm!  As I lay in bed thinking how happy I was that it was Saturday and I did not have to move I began praising God.  Suddenly, I saw a picture of a very ugly sin that I had committed many years ago.  This was followed by several others, until I was overwhelmed.  I was actually trying to think if there was a commandment that I had not broken.  I began to cry out to God for forgiveness! Suddenly, I was at peace again.

That peace was short lived, though, as I began to wonder if perhaps I had let go too easily.  Shouldn't I continue to feel guilt?  Shouldn't I expect that I would be separated from God?  Shouldn't something terrible be happening to me?  Am I numb to it?  How can God love Me... the worst of sinners?  The lies continued to roll through my head.  Again, I prayed.

Brother Lawrence said that he spent ten years constantly crying out to God for forgiveness, until one day he realized that he had been forgiven and he was able to move into the Practice of the Presence of God.  I also spent many years waiting for God's punishment, until a dear friend shared many scriptures and thoughts about the Grace of God.  I have also accepted that Grace and I am so astounded by it.

Not only was I born into sin, but after accepting Christ into my life I chose to go back into darkness.  I spent many years running from Christ, and in my rebellion I hurt many people, and I hurt Him.

God's Grace is sufficient, though.  His blood has already covered my sin.  In His Mercy I have been forgiven, and in His Grace I have been given many blessings.  These are blessings that I do not deserve, and I am constantly astounded at how much He loves Me!  There is nothing that I can do to earn that love, and there is nothing that I can do to lose that love.  Again, I am Astounded by His Grace!

II Peter 1:
⁵ But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, ⁶ to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, ⁷ to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. ⁸ For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.