Navigating Post-Deployment: Questions for Your Ongoing Spiritual Journey

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time…” (Ephesians 5:15-16 [ESV])

I trust you have taken the time to work through the first Post-Deployment discussion guide that aims at helping your process what God has taught you along your deployment journey. In that article, you looked back. In this article, you look forward.

I encourage you to use this significant life disruption to think intentionally about the future.

I have adapted this list of questions from similar questions Brad Hambrick has in his Church Based Counseling Curricula (which are EXCELLENT- take a moment to peruse these resources at the link).

1. Am I willing to commit my life to whatever God asks of me? If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, ensure that you stop here and consider the gravity of this question. You are not ready to answer the rest of these questions until you get this one right deep down within your soul. Hambrick calls this the “Do not pass go” question in this list of questions.
2. What roles have I neglected that God has placed me in? This deployment season has required many God-given roles in your life to drastically alter (marriage, parenting, church participation, etc). Ensure these concessions were temporary and seek how you need to biblically restore them. Your spiritual mentor/pastor should be able to help you think through this one.
3. What are my spiritual gifts? Has this season highlighted or refined any of these in your life? How would your Deployment Support Team answer this question for you?
4. For what group of people (age, struggle, career, ethnicity, etc) am I burdened? In hindsight, I have answered this question over the years with “I am particularly burdened for military service members and their families- especially those who are in the throes of military deployments.” It has taken time for me to realize this unique burden, and it has been refined over the years. What are your initial thoughts for yourself? Write it down!
5. What am I passionate about? I love the biblical word “zeal”. God puts deep within us a zeal for various things- things we care deeply about and we can’t really explain why- it’s just in us. What is that for you?
6. With what talents or abilities has God blessed me? I’m sure some of these things were tested and strengthened during the deployment. What are they?
7. What are my unique life experiences? (Hint: This Deployment!) Somewhere along the way you figured out that I had a similar life experience as you- enduring a military deployment. That gave me a voice into your life that perhaps I wouldn’t have had otherwise. How might God use this experience in your life? What other significant life experiences do you have that God may use?
8. Where do my talents and passions match up with the needs in my church and community? This question begins to pivot outside of yourself to look at the opportunities God has placed around you. Again, your Deployment Support Team, specifically your spiritual mentor/pastor, should be able to help you think through this one.
9. How would God have me bring these things together to glorify Him? Take your time with this one and ensure you talk with your Deployment Support Team about your thoughts and ideas!

I’m sure you skimmed the list before committing to walk through each question as thoughtfully as you need to. That’s okay; commit now for a time when you will get alone with the Lord and wrestle through these questions.

Consider writing out your answers in a journal. You might even print this article so that you can fold it up in your Bible and plan a distraction-free time of prayer and contemplation through these questions.

Once you have considered these things in solitude with the Lord, get together with appropriate members of your Deployment Support Team and discuss it with them. Speaking these things out loud will benefit you and them. I’m confident they will have some valuable input into your life as well in those conversations.

I love you guys,

Brian O’Day

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