Mighty People Garden

Join Eva and Darrell this week as we cover Exodus Chapter 4. 

 

WHAT IF GOD CALLED YOU TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE? Would you answer or run? Join Eva Fulton and Darrell Hartley on The Revivalists as they explore Moses' fears, doubts, and faith in Exodus 4! We have some interesting conversations in this episode too! The moral injury, healing and recovery aspects go into facing your accusers (in Egypt) and knowing that their hearts are going to be hardened. But before you even get to your destination you come down ill and your son needs to be circumcised or else you will both die. The choice of delivering the message is not nearly so difficult when faced with potential death. 

Today may be halloween but how many of you do fall cleaning and consider what mask you are wearing in your every day world?

One of my earliest experiences in wearing a mask was actually a pageant crown when I was a little girl. In this episode I try on a variety of my masks and hats that I have collected over the years to share my point. 

Who are you at this moment - mom, wife, husband, father, son, daughter, friend, veteran working with an organization? Do you wear a mask or hat in that "role"? It is tough when we get out of the military and we try to be something for so many others but we forget to be who we need to be for ourselves. What do we do? We wear a mask. We pretend that everything is okay when really we may be jumping from mask to mask. All the while we are storing the trauma experienced from another time into our backyards, throwing more dirt on top of trauma. Or perhaps we are storing it in a file drawer to deal with another day. But that file drawer gets crammed full too. Eventually we do need to stop wearing the mask and be true to who we are. It is perfectly okay to ask for help. Just don't keep hiding behind the mask and pointing out the faults of everyone else (finding the speck in someone else's eye) and not look in the mirror and see that we have issues too. It takes work to clean out the backyard and file drawer. It can be difficult much like filing your claim at the VA. It is not just the filling out the paperwork but it can be the reliving the experience that is traumatic. There is something to this though because through that process, we are working on ourselves. We are dealing with that trauma that we have tried to avoid for so long. This in and of itself can be painful. So be true to yourself and understand that wearing a mask constantly can be exhausting so let's stop wearing the mask and start cleaning up the cobwebs and stored up junk so we can thrive and grow! 

This week we discuss Moses as he has his first encounter with God and the burning bush. We had a lively conversation about what Moses' response was and what would that look like if it were us today? If it were either of us, someone would wonder what drugs we were on or wine we drank! How would we explain a burning bush? But his approach to this conversation with God was more childlike than not. Remember he is in the conversion process of no longer being an Egyptian and becoming an Israelite.

His thought process is one of understanding that his confidence in what to say is not the same as it would have been as an Egyptian who practiced having many gods. He practices this conversation with reverence because God informed him that this was holy ground. He removed his shoes and framed his thinking likewise. This helped him frame things that he needs to have a different type of understanding in explaining who God is. "I am who I am". A funny thought comes to mind that God proposes a type of "Jedi" mind trick that will change the mind of Pharaoh to release the Hebrews on their 3-day journey. 

The moral injury side of things is understanding that Moses is moving into moral healing early in this story. He has been traumatized by his upbringing that he was not who he thought he was (Egyptian v. Hebrew). His level of understanding has caused some confusion and he is having to sort through his thought processing and the choices he makes are now coming from a different perspective. His life is on a new path that is unfamiliar to him. 

Today I am in rare form coming in HOT. It's my 40th high school reunion tonight and it has me reminiscing and how we are leaving our legacies. While I have some memory talk times, I spoke the truth about the legacies that our Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs) are leaving or well, to be honest, not leaving. It is high time for a wake up call for our VSOs who are not getting along at the same table or in the same room. So, I have a few things to say about the whole topic and hopefully, we start seeing some changes. Because who are the real casualties in all of this mess? The veterans along side us are suffering. The veterans who are homeless, hungry, or committing suicide. Change in these numbers cannot happen until we start making real changes in the culture of veterans and our service organizations. I may have a voice here on Military Broadcast Radio and by golly I am using my voice. It is time we start making a difference. We are either part of the problem or we are part of the solution. 

Join Darrell and Eva this week as we discuss Exodus Chapter 2. Abraham, meaning well to protect the Hebrews, kills an Egyptian. Thinking that he was alone and not seen, two Hebrews were fighting. Abraham broke them up and they accused Abraham of who did he think he was? Abraham asked that since they were both Hebrews why were they fighting each other? Why can't we all get along? 

Our discussion evolved into our discussion about veterans. Why is it that we cannot get along with each other? We had quite the engaging conversation. 

Join me this week as I discuss some fall thoughts and today is Mental Health Awareness Day. For us veterans, mental health day is every day! We can have fear, respond with faint, fawn or frozen, but we also have the option to fight for our mental health. Not fight with our fists but rather fight to overcome our challenges. My first response in my being locked out of my truck at dipping temps in Wyoming were to use the skills I learned in the military but prior to implementing any of those, I prayed. I put God first in my path to overcome instead of asking for prayers last. I put Him in my path to help me fight in the situation instead of my becoming a victim in my situation. It is something that we have to relearn as veterans. 

I also brought up the topic of the upcoming Hassan execution. I cannot say what is right for you on whether you watch it or not. I do recommend that you put God in in play to help you decide whether you will be traumatized by the experience and become morally injured or whether you may find yourself with some moral healing and recovery. That is something I recommend that you pray to God about on whether it will help or harm you. Only you will know what is right for you. Otherwise, all I know is that whatever he has done along with many others in the world who have caused harm, God will deal with them anyway. But if you are considering watching the execution in December, pray before you do - or don't. 

This week I share my first hunting experience ever! I was blessed with an amazing opportunity in my #livinglist journey in life to hunt with an organization that I support and am a staff member (aka volunteer) to build a women veterans program. I took my military experience meets great outdoors and hiking skills to the next level with hunting! 

But getting there proved to be much more challenging than I expected and boy howdy did my military skills come into play. There is the part about thinking through what we do when unexpected challenges occur like they did in my precursor trip before I even got to Gillette, WY to meet the guys with Brave Souls United. 

#hunting  #veteranskills #levelup #hiking #moralhealing #moralinjury #moralrecovery #trauma

Join us this week as we embark on our first episode of Exodus! 

What started out many years ago under Joseph where his family came to Egypt and living in the best of conditions, have now resulted in a large population that Pharaoh fears. He fears that they will raise up and war will break out. He put them all into slavery and appointed slave masters to rule them. As a result, he orders the midwives to terminate all male children as they are born. The midwives do not do as they are told and instead lie to Pharaoh that the Israelite women are too robust during childbirth and they cannot prevent the males from being born. Pharaoh sees more males and again gives the order, kill all male boys and let the girls live. He ordered them to put them in the Nile. 

There is significant moral injury and disagreement in this first chapter of Exodus. Consider that Pharaoh's order to kill the boys is selective postmortem abortion (in today's terms). But this is a major form of population control to prevent the males from raising an army within the borders. 

From the moral healing and recovery side, consider this. These two midwives who dared to disobey Pharaoh understood that obeying God's higher orders gave them freedom. The midwives feared not. The problem was that the Israelites (Joseph's decedents) became too complacent, they were too comfortable in their surroundings to consider that perhaps they should take their own initiative and return to Canaan on their own.