Mighty People Garden

Join Eva and Darrell this week as we cover how events unfold as Jacob and his entire move to Egypt to avoid the famine. Aside from the genealogy side of this chapter, there was a profound sense of new blessings for a family facing the severe famine is has a chance to mitigate the terrible circumstances by moving away from everything they knew to Egypt. Pharaoh rolls out the best of everything for the entire family. This was a reunion of sort too between Joseph and his father, a bit of moral injury does present itself in this episode as Joseph recognizes how much he has missed his family. Much like our military who are gone on deployments, he knows that the time away, while was productive, hurt as well. He missed his family but happy to be reunited. 

Back in 2016 I began my journey in working in the community, finding veterans and helping them through the resources available. My service to the community started primarily on Facebook through a group North Texas Women Veterans. In 2018 I started the co-ed version as North Texas Veterans. But this weekend I headed to San Antonio for the VA SWN Regional Women Veterans Summit. While my intention was to recruit participants in my study (which I met), I was starkly reminded about the resources that we need to continue to share with our veteran communities. One woman I met stated to me that she didn't know what she didn't know until she attended the summit. For those of us who have been serving, we were able to catch up, give a hug, share that we are not alone in our respective journeys. The VA has a lot of information available and we need to keep sharing the great info out there. Help one....

 

#veteranjourney. #veteranpodcast #veteransummit. 

#veteranlife 

After completing the VA Golden Games, I have 3 major takeaways on performance and pain. The first is to manage your expectations of your practice leading up to the event and how you can mitigate some of your potential performance issues. This considers your mental expectations on how you expect to perform when the event happens. The second thing to consider is your preparation and practice. Consider your own self-discipline in preparation for the event and manage your expectations accordingly. Execution - while execution is something you are doing, be mindful that weather (heat) can affect your execution. I found out about creatine and using it before my events, especially powerlifting. That was a critical contribution to my success because I was diligent in making sure my body had the nutrients and electrolytes needed to execute in the heat. 

#veterans
#veteranshelpingveterans
#veteranpodcast
#VeteranHealing
#veteranhealth

This week I cover some of my experiences and what I am doing to train for the VA Golden Age Games 2026. This is not easy dealing with physical injuries which occurred or developed over our lifetime. What I have learned over time is that giving myself flexibility and grace is critical to not feeling defeat when I have a flare up like a back injury. 

We were supposed to talk about Genesis Chapter 47 but Eva and Darrell pivot to discuss Eva's last week adventure with the VA Golden Age Games in Tampa, Florida. The main takeaway from the week were more about ministering to other veterans and hearing their challenges during the week. Though there were some great personal victories during the week too. 

#veteranpodcast #veterans #Goldengames  #VAGoldengames #moralhealing #moraltrauma #moralrecovery #revivalists 

This week, Darrell and Eva pivot from our regularly scheduled discussion on Genesis, Chapter 46 (which we will resume next week) to address recent developments within the Southern Baptist Convention regarding its decision to divert from allowing female leaders and pastors.

Both of us have followed the conversation across social media, and what we’re witnessing is a wave of moral injury fallout — not only from the SBC’s announcement but also from the Department of Defense’s reported move to remove women from combat and senior leadership roles.

For many women, this news feels deeply troubling. We have watched decades of progress in the military, ministry, and across our culture, and now we find ourselves questioning what the future holds. The moral injury here is profound — it challenges our sense of equality and the belief that we have moved forward as women standing shoulder‑to‑shoulder with men.

We grew up watching films like G.I. Jane and series like MASH*, stories that reflected women stepping into hard, demanding roles and embracing the full weight of those responsibilities. Today, that progress feels uncertain, and the emotional and spiritual dissonance is difficult to reconcile.

Now what? How does that make us feel? 

How do you feel about these changes? Are there moral injury aspects that you are feeling right now? If so, please share. 

#moralinjury #moralhealing #moralrecovery #veterans #veteranhealing #veteranpodcast

This week Paula Kemp author and founder of Unjustly Served joins us to discuss military sexual trauma (MST). MST is on the forefront of military and veteran news because there are many aspects of MST which are still being discussed in the veteran claim arena, veteran and military culture and beyond. Paula, a MST victim herself, is turning her physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual pain into a mission that is focused on putting a policy and public administration focus on MST accountability, structured reform, and survivor-centered support. Through the Behavioral Accountability, Reporting & Exposure System -B.A.R.E.S. Act initiative and our A.C.C.E.S.S. program that will track the offenders of MST activities similar to sexual predators in the civilian world. 

In light of celebrating the historical signing of women veterans recognition on June 12, we also discussed some aspects of how this parallels with what is happening in the military and the reduction of women serving in combat roles. However, this also paralleled into recent changes in the news with the Southern Baptist Convention and removing women out of pastoral and leadership roles. 

This was quite the conversation, you won't want to miss this one. 

#veterans #veteranmoralinjury #veteranmoralhealing #veteranmoralrecovery #veteranMST 

This week Eva starts out solo until Darrell joins later in the show. In full transparency, I was not feeling well due to my chronic migraine headaches. Somehow, in prayer and pushing through, the headache gradually fades. This is military injury in action - that the Revivalists mission must continue no matter how we feel. 

Joseph and his story with his family is no different. As much as I wanted to cry in pain, Joseph finally is able to break through his own moral injury and announce who he is to his brothers - and cry. He offers words of comfort instead of belittling them for what they did to him. He shares that it was for God's good that these things happened. He cried so loud the Egyptians could hear and ran to Pharaoh's staff and told them. Knowing the dire situation of the ensuing famine, Joseph prepares to relocate his family to Egypt where they could live in comfort rather than destitute and hungry. Pharaoh ups the ante and sends carts as well as nourishment to get them to come to Egypt. Jacob at first is in disbelief but then relents and acknowledges the opportunity. 

In the moral injury healing and recovery realm of things, how many of us want to remain that ever vigilant victim rather than seeing the good that comes from our pain. If we instead use our empathetic hearts and find forgiveness and then that is when we start find healing in what could otherwise be a lifelong injury.

There are harms even in our own systems where we often find ourselves educating others that women served in the military. Eva shared her recent experience where she had to educate a medical provider about women in the military. We also covered a renewed issue  in the news today about the Southern Baptist Convention that led to a discussion about women serving in pastoral or leadership roles.