Project Thankful - Day 5 (sorry it's late!)

We have been living in the greater Ft. Bragg area since mid-May, and to be honest with all of you, I DREADED moving here! I hadn't heard much positive about Ft. Bragg; in fact, ALL I had heard was pretty bad things. Ft. Bragg & Fayetteville (or "Fayettenam" as it has been nicknamed) in my mind was nasty, full of crime, strip clubs, and just plain ugly.

When we got here in mid-May and summer was already in full swing. Every day was oppressively hot & humid. Driving around we discovered that there are no straight streets in Fayetteville (or on Ft. Bragg), that the streets change names 3-4 times (on average), & Ft. Bragg itself is HUGE! (There are 2 commissaries (grocery stores), 2 PX's (like little mini-malls), and several gates through which you can enter & exit post.) There are no mountains to look at or get your bearings with & the only trees they really have here are these pitiful looking scraggly pines. My eyes were literally sore & tired within the first month of living here.

Our first impression of Ft. Bragg was a nasty, old, 1 bedroom hotel room in the "Leal House." We house-hunted for 10 days while living in the cramped, yucky Leal House and after the 10th day of not being able to find something in a safe neighborhood, or good school district I pretty much had a meltdown & told John I had "had it!" and then proceeded to inform him that I "hated it here!" The next day we ended up in an apartment off-post while waiting for housing on-post.

At that point, and for several months following, Fayetteville and Ft. Bragg were beyond redemption in my mind. My plan was to suck it up & drive on like a good Army wife & then hightail it home (to the PNW) as soon & as often as I could. The ironic thing about that whole stinky attitude of mine was that I just talked at our home church, in front of EVERYONE, about how the theme of my life this past year & for this move was “God doesn’t call me to be comfortable, rather He calls me to be obedient.” Riiiiight…

So now you're sitting here reading this & saying... "So where does the thankful part come in Bree?” Well, here it comes. :) Today I am grateful for service opportunities.

Since we have moved here I have had the privilege to begin to serve within the Ft. Bragg community. Serving within the Ft. Bragg bubble is slightly more ‘comfortable’ that stepping outside those post gates & so I’ve more willingly jumped at those opportunities. But remember what I said about the “theme” of my life lately?!?! Obedience, not comfort… So today I stepped outside the “comfortable” post gates and served with a non-profit organization called “Operation Blessing.” (Operation Blessing is a non-profit organization that serves people in need of food, clothing, financial assistance, and crisis pregnancy counseling in the greater Fayetteville area.) Turns out it wasn’t as uncomfortable as I had imagined…

The Fayetteville/Ft. Bragg area may never be my “favorite” place to live, and that’s OK. However, by stepping out in obedience & serving, I will (hopefully!) develop relationships with others who call this area “home.” And in the process of developing those relationships, I am certain that God will show me that the people & places Fayetteville/Ft. Bragg are just as much a part of His beloved creation as the people & places of my beloved home, the Pacific Northwest! And by viewing the people here as part of God’s beloved creation, they will become people with more than just needs that should be met. They will become more than just people in need. They will become people with the ability to teach me, change me, and hopefully help me become more Christ-like in the process of serving them.

"All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us." 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (The Message)