November 12, 2024 • 39 mins
We pray that every battle in your spiritual, personal, and physical life is won, as we follow Christ, who is our Commanding Officer in this field called LIFE. Whether you are here for spiritual encouragement, information on veteran benefits, PTSD, suicide prevention, or want to know the latest military news, we are here to serve you. Website: VeteransInChrist.net Email: VeteransInChrist@Mail.com Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/VeteransinChrist/
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to all who have served, are serving, and will
serve in the Armed Services.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
To the Veterans in Christ podcast with your host, doctor
and Navy veteran k l Rich, we pray that every
battle in.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Your spiritual, personal and physical life is one as we
follow Christ, who is our commanding officer in this field
called life.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Whether you are here.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
For spiritual encouragement, information on veteran benefits of PTSD suicide prevention,
or want to know the latest military news, we are
here to serve you.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Now Here is your host, doctor k l Rich.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Hi, and thanks for tuning in today. This is Veterans
in Christ and I am your host, doctor and Navy
veteran ko Rich. Thanks for tuning in today and we,
as always are here to bring you a word that
you may not have heard as it relates to your
(01:00):
life as a veteran, as a Navy or Army, Air Force, Marine, Airspace,
National Guard, Coast Guard, as it relates to your life
in the military. You may be a family member of
someone that is in the military, and this podcast is
(01:24):
for you as well, because oftentimes, as those who are
serving in the military, rather as sure duty or not,
the families are also serving they're serving by having to
take her things while they're loved ones are away or
just that separation from that loved one. And so we
(01:46):
want to just thank you as well. And also our
first responders, those that are paramedics, those that are firefighters,
those that are our police officers, we want to thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
You know, yesterday was Veterans Day, and I pray that
you had a blessed one. I know, I did, I
really did. I started off, I did a video if
you're following me on Facebook, I did a video and
you know, for the veterans. And also yesterday I went
(02:26):
to Dunkin Donuts and got a free donut. Thank you
Dunkin Donuts. They were one of the many participating restaurants
that were celebrating and honoring our veterans, so you were
able to go and get a free donut. And then
later on I went to Little Caesars and I got
a They had a nice lunch combo. I forgot to
(02:48):
get the drink, but a lunch combo where you can
get this nice pizza. Could you either had the option
of pepperoni or a cheese pizza. And then it was
like four big square so there were lunch there regular
lunch combos and you can get it. You could get
a drink. Now I forgot to get the drink, but
because you had to go in the box and get
(03:08):
a soda out of there, and I forgot about that.
But anyway, the piece was nice. So I didn't eat
it yesterday. I just actually got it frozen and it's
in my freezer right now. I didn't go anywhere else
as far as you know, taking advantage of some of
the other restaurant deals. Some of them you had to
dine in, and I wasn't gonna dine in yesterday. But anyway,
(03:31):
there were a lot of different deals for those of
you who went to Golden Kerral. And then it was
some other place that was offering free deals, I mean
free food. The buffeto. Well, I forgot what restaurant that was,
but they were offering for veterans from eleven to two
o'clock or three something like that, and it was totally
(03:52):
the meal was totally free and everything. And now I
know Golden Corral every year they had a military night
and they I believe all of them do that if
I'm right, But from five too, I guess closed they
it was just just for military, so active duty veterans
(04:13):
and their I guess their loved ones or whatever, and
they were able to go and enjoy a free buffet,
you know. So I think the only thing you do
is pay for your drink if you get a drink
or whatever. So there were a lot of a lot
of different deals that they normally do every year, and
this year was one of them. So I pray that
(04:33):
you really enjoyed it. But today today, before we get started,
I want to just open up with a word of prayer.
And as always, you always hear me say this, and
you always will that prayer is our best weapon against
(04:53):
the enemy. And we always want to honor God by
being in communication with him. He is our captain, he
is our commanding officer. And you may not be in uniform,
but we're always to have on the whole armor of Christ.
(05:14):
Come on now, and in Ephesian six, we're to have
on our head gear and our sword and our shield
of faith, and our our breastplate of righteousness, and our
buckle our bull of truth in our foot gear. And
we're to be properly armed. And so even though we
(05:36):
may not have our earthly uniform on our military uniform.
In the natural, we're to be always geared up in
the spirit. Amen. And we're in God's army. And so
you may think, well, what do I do now I'm
out the military, and you may be getting ready to
get out. And as you are transitioning out of the military,
(06:01):
guess what. Make sure that you stay geared up, guarded
up in the Lord's army, because at the end of
the day, after we have served in the military, we
want to make sure that we continue to serve Christ. Amen.
So let's open up this morning with a word of prayer.
(06:25):
Dear helping Father God. I just thank you God for
allowing us to come before your presence this morning. Lord.
We thank you Lord for all that you have been
to us. Thank you for leading us, guiding us, protecting us,
loving us, caring for us, being gracious to us, being
merciful to us. Lord. We just thank you Lord for
(06:45):
all that you are to us. Lord. We ask Lord
that you forgive us for all our sins. We ask
that you would cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Lord, clean
our hearts, clean our minds, our thoughts, our words, our actions, deeds,
everything about us Lord that's not like you. Lord. We
ask Lord that you would be with each and every
(07:07):
veteran right now. In the name of Jesus. We speak
against PTSD. We speak against depression. We speak against anxiety
and weary and panic attacks. We speak against loneliness. Lord,
we speak against all those things that come against us.
Lord with the enemy. Lord. Now, we ask Lord that
(07:27):
you will be with each and every veteran right now.
In the name of Jesus. We pray Lord that you
would be with those that are on active duty right now. Lord,
those that are serving domestically and abroad, Lord, we ask
Lord that you would be with them. Guide them, Lord,
deliver them from their enemies. Lord, protect them, Protect them
(07:50):
right now in the name of Jesus. Lord, we ask
Lord that those that are serving you right now, that
they will be a light the darkness. Lord, and wherever
their serving. Lord, we ask that you would help them
to be a role model and an example for you, Lord,
so that others will want to know you as well. Lord.
(08:13):
We pray even for our enemies right now, Lord, domestically
and abroad, we ask Lord that they will turn their
hearts to you. Those who do not have hearts for you, Lord,
we ask Lord that as a nation, we would do
right by you and others, Lord, and that we would
not oppress any one, Lord, but we would help to
(08:36):
lift them up out of their situations. Right now, and
we show your love Lord that you have for us
to others and other nations. Lord, we just thank you,
Lord for everything you've done for us. Lord. We ask
Lord that you would deliver, heal and set free. In
the name of Jesus, Lord, we just thank you for
(08:59):
hearing our prayers today. And Lord, we ask that you
will be with every first responder, everyone that goes into action. Lord,
when others are leaving. Lord, we ask that those who
are first on the scenes, Lord, that you will protect them. Lord.
We ask Lord that every branch of the military, Lord,
that you would be with each and every branch. Lord,
(09:19):
and they're leaders. Right now. In the name of Jesus, Lord,
we just thank you for hearing our prayers today. Lord,
we ask that the chaplains that are serving, we ask
Lord that they will be able to minister truth to
those who are in the service. Lord. We thank you, Lord,
and we honor you today and we praise your name.
(09:42):
Jesus' name is Shuhamashik, Thank God. Amen, Amen, Oh how
are you all doing today? I pray that your day
is blessed and that it continued news to be going well.
The remainder of this week, this month, this year that
(10:07):
is almost out well today, I want to, of course
go to the word of God. And we have a
lot of soldiers, a lot of veterans, even first responders
that are dealing with PTSD, dealing with various mental health issues.
(10:36):
And there are things in life that can cause you
to have trauma, a lot of different experiences, a lot
of things that you never would have expected to have
gone through. And so I want to talk today about David.
(10:57):
And as you may know, David was King Saul's successor
and God had chosen David. He had Samuel the prophet
to anoint David to be the next king of Israel
because the glory of the Lord had left Saul. Saul
(11:19):
was disobedient, Saul did not honor the Lord, and so
the spirit of the Lord left Saul. But God told
Samuel that he was going to have a man that
would be after his own heart, and that man that
was chosen at the time, young boy that was chosen
(11:42):
to be the next king was David. But David went
through some trials. David went through some trauma. David went
through various challenges before he ever got to sit on
the throne. And during this time of trials, one of
(12:04):
his trials was he had to run and flee from
his father in law, King Saul. King Saul had become
jealous of David, and Saul knew that God had chosen
him speaking of David to be the next king of Israel,
(12:26):
and Saul knew that he no longer had the glory
of God upon him. And so when you don't have
God in you, then guess what you have? An evil spirit,
which that's what replaced God's spirit, was an evil spirit
that came in and inhabited Saul. So Saul would throw
(12:49):
dablins dablins at David when David would be playing music
for him, and David had to run. David had to
flee for his life because us his own father in law,
wanted to see him dead. It wasn't that David had
done anything wrong, but Saul was jealous. The women when
(13:11):
after Saul, I mean after David killed Goliath, the women
they were singing because God had given David favor and
he would win battle after battle, and so the women
was singing, Saul has killed his thousands and David his
tens of thousands, and that rubbed Saul the wrong way.
(13:36):
How dare they celebrate David as killing his tens of
thousands compared to Saul his thousands. And so Saul had
this jealous spirit on the inside of him. And instead
of him embracing David, instead of him loving David, instead
(13:58):
of him taking David under his wing and showing him
the ropes as to how a king should operate, he
sought after David as if he was his mortal enemy.
And so David had to live with this, and David
had to be on the run. And so David wind
(14:20):
up with him and his men even joining the Philistines
at times too, because his own people were after him.
Saw and his army were after him. And I want
to take a moment to read First Samuel. Go to
(14:40):
First Samuel chapter thirty. First Samuel chapter thirty. Because the
Philistines were going to fight against Israel and the Philistines, however,
some of the Philistines did not trust David. The king
trusted him, but David they did not trust him because
David was a former officer of King Saul. So the
(15:05):
Philistine commanders refused to even deal with David, and they
told Akish, who was the king. They told him at
the time that they did not trust David and they
did not want David on the field with them. So
David and his men left were where they were, where
(15:31):
they had been with the Philistines. But something happened. And
you know, you often want those around you to love you,
to care for you, to be supportive of you. And
he had already dealt with a trial of King Saul
after him, But what about the ones who are with
(15:54):
you that's supposed to have your back? What about when
they turned on you? That be a traumatizing experience. And
so I want to read First Samuel chapter thirty, First
Samuel chapter thirty were David he destroys the Amelakites, And
this what happened when David and his men had left
(16:15):
and they were with the Philistines, but then they were
on their way back. But before they got back, this
is what happened. And in First Samuel chapter thirty, verse one,
it says David and his men reached Ziglag on the
third day. Now the Amelakites had raided the Negev and Ziglag.
(16:35):
They had attacked Ziglag and burned it and had taken
captive the women and everyone else in it, both old
and young. They killed none of them, but carried them
off as they went on their way. And so we
see here were David and his men. While they they
(17:00):
were with the Philistines. The Melanchites took advantage and took
their their wives, their sons, their daughters, and they took
them all captive. So in verse four, so David and
his men wept aloud until they had no strength left
to weep. David's two wives had been captured, a Hinoem
(17:23):
of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabel of Carmel.
David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of
stone in him. Each one was bitter in spirit because
of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in
the Lord, his God. And I want to just stop
(17:45):
right there. So you have where they their families had
been taken, and the men. You know, sometimes we want
when something happens, we want somebody to blame, you know,
we want we want when something happened. You it's easy
to hey, I need this escapegoat, and I need to
blame somebody for the situation that I'm in. And so
(18:10):
his men they blamed David. Can you imagine them saying,
if we had not been with you, then our wives
and our families, our children would not have been taken captive,
and they were all distress. And so David had the
stress of his own family being taken. He had the
stress the trauma of his his the men would happen
(18:33):
to the men their famili's being taken, and then on
top of that, they were wanting to stolen him. So
they felt themselves, hey, we're gonna get even with you,
because if it had not been for us being with you,
then we would not have lost all of our family members.
(18:55):
So David was dealing with King Saul, he was dealing
with the loss of his own family members being taken.
He was dealing with the loss of their family members
being taken because he was over them. And then he
was dealing with his own men turning against him. And
so you can only imagine all the stress, all the
(19:16):
pressure that was weighing in on David. And remember he
was human, he was just a regular man like us.
No I'm not man, but you know, you get what
I'm saying. He was just a regular person. But the
thing is, the Bible lets us know that David found
(19:37):
strength in the Lord, his God. In some versions it
says David encouraged himself. Let me just say this, sometimes
when you're going through situations, if you're depressed, if you're stressed,
if you might be going through something yourself and you
(20:03):
you may not be able to sometimes deal with it.
You know, it might be hard for you to deal with,
but you have to remember that you can encourage yourself
in the Lord. You can encourage yourself. You know, there
are times when you may not have anyone to talk to.
(20:24):
You may not have anyone that you can confide in,
You may not have someone that is able to you
may not have anyone else that really understands what you're
going through. But you can encourage yourself in the Lord.
And it's not always easy. It is not always easy
(20:47):
when everything's coming up against you. You may be depressed
right now, but the Bible lets us know that the
joy of the Lord is our strength. You may be
dealing with PTSD where things that happen to you are
coming back, flashbacks and all these things, but Remember, the
joy of the Lord is your strength. You have to
(21:10):
sometimes speak a word and to yourself, even when you
don't have anyone else around. And if you need counseling
and you need someone to talk to, then don't be
afraid to talk to someone. Sometimes I see things on
social media where people ignorantly say, oh, well, we don't
(21:32):
need to counsel people, we just need to cast them
demons out. Well, you know what, I believe in casting
demons out, But I also know that you also need
someone to talk to and there's nothing wrong with going
to counseling to talk to someone to help you on
(21:54):
that road to recovery. We're going to take a quick
break and we'll be back in just a moment.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
Time you have.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
To render.
Speaker 6 (22:24):
Yourself, so.
Speaker 5 (22:28):
Time you have to speak to me. During that, no man, you.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Think, speak the word.
Speaker 6 (22:45):
You will be here speaking on yourself, card yourself.
Speaker 5 (22:55):
Alone some time.
Speaker 6 (23:09):
She said you gotta put your sect. Yeah you do. See,
don't know how to.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Speak the onever you know spe over your tail.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Said, you said.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Tide shoes.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
Have to speak the word over You'll say, pressure all round?
Speaker 5 (24:03):
What guy? Present? Why begin me create?
Speaker 3 (24:14):
But remember you're.
Speaker 5 (24:16):
A way to fall. See yourself in card your.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
Said your.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Stuff should be.
Speaker 5 (24:37):
All minster to the plat.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
Do you know it's not.
Speaker 5 (25:43):
Any of the policy. Think the.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Way to.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Go and that is so important to do is encourage yourself.
(27:38):
And that is by Donald Lawrence and the Tri City Singers.
Encourage yourself. And and if you know that you are
prone to sometimes have depression, because that can happen to
any of us. You know, there's a time when you're
you might be have gone through something. You might be depressed,
you might be stressed, you might be worried, you might
(27:59):
have anxiety, a little panic or whatever. Talk to God.
Talk to God. Talk to God. Make him your go too,
because sometimes you may not be able to reach a person.
But you know what, God is always there twenty four
hours day, seven days a week, three hundred and sixty
five days a year, three hundred and sixty six on
leap here, Come on now. He never shuts down. He
(28:20):
doesn't have office hours. He is always available. And when
you talk to God, talk to yourself and say you
know what, self, No, I will not be defeated self.
God has my back. Self. Hey, I'm a soldier in
the Lord's army. Self, I'm gonna stand up, square my
(28:42):
shoulders back, lift my head up, and I am moving
forward all right in God. I want to talk a
little bit about PTSD, and I want to read this
article that was on the Associated Press about someone who's
(29:07):
given their story of having PTSD and some of the
symptoms of PTSD. So PTSD and this is from the
aa ARP. PTSD symptoms can start soon after a traumatic event,
and so a traumatic event can be various things. It's
not limited to one thing. The symptoms may come and
(29:31):
go throughout the years. And we're gonna list We're gonna
talk about four major things when it comes to PTSD.
So one of the things that happens with PTSD as
a person may relive the traumatic event, whatever event that was,
and it could be a traumatizing event of when you
(29:51):
were on the battlefield. Soldiers sometimes experience flashbacks from war.
Some soldiers can't stand the Fourth of July when the
firecrackers and all those sudden events take place. Firecrackers and
even thundering and lightning or whatever. If it's loud, then
(30:13):
it can take them back to when they were in
the field or whatever. So they may have nightmares, flashbacks,
noises or even smells that can trigger the memories of
whatever that traumatic event was. You may find that you
avoid things that remind you of that event, such as
crowds because they feel dangerous or dry, or you know,
(30:35):
sometimes when you are in the battlefield. You might've been
in Afghanistan or rack and you don't want to be.
You find yourself even once you back from there, that
you avoid crowded places because you're always expecting danger. And
even though I was never stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan,
I can only imagine having always look over your shoulder
(31:00):
because you don't know if someone's gonna come around that's strapped,
that's gonna try to do something to you. You don't
know if you're gonna drive and hit some kind of
mind field or or something. So you're always on the
alert and you're always looking over your shoulder expecting danger
to come out. So that that's another thing that may
(31:23):
You may have been in a car accident, and you
may have you may avoid driving in certain areas, or
even some people might avoid driving at all because it
was a traumatic experience for them. You may be having
more negative thoughts and feelings than before the event, so
you in ways you. It makes you feel numb. You
(31:47):
may be unable to talk about certain situations. You may
be having even feelings of guilt or shame because you
made it out and your comrade didn't. That's called survive
versus guilt. So this can also be part of having PTSD. Again,
you may be filling on the edge or alert. You
(32:09):
may have difficulties sleeping, You may be you may your
brain may be in the fog where you can't concentrate.
You may show signs of aggressive behavior of substance abuse. Again,
you may react badly or not. And I'm not gonna
say badly, but you may have a negative reaction when
(32:31):
it comes to serve noises or or or things of
that nature. And it's because it's taking you back to
that traumatic event. And if that's the case, because you're
you're you may have aggressive behavior where you may have
even they may have even put you out of the
military because of the aggressive behavior whatever. And if that happened,
(32:53):
you definitely need to talk to someone, and even if
that means trying to get benefits and counseling and things
of that nature. Your your relationships with your family may
have changed because of these events. So you definitely want
to try to talk some talk to someone, and the
(33:14):
VA does have support for veteran and military families and
you can go to counseling through the VA if you're
able to be in the VA system or if you're
not actually going to a v A. If you're not
enrolled in the VA system, you may want to talk
to someone that's your private doctor that can give you
(33:36):
a referral to a therapist or a psychologist or someone
in the mental health field that can offer you counseling.
You may also want to go for a pastoral counselor
if you want to have a more spiritual aspect of
getting help with that particular situation that you're dealing with
(33:57):
in regards to peace TSD. I want to read you
on an article that's on the Associated Press and it's
titled I Got My Life Back. Veterans with PTSD making
progress thanks to Service Dog program and it says this
is from Kansas City. After working at a crowded and
(34:20):
dangerous internment camp in Iraq, Air Force staff Sergeant Heather
O'Brien brought home with her anxiety and post traumatic stress
disorder a bouncy labradoodle and a Kansas City area program
helped her get back on her feet. Dogs for Valor,
(34:41):
operated through the OLAF, Kansas based organization called the Battle Within,
helps retire veterans and first responders work with their service
dogs that help manage depression, anxiety, and other challenges. Quote.
A lot of times the veteran with severe ptas DSD
is homebound, says Sandra Cinderdecker, program manager for Dogs for Valor.
(35:07):
They're isolated, they're very nervous, they won't make eye contact,
and some won't leave the house at all. The program
involves both group and one on one training. The goal
is to get the veteran and dog comfortable with each
other and understanding each other. The group takes outings to
help the veterans regain their footing and public places like airports.
(35:32):
Program leaders often also provide mental health therapy at no costs.
The veterans and dogs graduate in six to nine months,
but the group gatherings continue. O'Brien, who is party, recalled
that the count where she worked in Iraq sometimes had
over twenty thousand detainees. Violence and rioting were common and
(35:56):
it left her with severe anxiety. When I got out
the military, I just assume you're supposed to be on
edge all the time as a veteran, O'Brien said. O'Brien's
mother spotted the frisky lap poodle mix on Facebook and
convinced her daughter to adopt the dogs, she named Albus.
(36:17):
Months later, O'Brien learned about Dogs for Valor and the
pair joined the program in October of twenty twenty three.
Now O'Brien said she can get back out in the public.
She even went on vacation to Bronson, Missouri. Things that
I never would have done are thought I would do
really probably ever again. And I'm gonna just stop right there.
(36:41):
And this is a program that has helped many veterans.
It's called Dogs for Valor. So they pair you up
with a type of help animal emotional support animal were
as service animals may help those that may be blind
or have certain illnesses the where they can detect if
(37:03):
some kind of illness is about to have an effect
or something of that nature such as seizures or whatever. Well,
these emotional support animals offer support emotionally for people that
are dealing with certain things, such as the PTSD that
veterans sometimes experience when coming out of the military. Again,
(37:30):
if you or someone you know is experiencing these things
and they want someone to talk to, have them call
the one eight hundred and eighty two seven one thousand number.
That's the VA national hotline. They normally ask you do
you have any suicide of thoughts? And if you do,
then talk to someone, And even if you're not contemplating suicide,
(37:51):
help them connect you to someone that can that's a counselor,
and they can direct you to a counselor that's in
your local area that you can talk to at the VA.
All right, well, you know what, I pray that you
(38:11):
all be blessed because God is the one that we
can always talk to. And even though there's nothing wrong
with talking to counselors and therapists, and God gives us
these people who were able to counsel you and help
you along your road to recovery and whatever things you
(38:32):
may be dealing with. Our first go to is always God.
He loves you, he cares for you, and He died
for you. And just as you gave service to your country,
Jesus even more so gave his life for us. All right, Well,
(38:57):
we're about it here today. I am KR Rich Until next.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Time, Thanks for tuning in to Veterans in Christ. We
pray that you found A's.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Podcast informative and we look forward to being with you
again during the next podcast.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
May the Lord bless him, keep you going out and
coming in.
Welcome to all who have served, are serving, and will
serve in the Armed Services.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
To the Veterans in Christ podcast with your host, doctor
and Navy veteran k l Rich, we pray that every
battle in.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Your spiritual, personal and physical life is one as we
follow Christ, who is our commanding officer in this field
called life.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Whether you are here.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
For spiritual encouragement, information on veteran benefits of PTSD suicide prevention,
or want to know the latest military news, we are
here to serve you.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Now Here is your host, doctor k l Rich.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Hi, and thanks for tuning in today. This is Veterans
in Christ and I am your host, doctor and Navy
veteran ko Rich. Thanks for tuning in today and we,
as always are here to bring you a word that
you may not have heard as it relates to your
(01:00):
life as a veteran, as a Navy or Army, Air Force, Marine, Airspace,
National Guard, Coast Guard, as it relates to your life
in the military. You may be a family member of
someone that is in the military, and this podcast is
(01:24):
for you as well, because oftentimes, as those who are
serving in the military, rather as sure duty or not,
the families are also serving they're serving by having to
take her things while they're loved ones are away or
just that separation from that loved one. And so we
(01:46):
want to just thank you as well. And also our
first responders, those that are paramedics, those that are firefighters,
those that are our police officers, we want to thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
You know, yesterday was Veterans Day, and I pray that
you had a blessed one. I know, I did, I
really did. I started off, I did a video if
you're following me on Facebook, I did a video and
you know, for the veterans. And also yesterday I went
(02:26):
to Dunkin Donuts and got a free donut. Thank you
Dunkin Donuts. They were one of the many participating restaurants
that were celebrating and honoring our veterans, so you were
able to go and get a free donut. And then
later on I went to Little Caesars and I got
a They had a nice lunch combo. I forgot to
(02:48):
get the drink, but a lunch combo where you can
get this nice pizza. Could you either had the option
of pepperoni or a cheese pizza. And then it was
like four big square so there were lunch there regular
lunch combos and you can get it. You could get
a drink. Now I forgot to get the drink, but
because you had to go in the box and get
(03:08):
a soda out of there, and I forgot about that.
But anyway, the piece was nice. So I didn't eat
it yesterday. I just actually got it frozen and it's
in my freezer right now. I didn't go anywhere else
as far as you know, taking advantage of some of
the other restaurant deals. Some of them you had to
dine in, and I wasn't gonna dine in yesterday. But anyway,
(03:31):
there were a lot of different deals for those of
you who went to Golden Kerral. And then it was
some other place that was offering free deals, I mean
free food. The buffeto. Well, I forgot what restaurant that was,
but they were offering for veterans from eleven to two
o'clock or three something like that, and it was totally
(03:52):
the meal was totally free and everything. And now I
know Golden Corral every year they had a military night
and they I believe all of them do that if
I'm right, But from five too, I guess closed they
it was just just for military, so active duty veterans
(04:13):
and their I guess their loved ones or whatever, and
they were able to go and enjoy a free buffet,
you know. So I think the only thing you do
is pay for your drink if you get a drink
or whatever. So there were a lot of a lot
of different deals that they normally do every year, and
this year was one of them. So I pray that
(04:33):
you really enjoyed it. But today today, before we get started,
I want to just open up with a word of prayer.
And as always, you always hear me say this, and
you always will that prayer is our best weapon against
(04:53):
the enemy. And we always want to honor God by
being in communication with him. He is our captain, he
is our commanding officer. And you may not be in uniform,
but we're always to have on the whole armor of Christ.
(05:14):
Come on now, and in Ephesian six, we're to have
on our head gear and our sword and our shield
of faith, and our our breastplate of righteousness, and our
buckle our bull of truth in our foot gear. And
we're to be properly armed. And so even though we
(05:36):
may not have our earthly uniform on our military uniform.
In the natural, we're to be always geared up in
the spirit. Amen. And we're in God's army. And so
you may think, well, what do I do now I'm
out the military, and you may be getting ready to
get out. And as you are transitioning out of the military,
(06:01):
guess what. Make sure that you stay geared up, guarded
up in the Lord's army, because at the end of
the day, after we have served in the military, we
want to make sure that we continue to serve Christ. Amen.
So let's open up this morning with a word of prayer.
(06:25):
Dear helping Father God. I just thank you God for
allowing us to come before your presence this morning. Lord.
We thank you Lord for all that you have been
to us. Thank you for leading us, guiding us, protecting us,
loving us, caring for us, being gracious to us, being
merciful to us. Lord. We just thank you Lord for
(06:45):
all that you are to us. Lord. We ask Lord
that you forgive us for all our sins. We ask
that you would cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Lord, clean
our hearts, clean our minds, our thoughts, our words, our actions, deeds,
everything about us Lord that's not like you. Lord. We
ask Lord that you would be with each and every
(07:07):
veteran right now. In the name of Jesus. We speak
against PTSD. We speak against depression. We speak against anxiety
and weary and panic attacks. We speak against loneliness. Lord,
we speak against all those things that come against us.
Lord with the enemy. Lord. Now, we ask Lord that
(07:27):
you will be with each and every veteran right now.
In the name of Jesus. We pray Lord that you
would be with those that are on active duty right now. Lord,
those that are serving domestically and abroad, Lord, we ask
Lord that you would be with them. Guide them, Lord,
deliver them from their enemies. Lord, protect them, Protect them
(07:50):
right now in the name of Jesus. Lord, we ask
Lord that those that are serving you right now, that
they will be a light the darkness. Lord, and wherever
their serving. Lord, we ask that you would help them
to be a role model and an example for you, Lord,
so that others will want to know you as well. Lord.
(08:13):
We pray even for our enemies right now, Lord, domestically
and abroad, we ask Lord that they will turn their
hearts to you. Those who do not have hearts for you, Lord,
we ask Lord that as a nation, we would do
right by you and others, Lord, and that we would
not oppress any one, Lord, but we would help to
(08:36):
lift them up out of their situations. Right now, and
we show your love Lord that you have for us
to others and other nations. Lord, we just thank you,
Lord for everything you've done for us. Lord. We ask
Lord that you would deliver, heal and set free. In
the name of Jesus, Lord, we just thank you for
(08:59):
hearing our prayers today. And Lord, we ask that you
will be with every first responder, everyone that goes into action. Lord,
when others are leaving. Lord, we ask that those who
are first on the scenes, Lord, that you will protect them. Lord.
We ask Lord that every branch of the military, Lord,
that you would be with each and every branch. Lord,
(09:19):
and they're leaders. Right now. In the name of Jesus, Lord,
we just thank you for hearing our prayers today. Lord,
we ask that the chaplains that are serving, we ask
Lord that they will be able to minister truth to
those who are in the service. Lord. We thank you, Lord,
and we honor you today and we praise your name.
(09:42):
Jesus' name is Shuhamashik, Thank God. Amen, Amen, Oh how
are you all doing today? I pray that your day
is blessed and that it continued news to be going well.
The remainder of this week, this month, this year that
(10:07):
is almost out well today, I want to, of course
go to the word of God. And we have a
lot of soldiers, a lot of veterans, even first responders
that are dealing with PTSD, dealing with various mental health issues.
(10:36):
And there are things in life that can cause you
to have trauma, a lot of different experiences, a lot
of things that you never would have expected to have
gone through. And so I want to talk today about David.
(10:57):
And as you may know, David was King Saul's successor
and God had chosen David. He had Samuel the prophet
to anoint David to be the next king of Israel
because the glory of the Lord had left Saul. Saul
(11:19):
was disobedient, Saul did not honor the Lord, and so
the spirit of the Lord left Saul. But God told
Samuel that he was going to have a man that
would be after his own heart, and that man that
was chosen at the time, young boy that was chosen
(11:42):
to be the next king was David. But David went
through some trials. David went through some trauma. David went
through various challenges before he ever got to sit on
the throne. And during this time of trials, one of
(12:04):
his trials was he had to run and flee from
his father in law, King Saul. King Saul had become
jealous of David, and Saul knew that God had chosen
him speaking of David to be the next king of Israel,
(12:26):
and Saul knew that he no longer had the glory
of God upon him. And so when you don't have
God in you, then guess what you have? An evil spirit,
which that's what replaced God's spirit, was an evil spirit
that came in and inhabited Saul. So Saul would throw
(12:49):
dablins dablins at David when David would be playing music
for him, and David had to run. David had to
flee for his life because us his own father in law,
wanted to see him dead. It wasn't that David had
done anything wrong, but Saul was jealous. The women when
(13:11):
after Saul, I mean after David killed Goliath, the women
they were singing because God had given David favor and
he would win battle after battle, and so the women
was singing, Saul has killed his thousands and David his
tens of thousands, and that rubbed Saul the wrong way.
(13:36):
How dare they celebrate David as killing his tens of
thousands compared to Saul his thousands. And so Saul had
this jealous spirit on the inside of him. And instead
of him embracing David, instead of him loving David, instead
(13:58):
of him taking David under his wing and showing him
the ropes as to how a king should operate, he
sought after David as if he was his mortal enemy.
And so David had to live with this, and David
had to be on the run. And so David wind
(14:20):
up with him and his men even joining the Philistines
at times too, because his own people were after him.
Saw and his army were after him. And I want
to take a moment to read First Samuel. Go to
(14:40):
First Samuel chapter thirty. First Samuel chapter thirty. Because the
Philistines were going to fight against Israel and the Philistines, however,
some of the Philistines did not trust David. The king
trusted him, but David they did not trust him because
David was a former officer of King Saul. So the
(15:05):
Philistine commanders refused to even deal with David, and they
told Akish, who was the king. They told him at
the time that they did not trust David and they
did not want David on the field with them. So
David and his men left were where they were, where
(15:31):
they had been with the Philistines. But something happened. And
you know, you often want those around you to love you,
to care for you, to be supportive of you. And
he had already dealt with a trial of King Saul
after him, But what about the ones who are with
(15:54):
you that's supposed to have your back? What about when
they turned on you? That be a traumatizing experience. And
so I want to read First Samuel chapter thirty, First
Samuel chapter thirty were David he destroys the Amelakites, And
this what happened when David and his men had left
(16:15):
and they were with the Philistines, but then they were
on their way back. But before they got back, this
is what happened. And in First Samuel chapter thirty, verse one,
it says David and his men reached Ziglag on the
third day. Now the Amelakites had raided the Negev and Ziglag.
(16:35):
They had attacked Ziglag and burned it and had taken
captive the women and everyone else in it, both old
and young. They killed none of them, but carried them
off as they went on their way. And so we
see here were David and his men. While they they
(17:00):
were with the Philistines. The Melanchites took advantage and took
their their wives, their sons, their daughters, and they took
them all captive. So in verse four, so David and
his men wept aloud until they had no strength left
to weep. David's two wives had been captured, a Hinoem
(17:23):
of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabel of Carmel.
David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of
stone in him. Each one was bitter in spirit because
of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in
the Lord, his God. And I want to just stop
(17:45):
right there. So you have where they their families had
been taken, and the men. You know, sometimes we want
when something happens, we want somebody to blame, you know,
we want we want when something happened. You it's easy
to hey, I need this escapegoat, and I need to
blame somebody for the situation that I'm in. And so
(18:10):
his men they blamed David. Can you imagine them saying,
if we had not been with you, then our wives
and our families, our children would not have been taken captive,
and they were all distress. And so David had the
stress of his own family being taken. He had the
stress the trauma of his his the men would happen
(18:33):
to the men their famili's being taken, and then on
top of that, they were wanting to stolen him. So
they felt themselves, hey, we're gonna get even with you,
because if it had not been for us being with you,
then we would not have lost all of our family members.
(18:55):
So David was dealing with King Saul, he was dealing
with the loss of his own family members being taken.
He was dealing with the loss of their family members
being taken because he was over them. And then he
was dealing with his own men turning against him. And
so you can only imagine all the stress, all the
(19:16):
pressure that was weighing in on David. And remember he
was human, he was just a regular man like us.
No I'm not man, but you know, you get what
I'm saying. He was just a regular person. But the
thing is, the Bible lets us know that David found
(19:37):
strength in the Lord, his God. In some versions it
says David encouraged himself. Let me just say this, sometimes
when you're going through situations, if you're depressed, if you're stressed,
if you might be going through something yourself and you
(20:03):
you may not be able to sometimes deal with it.
You know, it might be hard for you to deal with,
but you have to remember that you can encourage yourself
in the Lord. You can encourage yourself. You know, there
are times when you may not have anyone to talk to.
(20:24):
You may not have anyone that you can confide in,
You may not have someone that is able to you
may not have anyone else that really understands what you're
going through. But you can encourage yourself in the Lord.
And it's not always easy. It is not always easy
(20:47):
when everything's coming up against you. You may be depressed
right now, but the Bible lets us know that the
joy of the Lord is our strength. You may be
dealing with PTSD where things that happen to you are
coming back, flashbacks and all these things, but Remember, the
joy of the Lord is your strength. You have to
(21:10):
sometimes speak a word and to yourself, even when you
don't have anyone else around. And if you need counseling
and you need someone to talk to, then don't be
afraid to talk to someone. Sometimes I see things on
social media where people ignorantly say, oh, well, we don't
(21:32):
need to counsel people, we just need to cast them
demons out. Well, you know what, I believe in casting
demons out, But I also know that you also need
someone to talk to and there's nothing wrong with going
to counseling to talk to someone to help you on
(21:54):
that road to recovery. We're going to take a quick
break and we'll be back in just a moment.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
Time you have.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
To render.
Speaker 6 (22:24):
Yourself, so.
Speaker 5 (22:28):
Time you have to speak to me. During that, no man, you.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Think, speak the word.
Speaker 6 (22:45):
You will be here speaking on yourself, card yourself.
Speaker 5 (22:55):
Alone some time.
Speaker 6 (23:09):
She said you gotta put your sect. Yeah you do. See,
don't know how to.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Speak the onever you know spe over your tail.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Said, you said.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Tide shoes.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
Have to speak the word over You'll say, pressure all round?
Speaker 5 (24:03):
What guy? Present? Why begin me create?
Speaker 3 (24:14):
But remember you're.
Speaker 5 (24:16):
A way to fall. See yourself in card your.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
Said your.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Stuff should be.
Speaker 5 (24:37):
All minster to the plat.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
Do you know it's not.
Speaker 5 (25:43):
Any of the policy. Think the.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Way to.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Go and that is so important to do is encourage yourself.
(27:38):
And that is by Donald Lawrence and the Tri City Singers.
Encourage yourself. And and if you know that you are
prone to sometimes have depression, because that can happen to
any of us. You know, there's a time when you're
you might be have gone through something. You might be depressed,
you might be stressed, you might be worried, you might
(27:59):
have anxiety, a little panic or whatever. Talk to God.
Talk to God. Talk to God. Make him your go too,
because sometimes you may not be able to reach a person.
But you know what, God is always there twenty four
hours day, seven days a week, three hundred and sixty
five days a year, three hundred and sixty six on
leap here, Come on now. He never shuts down. He
(28:20):
doesn't have office hours. He is always available. And when
you talk to God, talk to yourself and say you
know what, self, No, I will not be defeated self.
God has my back. Self. Hey, I'm a soldier in
the Lord's army. Self, I'm gonna stand up, square my
(28:42):
shoulders back, lift my head up, and I am moving
forward all right in God. I want to talk a
little bit about PTSD, and I want to read this
article that was on the Associated Press about someone who's
(29:07):
given their story of having PTSD and some of the
symptoms of PTSD. So PTSD and this is from the
aa ARP. PTSD symptoms can start soon after a traumatic event,
and so a traumatic event can be various things. It's
not limited to one thing. The symptoms may come and
(29:31):
go throughout the years. And we're gonna list We're gonna
talk about four major things when it comes to PTSD.
So one of the things that happens with PTSD as
a person may relive the traumatic event, whatever event that was,
and it could be a traumatizing event of when you
(29:51):
were on the battlefield. Soldiers sometimes experience flashbacks from war.
Some soldiers can't stand the Fourth of July when the
firecrackers and all those sudden events take place. Firecrackers and
even thundering and lightning or whatever. If it's loud, then
(30:13):
it can take them back to when they were in
the field or whatever. So they may have nightmares, flashbacks,
noises or even smells that can trigger the memories of
whatever that traumatic event was. You may find that you
avoid things that remind you of that event, such as
crowds because they feel dangerous or dry, or you know,
(30:35):
sometimes when you are in the battlefield. You might've been
in Afghanistan or rack and you don't want to be.
You find yourself even once you back from there, that
you avoid crowded places because you're always expecting danger. And
even though I was never stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan,
I can only imagine having always look over your shoulder
(31:00):
because you don't know if someone's gonna come around that's strapped,
that's gonna try to do something to you. You don't
know if you're gonna drive and hit some kind of
mind field or or something. So you're always on the
alert and you're always looking over your shoulder expecting danger
to come out. So that that's another thing that may
(31:23):
You may have been in a car accident, and you
may have you may avoid driving in certain areas, or
even some people might avoid driving at all because it
was a traumatic experience for them. You may be having
more negative thoughts and feelings than before the event, so
you in ways you. It makes you feel numb. You
(31:47):
may be unable to talk about certain situations. You may
be having even feelings of guilt or shame because you
made it out and your comrade didn't. That's called survive
versus guilt. So this can also be part of having PTSD. Again,
you may be filling on the edge or alert. You
(32:09):
may have difficulties sleeping, You may be you may your
brain may be in the fog where you can't concentrate.
You may show signs of aggressive behavior of substance abuse. Again,
you may react badly or not. And I'm not gonna
say badly, but you may have a negative reaction when
(32:31):
it comes to serve noises or or or things of
that nature. And it's because it's taking you back to
that traumatic event. And if that's the case, because you're
you're you may have aggressive behavior where you may have
even they may have even put you out of the
military because of the aggressive behavior whatever. And if that happened,
(32:53):
you definitely need to talk to someone, and even if
that means trying to get benefits and counseling and things
of that nature. Your your relationships with your family may
have changed because of these events. So you definitely want
to try to talk some talk to someone, and the
(33:14):
VA does have support for veteran and military families and
you can go to counseling through the VA if you're
able to be in the VA system or if you're
not actually going to a v A. If you're not
enrolled in the VA system, you may want to talk
to someone that's your private doctor that can give you
(33:36):
a referral to a therapist or a psychologist or someone
in the mental health field that can offer you counseling.
You may also want to go for a pastoral counselor
if you want to have a more spiritual aspect of
getting help with that particular situation that you're dealing with
(33:57):
in regards to peace TSD. I want to read you
on an article that's on the Associated Press and it's
titled I Got My Life Back. Veterans with PTSD making
progress thanks to Service Dog program and it says this
is from Kansas City. After working at a crowded and
(34:20):
dangerous internment camp in Iraq, Air Force staff Sergeant Heather
O'Brien brought home with her anxiety and post traumatic stress
disorder a bouncy labradoodle and a Kansas City area program
helped her get back on her feet. Dogs for Valor,
(34:41):
operated through the OLAF, Kansas based organization called the Battle Within,
helps retire veterans and first responders work with their service
dogs that help manage depression, anxiety, and other challenges. Quote.
A lot of times the veteran with severe ptas DSD
is homebound, says Sandra Cinderdecker, program manager for Dogs for Valor.
(35:07):
They're isolated, they're very nervous, they won't make eye contact,
and some won't leave the house at all. The program
involves both group and one on one training. The goal
is to get the veteran and dog comfortable with each
other and understanding each other. The group takes outings to
help the veterans regain their footing and public places like airports.
(35:32):
Program leaders often also provide mental health therapy at no costs.
The veterans and dogs graduate in six to nine months,
but the group gatherings continue. O'Brien, who is party, recalled
that the count where she worked in Iraq sometimes had
over twenty thousand detainees. Violence and rioting were common and
(35:56):
it left her with severe anxiety. When I got out
the military, I just assume you're supposed to be on
edge all the time as a veteran, O'Brien said. O'Brien's
mother spotted the frisky lap poodle mix on Facebook and
convinced her daughter to adopt the dogs, she named Albus.
(36:17):
Months later, O'Brien learned about Dogs for Valor and the
pair joined the program in October of twenty twenty three.
Now O'Brien said she can get back out in the public.
She even went on vacation to Bronson, Missouri. Things that
I never would have done are thought I would do
really probably ever again. And I'm gonna just stop right there.
(36:41):
And this is a program that has helped many veterans.
It's called Dogs for Valor. So they pair you up
with a type of help animal emotional support animal were
as service animals may help those that may be blind
or have certain illnesses the where they can detect if
(37:03):
some kind of illness is about to have an effect
or something of that nature such as seizures or whatever. Well,
these emotional support animals offer support emotionally for people that
are dealing with certain things, such as the PTSD that
veterans sometimes experience when coming out of the military. Again,
(37:30):
if you or someone you know is experiencing these things
and they want someone to talk to, have them call
the one eight hundred and eighty two seven one thousand number.
That's the VA national hotline. They normally ask you do
you have any suicide of thoughts? And if you do,
then talk to someone, And even if you're not contemplating suicide,
(37:51):
help them connect you to someone that can that's a counselor,
and they can direct you to a counselor that's in
your local area that you can talk to at the VA.
All right, well, you know what, I pray that you
(38:11):
all be blessed because God is the one that we
can always talk to. And even though there's nothing wrong
with talking to counselors and therapists, and God gives us
these people who were able to counsel you and help
you along your road to recovery and whatever things you
(38:32):
may be dealing with. Our first go to is always God.
He loves you, he cares for you, and He died
for you. And just as you gave service to your country,
Jesus even more so gave his life for us. All right, Well,
(38:57):
we're about it here today. I am KR Rich Until next.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Time, Thanks for tuning in to Veterans in Christ. We
pray that you found A's.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Podcast informative and we look forward to being with you
again during the next podcast.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
May the Lord bless him, keep you going out and
coming in.
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