My godson's mother has made it back from a year of deployment. I am so grateful and thankful to God that He has kept her, along with her battle-buddies throughout the entirety of a year. In dangers seen and unseen. In hostile territory. And when I finally got my opportunity to look at her - to behold her with my own eyes, all I could do was smile. She's a real soldier but you'd never know it to look at her. You see, despite the hardship of a year long deployment and being away from her infant son, she doesn't look any older, any harder or anything more or less than when she left. She looks the same and she behaves the same.

I was a little concerned about her transition back. You hear so many stories about how war changes the deployed. Yet, from what I see, she's okay. I thank God for that too.

Thinking about her deployment and the year that she missed in her child's life reminds me of Joel 2. I know that God will restore it back to her. I pray that He will continue to bless her and I pray that she will run mightily toward Him for the rest of her life - no distractions - no looking back.

Of course, I thank God too for the other men and women serving in harm's way. I still know a handful of troops but now most of my friends are getting out of the military and moving on with their lives in other areas. But for those still serving, especially those with the repeated and long deployments, know that although I'm not a battle-buddy, I'm still praying - I guess you could say that I'm a prayer-buddy. And I pray that God will render them home as complete as they left, if not more.