Last Updated on June 23, 2018 by OCF Communications

by Jacqui Kilpatrick

OCF members from the USNA's 2008 graduating class

 

I have my husband to thank for getting me involved with OCF. Or maybe it’s OCF I should thank for getting me involved with my husband!

During our junior year at the U.S. Naval Academy, my then-company mate and future husband invited me to a weekly OCF meeting, where I found several of my track teammates also attending. He continued inviting me, so we would meet up after dinner and walk together to the planetarium.

We officially started dating one month after attending an OCF retreat at White Sulphur Springs, married fifteen months later, and were then both assigned to the same duty station upon our commissioning. But because of our conflicting schedules, during the first two years of our marriage we were together less than six months. 

Everything changed when my husband was given the opportunity to pursue his dream job. But I had no idea what I was in for. He would come home day after day, bruised and beaten up, utterly exhausted from the harsh training necessary for his job. The truth of his extreme occupation began to slowly sink in with me. Not only were the dangers very real, things would only get tougher. 

The closer his graduation approached, the more I realized my need to prepare myself for what’s ahead. I felt God prompting me out of my fears to search through His Word for His promises of comfort and hope, such as Psalm 18:2: “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” 

We’ve been through a lot in our four short years of marriage, but it’s been exciting to look back and see how God has been a part of it all, especially in the last two years. God poured out countless blessings on my husband in the pursuit of his dreams, making it through the arduous training without any major injuries or setbacks. I couldn’t be prouder of him!

But with that joy comes the burden of my heart—what if I lose him? While I do trust his abilities and training, it’s much more important that I trust God through this—His plan for our lives. 

It doesn’t mean I won’t struggle with fear. A prayer poem I wrote from searching the Bible for God’s truth and promises helps me stay focused on Him concerning my husband. It’s only in Him that we truly have nothing to fear.

 

Dear God, I come to you this day,
To keep my husband safe I pray.
Please protect him day and night,
And bless him with the coming light.

Be his rock, and shield, and strength,
Deliver him at any length.
And when he’s tired, tried, and weary,
Help him see Your love so clearly.

Lord, I pray for comfort too,
For Your love and peace to shine right through
The dark times when I’m feeling lonely,
Missing my husband and wishing that only;

While he’s gone that time would fly,
And when he’s home that it’d creep by.
I look to You Lord, set me free,
From all my worries enslaving me.

For I know and trust that Your plan is best,
You’re my fortress, my stronghold, and in You I rest.
I thank You Lord for blessing me with such
A wonderful husband who loves me so much!

It’s for him I bring these requests before You,
And for him I pray, his strength be renewed.
Though my flesh and my heart may fail, I never
Forget You’re my God, my portion forever.

I’m assured that You listen, that You hear my voice
Because You are faithful, and in You I rejoice!
So in peace tonight, I will lay down and sleep,
Knowing and trusting my husband You’ll keep. 

Amen.

 

About Jacqui 

Jacqui, a 2008 USNA graduate, served as the CIC officer on the USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41) and USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44). Now separated from the Navy, she resides with her husband in California, where they are expecting their first child this month.