Women offering Bible studies for military spouses

Military wives Danielle Cowart and Leslie Scott are expanding the amount of support and resources they offer to military spouses at Cannon Air Force Base.

In February, the women facilitated a study and support group entitled "Loving Your Military Man" at Central Baptist Church in Clovis, focusing on the challenges that come with being a military wife and how using faith can strengthen a military marriage.

According to Scott and Cowart, with the success of the test group for the original study, they will offer two studies this fall.

"A big change this time is that we'll be having two studies running concurrently," Scott said.

The new study, Faith Deployed, is set up as a daily devotional with short excerpts written by military spouses.

"What they'll do is read the short excerpts during the week," Scott said. "Thursdays we'll expound on what they read and look at scripture verses for a more in depth look."

Subject areas for the group include, recognizing God's goodness, loneliness, being an ambassador for Christ and living the life that has been set for you, according to Scott.

"Its about letting military spouses know that God chose this life for them," Scott said. "He's going to sustain them and get them through."

The book used for the study was written by 14 different spouses from the armed forces including the Army, the Coast Guard, the Navy and the Air Force.

Loving Your Military Man will run again due to its popularity and the request of some women who were not able to finish the group.

Facilitators said the last group was successful with the 16 core members that were able to finish the study.

"We had so much great feedback from the last group," Cowart said. "We're just the facilitators, they got to put in their experiences."

She said that group members expressed the same problems in being in a military marriage, and were able to seek support and understanding from the other women there.

"A huge problem was that they just feel alone, and it's really hard for them," Cowart said. "You're not by yourself, you're not going crazy and this is a good positive way to flip our thinking. Even though it's hard, I still have these beautiful things I can focus on through my husband."

Those interested in participating have the option of choosing the study that appeals to them.

Cowart said there is no limit to how many women can join the group and the only cost is the price of the reading material.

Childcare and other resources are free and scholarships are offered through members of church for those who cannot afford the book.

Scott said she has also done a lot of research on finding online resources, both faith-based and non faith-based that are great resources for families and children.

Cowart has high hopes for the fall groups.

"I hope that we can build another good core group and keep going with one another and the Lord and our marriages, we're not only building incredible friendships, we're building a group to be there for one another," Cowart said. "I think that the most important thing at any base that you go to is a good solid group of friends that will be there for you in the middle of the night and understand. That's just something that's priceless."

• What: Loving Your Military Man (10-week group) and Faith Deployed (8-week group)

• When: Thursdays from 6 to 7:30 p.m. starting Sept. 6.

• Where: Central Baptist Church in Clovis in rooms 201 and 202

The group is open to all military spouses, even those who are not members of the church and free childcare is available.