The struggles and triumphs of military marriages today on Building Relationships with Dr. Gary Chapman. You do have to take a backseat a lot of times as a military spouse. You're told where to go and when to go, and your heart has to be primed to follow, hopefully with loving service. That calling as a spouse, you're entering a mission field and as a service member. And I think that's an area that is ripe for believers and just a calling out of what that could bring to marriages, certainly in the military and many marriages that are second, third marriages as well.
Welcome to Building Relationships with Dr. Gary Chapman, author of the New York Times bestseller, "The 5 Love Languages" . Today, through multiple combat deployments, frequent soul parenting, post-traumatic stress and 12 moves, Ashley realized she needed a plan to survive her military marriage to her husband, Tim. And that plan is our featured resource today at buildingrelationships.us. It's titled Mission Ready Marriage, a Christian guide to discovering hope and purpose as a military wife.
Again, go to buildingrelationships.us. And with Memorial Day coming up this Monday, I think this is the perfect time to talk about military marriages and some of the struggles they face. Gary, through the years, you've spoken into the lives of those who serve our country, and it's not just the person in uniform that serves.
It's really the whole family, isn't it? Well, it is, Chris, no question about it, because every family member is impacted by military lifestyle, which is very different from the lifestyle that non-military people live. And as you know, I've been very, very interested and concerned with military couples. I wrote a special edition, you remember, of "The 5 Love Languages" for military couples trying to face some of those things. So I am really excited about our conversation today and excited about this book. I think it's going to be very helpful to our listeners. I do, too.
Let's meet our guests first. Ashley Ashcraft is a nationally recognized educator, military wife, Down syndrome advocate, and homeschool mom. She's also a contributing writer for Military Spouse magazine. Her husband, Tim Ashcraft, is a career Army aviation officer and recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions in Afghanistan.
As an AH-64 Apache helicopter pilot, he holds two masters, one in aerospace engineering, one in military studies, served as an assistant professor in the civil and mechanical engineering department at West Point. Tim and Ashley have been married for more than 15 years. They have four children, and our featured resource is the book Mission Ready Marriage.
You'll find out more at buildingrelationships.us. Well, Ashley and Tim, welcome to Building Relationships. Thank you, Dr. Chapman. It is a huge honor and blessing to be with you today. You have been a pivotal part of our marriage because "The 5 Love Languages" is something that we hold very dear to our marriage and constantly remind ourselves of how to love the other.
So thank you for your work and, as you mentioned, your specific book for those who are married in the military. Well, I'm excited about your book, having you and Tim on the program today. You know, we like to hear love stories on this program.
So, Ashley, start us off. How did you meet Tim, and how did you know that he was the one for you? We met in our freshman English class in high school, and we became dear friends. And we tried to date a few times, but more than that, we were friends for about eight years. And this was before the time of text messaging. So we constantly passed each other notes in between classes, and we would always address them from famous characters.
So, to Prince Charming from Cinderella. And that's how our love story started out. And then it was our senior year in college when I visited him up at West Point on a trip over Easter where I truly felt like I wanted to that I knew I wanted to dedicate the rest of my life to loving this man and calling him my husband.
Okay, Tim, it's your turn. What was it like for you? I'll never forget when Ashley walked into Mrs. Hughes freshman English class, and I was assuming we were dating all those eight years, but we became very good friends and even through long distance.
And that's what really cemented it. Of course, I fell more and more in love with her through the years, but what was incredible to me was when she decided to move to a small town in Alabama while I was finishing up flight school to get a place of her own. And I hadn't even proposed yet, and I thought, wow, I better get serious because she's all in, and I will never forget that commitment early on.
All right. Well, you know, all of us have a story, and it's amazing how God leads us together, some early in life, as with the two of you. Well, Ashley, did you know what you were signing up for when you married a military man?
I had absolutely no clue, which seems to be the consensus in our community. I had two family members who had served in the military before I was born, but it wasn't something that was discussed or talked about as I grew up. So other than knowing we would move frequently and there would be deployments, I had no understanding of what this life would actually entail as a military spouse. Most of us have no idea or little idea of what marriage is going to be like, even if we're not in the military. Amen. Well, Tim, did you have any idea of the adjustments and all that Ashley and later your family would have to make?
No idea. I really think there's a beautiful illustration in Ashley's book about a spouse's oath of office. In the military, you take an oath of office and any public service, and she has this beautiful illustration of how there should be almost at the altar, or when you join up, a spouse's oath of office, because they really take on not just your oath, but the whole family and providing for the family.
So I had no idea hardly what I was getting into, let alone Ashley. Ashley, what are some of the challenges, just in a general sense, that military families face that the general public doesn't understand? I think one of the most important things for the community to understand is that the military has the highest divorce rate of any profession on the planet.
So we are in desperate need of support in our marriages. Also, 25% of military families struggle with food insecurity. And this is because of the low wages that they earn early on, but also because of financial guidance that is really lacking in the military community. And lastly, the military spouse unemployment rate is five times the national average. So because we move so frequently, it's challenging to transfer our licenses and repeat tests and find jobs that fit our niche everywhere that we go.
So if there is not an unemployment rate, then oftentimes we are underemployed as well. I think you're right on those things, and I think very few civilians understand some of those things and perhaps would not even have thought about those things. Tim, as a person in the military, it must break your heart to see marriages around you doing what they're doing and those who are in the service. It really does, and it is a mission field for believers.
You cry out for those that are believers and struggling, but those that don't even have a faith. I so admire the Chaplain Corps and the work they do, but not just their work as a mission field. Ashley talks in her book how that calling as a spouse, you're entering a mission field and as a service member.
And I think that's an area that is ripe for believers and for just a calling out of what that could bring to marriages, certainly in the military, and many marriages that are second, third marriages as well. Well, Tim, if you were talking to a young man or a group of young men, or women for that matter, about joining the military, what would you say to them in their consideration of the process of going into the military? I would say that there is a jersey for you, and I'm stealing that from my boss who gave a beautiful speech on, if you want to be a veterinarian, an artist, an astronaut, a pilot, a tanker, there is a jersey for you. And a lot of people just don't know the careers that they can take on. There's incredible stories of people who have enlisted, who come from the most humble beginnings and go on to be general officers or to serve distinguished careers twice over in the military. And I would encourage them to really look into what they want to be as a professional, as a person, and how the military can complement that.
And when you couple those together, you have some of the most incredible experiences you couldn't even ever imagine, while also having a sense of service and a calling to something beyond yourself. Yeah. I think the plus side of military life is often not emphasized among civilians, but there are a lot of positive things there. I'm just thinking about children, for example, and what exposure they have to various places, living various places and all of that sort of thing.
Yeah. So I would certainly encourage young men who have any interest at all, or young women for that matter, if that's their interest, to seriously consider military service. So Ashley, you mentioned some of the difficulties military families go through. What was the most difficult for you and how did you cope with it? By far the most difficult thing that we've been through was Tim's first deployment. And true to military life, we missed our first wedding anniversary together. He deployed the month prior. And two months into his deployment, I got a phone call from him and I knew something was wrong right away and learned that earlier that morning he had been shot down and it was the night of power.
And extremists believe that on the night of power, if they kill the enemy, then they will be rewarded by Allah a thousand fold. And so just as him and his copilot were landing, they noticed that there were about 50 insurgents dressed in stolen U.S. military uniforms, breaching the wire. And so they lifted back up but weren't able to get to a high enough level for safety and their helicopter took 15 rounds.
And by the grace of God, they survived. But you don't come home from a deployment like that without trauma. Trauma changes the brain and neither of us were equipped for what reintegration would look like after he came home from that deployment.
I think there is a romanticized idea of what that's going to look like. But he lost close friends over there and he experienced traumatic events. And shortly after he returned home, within just weeks, we moved to a new town. That was a huge challenge in our marriage, figuring out how to love and serve each other well in the midst of trying to process everything that had just happened in the last year and being ill-equipped to do so. Tim, what was that like for you? Just a few words from when you went through that traumatic experience. The scenario that Ashley described, it was, one, an incredible affirmation of my faith. I had never felt that peace that surpasses all understanding more than I did in that moment when we were fairly convinced that was it, would be going down in hostile territory. And I just felt God's presence and by His grace. But coming home, despite the reintegration training that is given for the service member and the spouse and the family, there was an aspect of pride for me and maybe arrogance too of, oh no, I could go through that and I wouldn't bring any of that home.
But it really took Ashley sitting me down and saying, no, you're different and I love you and I just need you to acknowledge that. So it was almost that denial initially that had to be gracefully presented by my wife to overcome that pride and start working through it. I don't think those of us who have never been through that type of experience can imagine that. But the positive thing for Christians, which you've shared, is the presence of God in the midst of that trauma.
Wow. Well, Tim, it must have also been difficult for you to have to deploy again and again and leave your family or be the reason why they had to move again. What was that like for you? You know, I think it was a challenge I didn't think about when signing up for the military. And I don't know that at 17 years old I had the capacity to comprehend, one, starting a family in the military, two, having my wife move while deployed, and three, raising kids in that environment as well.
So I not necessarily expect a young teenager to think through that, but I would encourage anyone at any stage to get involved in their church, to get involved in a small group in their community, because we leaned so heavily on those around us and really lifted us up and, despite Ashley's strength, really held up our marriage in a figurative and literal way as well. You know, I remember once being at Fort Bragg and was speaking to spouses, and in Afghanistan they had a hookup where the spouses could actually hear me at the same time. And then afterwards, later, another time I was there, Carolyn and I were there when the troops were coming back, and we watched, you know, these spouses greeting them for the first time after they came back and all.
It brought tears to our eyes, just realizing, you know, what they had gone through. Ashley, talk to young women who are in love, and they think things will work out fine, and they're going to marry a military spouse, and they don't see that as a big deal. What would you say to them to perhaps help them prepare for this? I would say first that I understand you're so in love, and it's hard to see beyond that, but I think it's essential to prepare your heart for the mission work that you're about to do. So the Lord determines our boundaries, it says in Acts 17, 26, and another one of the positives about the military is that you get to travel all around the country or the world, and God is sending you out to do this mission work.
But we can't take that lightly, and we really have to prepare our hearts in prayer to not fall into a trap of bitterness and resentment, but to see this as the Lord's work and to ask for his guidance. I think it would be imperative for a young woman to ask for a mentor, maybe that's somebody in her church or at her fiance's local installation, but find someone who has walked this path before you and that loves Jesus more than anything, and have her hold your hand through this and help prepare you, because I think, as Tim has alluded to, community has been essential for us, and having those other Christ-like brothers and sisters come alongside us is really important to this process. I really like the emphasis you have in the book of this being a mission. As Christians, we're on mission, and I'm thinking in terms of missionaries that we send out to other countries, and churches will adopt missionaries, they will have people praying for them all the time, and really, it would be great if we could have that kind of program for any military couple that's in a Christian church, that they would have couples at home praying for them, like we pray for our missionaries.
I really like that emphasis, but of course you're emphasizing also not only people at home praying for you, but also involve yourself in chapels and churches wherever you go so that you're walking this journey with other individuals. Absolutely, and I appreciate you mentioning that, and I think if there are any church leaders that are listening to this, I would highly encourage them to pray about seeing those in their congregation that are in the military as their missionaries, and looking at how they could support them through prayer or even financially, as you mentioned. Tim, would it be fair to say you felt called to the military? Now, you went in very young, but did you have a sense that God was calling you into the military? So I had a romantic idea about the military. My grandfather was in World War II, commissioned into the horse cavalry of all things, and then they mechanized things and served in the war and came back, and it was a great example to me, but I hadn't really seriously considered it until I was looking at where to go to school. So West Point to me, after looking at all the academies, you get an Ivy League education, you can play army, you can commission into the army after that.
I had the first engineering school in America. It was just all of the things that I was attracted to, but I didn't understand the longer-term commitment beyond your initial obligation. And we were juniors in high school when 9-11 happened, so there was very much a sense of wanting to serve and re-energizing the entire base in America, patriotism, and really felt called to that. But even while I was in school there, we thought the war would be quickly over, much like the first Gulf War. So I think it was a little bit of both. I think that while I was in school, it affirmed my reason for going and wanting to go into the army, and out of the gate I think I was just a little too young to understand the long-term commitment.
Yeah. Ashley, do you think it's important that wives of military, I'm talking about Christians now, have that same sense of being called with that military person to this particular mission? I think definitely taking this commitment to God and asking Him to prepare their hearts and to lead them and to guide them. I don't think it's an accident when a woman falls in love with a military man. As you're speaking specifically to Christians, I would just ask or suggest that she really pray about this and search the Scriptures and see if she feels like she can support her husband's service. Because you do have to take a back seat a lot of times as a military spouse, and you don't often get a lot of choice.
You're told where to go and when to go, and your heart has to be primed to follow, hopefully with loving service. We hear a lot today, not only in the military, even outside the military, of loneliness. But I think being in the military for a spouse, and often when the husband or the other wife, only either one is deployed and the other is left at home, there has to be a sense of loneliness associated with all of this. Speak to that in terms of your own experience. I think that's one of the biggest hindrances that our military spouse community faces, is loneliness.
Coupled with that, anxiety and depression. We move so often, and depending on your personality style, it can be really hard to get out there and meet new people. It's not likely that people are just going to show up at your door and invite them into our lives. But that's one thing that I have learned is to be that person, even when we've moved after 12 times.
It gets a little bit exhausting to start relationships again, but you never know how long you're going to be there and the friends and neighbors around you essentially need to become your community for you to thrive. We've really learned to just show up at all the doors around us and jump into the churches and jump into serving and find out ways that we can connect on our installations has really been an imperative process. The one thing where I believe that God can use loneliness that we experience happened for us.
For example, when we were at Fort Rucker, Alabama, we went for a short course, so we weren't there long enough for me to teach, which was my profession at the time. I had to stay home and just felt very lonely, not having friends, not having community, not having family. Our church at that time had challenged us to read the Bible in 90 days, and without my having any work, I was able to accept that challenge. I spent those 90 days for the first time reading through the entire Bible. I didn't always understand what I was reading, but with the Holy Spirit's guidance, I was able to get through that. I think God really used that time to draw me intimately close to Him.
That's really where my relationship with Him caught fire. I think there is a benefit to the quiet spaces that are sometimes created for us as we move. But along with that, I was also involved with our church, so it's important to have that community as well.
Yeah. I think utilizing that time when you are alone more than at other times can be very, very profitable. This is The Building Relationships with Dr. Gary Chapman Podcast. For more simple ways to strengthen your relationships, go to fivelovelanguages.com. Our featured resource today is the book by Ashley Ashcraft titled Mission Ready Marriage, A Christian Guide to Discovering Hope and Purpose as a Military Wife.
Find out more at fivelovelanguages.com. I just want to say a word about Lieutenant Colonel Ashcraft, because I texted my brother, who is a West Point grad, and said, hey, I got another West Point grad coming on. And he sent me, you guys at West Point know each other, everything. He knows your shoe size.
He knows everything that you've done. And also, I was interested when you graduated high school in Arizona, you had Southern Arizona honors in football. You were a recipient of several awards. You excelled in fine arts. So not only can you get in a helicopter and go fly it over there. You can sing a song and dance across the stage. And now I understand why Ashley was drawn to you.
He was definitely the All-American. I'm sure my unit will have fun with that, sir. I will say I'm so grateful for the upbringing that I had. And serving on a worship arts team in a chapel in Afghanistan was one of the most special experiences I'll have. And doing an Easter sunrise service in a country that is so beautiful, yet has been war torn for so many years. It was something else.
And the bond that we have with those folks will never be broken. Keyboard and drums, Gary. So we can ask him to do just about anything. You know what?
He is he is a cheerleader for Ashley's book because he really believes in this. And one other question and then I'll get it back, give it back to you, Gary. And that is the Distinguished Flying Cross. Not everybody gets that nor the Bronze Star. So when I see this picture of you with all of these medals there, what goes through your mind, Tim, when you get to wear these things that have been given to you?
Well, thank you. It's very humbling. It is humbling to think about those who served before and will continue to. And I will say there's an immense sense of pride in each of those awards and ribbons.
Every one of them has a story. But something that in the military edition that Dr. Chapman talks about, there's an illustration of a couple where the husband says, I would give it all away because his marriage was falling apart. And I would say that none of that would ever have been possible without Ashley's support. And in that scenario that earned us the crew, the Distinguished Flying Cross, Ashley wanted to know every detail and wanted to support me through, you know, healing process and everything else experienced through deployment.
And I would say I would give it all away if I had to. Thankfully, as Dr. Chapman alludes to in his book, you can have a successful marriage and career as well. And through faith, I believe, is key. As an illustration, those medals are held on in the back by a little pin. You know, if there's anything that's held me through a military career, it's Ashley and her rock solid faith and foundation for our family.
And so that's, I guess, a bit of a metaphor, but that's what I think of. I think we ought to have a little song in celebration for you, Ashley, right now. Okay? Hit it, Tim.
One, two, three. All right. Well, let's change the subject a bit here. Ashley, you polled a lot of military wives and you saw a need in an area that you really hadn't planned to address in this book. Talk about that. Yes, I was very surprised.
I had outlined all the chapters in my book and thought I had every subject in there that needed to be addressed. But over and over, as I talked to military spouses, one of the primary concerns was their family of origin and their extended families, not understanding the depths of the sacrifice and really placing a lot of blame and shame on our families. For example, it's not easy for us to travel home for Christmas. One of the reasons, of course, is financial, you know, for my family to get across the country for Christmas last year.
If we would have gone, it would have cost us five thousand dollars. And that's very challenging. And but they also don't understand often that some of our husbands are on a deployment call where they have to be ready to go in two hours. And so we can't plan trips to go home often when our husbands are unable to travel. Just understanding, too, that sometimes most of the time our vacations are home to our family of origin and our extended families. But sometimes we need that time to our immediate family ourselves to create new memories and to recoup, because even if our spouse isn't deployed or out training in the field, which feels like most of the time, their hours are really insane.
And so we hardly have any time together as a family. And so it's also important for us to just have that time with our immediate family and for our extended families to understand that that's not anything against them. We just need to cultivate our family bond as well. And so there's a whole list of ways that we can help communicate with our families back home to help them understand ways that they can support us. And as Tim has mentioned, our families have we've been very blessed to our families have showed up every time that we have moved. They have helped watch our kids help load the truck, have helped pack the dishes.
They welcome us home and create beautiful environments for us to be home and create fun memories. And and they really do understand that when we can't come home, it's not personal. Yeah.
Yeah. You alluded to this, but talk about the financial struggles of military couples. Why do so many have difficulty in this area and what can be done to help? I think we could say that generally across the board, people are struggling, find out an education that unfortunately is being passed down in families or in school. But in the military specifically, it's a huge challenge.
And if you look at the statistics, it's near 80, 90 percent of us are in debt and at a very high number. And so thankfully, one of the things that our family has been blessed by is Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey. And they actually offer their Financial Peace University course for free for active duty members. And so that's Tim and I did that when we were engaged and we followed their program our entire marriage. And it has been a huge blessing to our family. Yeah.
Yeah. I hope that many military couples who don't know about that will search that out, because that's certainly good training. Well, let's talk about military kids. What have you learned about helping kids going through a lot of transitions in life? Our kids, when we moved to this house, had lived in as many houses as they were old. So our eight year old had just moved into her eighth house, our six year old moved into his sixth house, and our four year old at that time had moved into her fourth house. And so transition is all they know, saying goodbye to their friends, meeting new friends, leaving their homes, finding new homes.
And it's just been a challenge. So one of our kids I talk about in the book has been diagnosed with a transition disorder, and that is common in our community. A lot of it comes with anxiety and depression. But we also try and create a lot of fun with it, too. When we move, we try and find fun places along the route. When dad is deployed or in training, the little ones that still think it's fun to sleep in bed with mom, they can hop in bed and sleep with me.
Or we make silly dinners like waffles and pancakes that I wouldn't make for dinner when Tim is home. And so we've tried to create fun experiences amidst the challenges, but also I think the most imperative part for our military kids is to know that they, too, are on mission, that they are never too young to love others, to serve others, to share the gospel message. And that can be very practical things we try and get our kids involved in. For example, if we have a neighbor who is deployed, then our kids can help bring the trash up or they can help us babysit their kids so that the mom can get a break. Or when we have new neighbors move in, we can invite them over for s'mores in the backyard or bring some flowers and just real practical ways to teach our kids that the Lord has placed them at each military installation on purpose for them to serve and love. I think that whole theme of service, which is at the heart of what the Christian lifestyle is all about, if non-military couples can teach their children to thank military couples for what they're doing. I was just walking through an airport some time ago and there were about five, I think five or six military people there dressed in military garb. And this family was walking by and this young boy, I'm guessing he was six years old, he looked up to these military people and he said, thank you for protecting us. And I thought, man, those parents are doing a great job at that age that he has that concept, you know, that they're serving us.
So whether you're in the military or out of the military, if you're a Christian, service is the theme of our lifestyle. Tim and Ashley, with your fourth child, you got some surprising news. Tell us what happened. When we had our fourth baby, Tim wanted to have a gender reveal party because those weren't popular when we had our first three kids. So he wanted to shoot off some confetti and find out what the gender of our baby was. And at our OB that we were at, they said the way they did that was through blood work. And so when I received a phone call from my OB office, I simply anticipated them saying that I would be picking up a card at the front office, that it was available with the gender. But the lady informed me that, in fact, my blood work showed that there was a nine out of 10 chance that our baby would have Down syndrome. And unfortunately, there was no support offered on that phone call and I was completely ignorant about Down syndrome. So I was an absolute wreck with that news.
I called Tim right away at work. He rushed home to comfort me and explain to me the truth that I knew in my heart, but that my head just couldn't wrap itself around was that the Lord would be blessing us with this child and he would use this baby for his kingdom purposes. And while I was in the middle of writing this book, she was born nine weeks early with two holes in her heart, weighing just two pounds and 12 ounces. And we lived in the Ronald McDonald house for three months while she was in the hospital. It was a complete surprise to us, nothing we would have planned for, but it has been the biggest blessing in our life and brought the most joy to our family amidst the challenges. God knows what he's doing for our families, you know, when he sends these surprises. How old is she now?
She is 21 months now. Tim, what was your thoughts and feelings and emotions during that time? You know, I think, as we talked about earlier, God's presence is always there and shows up when you need it most. And I was in the busiest job I've ever had when Ashley texted me and said, I need you to call me right away. And that was always, you can tell, right, when you need to stop what you're doing, regardless how important you think it is. And I called her and she was, I guess, hysterical in the sense of the word. I was concerned that she had lost the baby. And when she told me it was a diagnosis for Down syndrome, it was almost a sense of relief because what came out was, it'll be okay. And I don't know that I, without God's presence, would have been able to say that otherwise. The weight of carrying a child and going through delivery, I believe, you know, is so much more on the mother. But when, as the husband and the father of the other kids, you realize that your wife is in such a vulnerable state with a child with special needs, it really awakens you. And I will say that it was God's way of really shaking me and reprioritizing what's important. So God had a different way of using that towards me, but I will emphasize what Ashley said, that it has been a blessing that we could never have imagined, despite its challenges.
Yeah. I think any parent who's listening who has a special needs child can certainly identify with everything that both of you are saying. Ashley, in every chapter in your book, you end with a section called Modeling Jesus. Why do you think that's an essential ingredient for a successful marriage, and how have you seen that play out in your own marriage?
I think it is the most essential thing for us to do is to model Jesus in our marriages and far beyond that, you know, in our communities and our parenting, everything. But where that I really learned that lesson came when we were stationed in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. And it had been a decade of me just feeling bitterness and resentful for all the sacrifices that I had had to make it as a military spouse. And I just reached a point where I was tired of myself and I didn't want to feel that anyway anymore. And so I decided Lent was approaching and I decided to fast from being a bitter wife for 40 days. And in that place, I decided to create 40 challenges. So for 40 days, I loved him extravagantly and selflessly, even if I didn't feel like it, just to really try and model Jesus. And we both agree that those 40 days were the best 40 days that we've had in 15 years of marriage.
And Tim didn't want it to end when it was over. So he, in turn, created a 40 day challenge for me. And that's where I think we both really learned practically kind of boots on the ground. What does it look like to model Jesus in your marriage?
And then we saw the benefits of that. If a husband and a wife can both have the attitude of Christ who said, I didn't come to be served, I came to serve. They're going to be on a road to a healthy marriage, whether you're in the military or out of the military.
Absolutely. Well, talk to the couple going through some very real and difficult times in their military marriage. What advice would either of you give to them?
I would first say I see you. You know, we've been through multiple deployments. We have lost all of our belongings in a housing situation. We have lost babies and trying to create a marriage and sustain a marriage, cultivate a marriage amidst that is very challenging. And I would say that you can't do it alone. So if both parties will just invest into Christ, into the church, I think that that's really imperative to help you through that. For us, counseling has been a significant part of our healing journey and finding a biblically and clinically informed therapist to help you process everything and continue to grow together. And I also think being around other brothers and sisters in Christ as a couple together is really important. Having people over from church together or being a part of a Bible study together so you can see what it looks like when other men and women who love Jesus are trying to love their spouses. Tim, would you add anything to that?
I would. I would say that in the hardest of times, one of your chapters really was striking for me in Five Love Languages. And I think Ashley's book is almost a book on that chapter and it's love is a choice. And modeling Jesus, Jesus chose to love people that did not love him back. And Ashley's book takes that concept into practical application for couples that are in a really hard place where the easy choice is to give up.
And the cadet prayer says, choose the harder right over the easier wrong. I think which segues into another theme of loving the unlovely. Ashley has had to love the unlovely more times than I can remember. And fortunately for me, Ashley's lovely, so I've never had to reciprocate and I mean that sincerely. But through this military life and just through marriage, any couple going through a battlefield, right, choosing to love the unlovely and making that choice to love with grace and mercy like Jesus did.
Yeah. Well, Ashley, writing was always a dream of yours and I assume that with your children and all the kind of things we've been talking about that you've gone through, you must have had to put that idea on the shelf for a while. Talk to those people who maybe have a dream. It may not be writing, but they have a dream, but they can't see a way to achieve it.
What would you say to them? I love how God puts dreams in our hearts, even from childhood. I'd always wanted to write ever since I was a little girl. And I think just being in constant prayer with God about that dream and asking him to open and close the doors to make that dream happen, if that's his will. Also, there's been seasons where I definitely, you know, with three kids under five earlier on in our marriage, there was no way I could write a book, but there were simple ways I could cultivate the craft by writing a blog while the kids were napping or taking a course online while they were sleeping at night. Just little things that you can continue to learn in whatever that dream is that you're trying to achieve.
And then I would also say to connect with others in the area that are pursuing that same dream that you want to achieve, whether that's, you know, if you really want to excel as a homeschool mom, connecting with other moms who love Jesus that are homeschooling, and just whatever that craft is, I would say just, yeah, be in prayer, cultivate it in the moments when you can, and then just leave it up to God for him to create the opportunities if that's his will for you. Well, Ashley, as we come toward the end of our time together today, we haven't talked a lot about PTSD. Can you address the stress on a family and the returning soldier who's going through that? Yeah, absolutely.
And I'd love to hear Tim's perspective on this, too. But PTSD is something that we are so intimately familiar with in our community. One of my best friends lost her husband to suicide because of PTSD.
And it's something that we need to keep at the forefront of our conversations. We need to know the signs and symptoms of PTSD. And it doesn't just happen on deployments. It can happen in trainings. It can happen in daily operations in our military community as well.
So the book has a full list of things that you need to be aware of as a military spouse. And also just we need to be keeping the dialogue open with our husbands, checking in on them. Sometimes they won't share with us. So bring in prayer also that God would lead them to open up and to share with, whether that's their chaplain or somebody in their chain of command or ourselves. But this is something that is definitely a challenge in our community.
Yeah. Tim, what would you say to that? I would point back to something we discussed earlier of really leaning into as a spouse, leaning into your spouse, of asking questions. And I understand sometimes we can't talk about the scenario or we don't want to. But for me, it has been especially healing to be able to be completely transparent with Ashley on whatever it is I've been through.
You know, we can't have the same level of conversations with our kids, but our kids also know why I don't particularly care for a house full of balloons during a party. And they get it. They understand that. And that's been a nice way. Ashley's gently been able to love me and support me as an anecdote. But there is an abundance of resources out there.
I think we're at a transition to where it was stigmatized and it is not as stigmatized. And I would take advantage of every resource, both the service member, the spouse. And again, it doesn't have to be a military service member or family going through PTSD. And to what Ashley said earlier, you know, biblically based counseling is key and essential. It may not be perfect and it may not solve everything you're going through. But it gets things out there in a neutral playing field and really helps you start to unpack it and understand it a bit better. And again, just that choice to love, that's part of it is doing the hard work.
Yeah. Well, Tim and Ashley, I want to thank you for being with us today on the program and Ashley for writing this book. And I just want to say to our listeners, this is not just a book to be read by military wives or military couples. I wish civilian couples could read this book because it will give you a picture of a lifestyle that you're not familiar with.
And it will also help you be more effective in praying for and encouraging military couples that you may know. So thanks again for being with us and looking forward to how God is going to use this book to help others. Thank you so much for this opportunity. It's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you, Dr. Chapman.
And if I could just say it is surreal for us to be talking with someone who has changed the lexicon in our society when we talk about, hey, you're not talking my love language, whether it's at home or work. It is just an absolute honor. Well, thank you. The title of that book is Mission Ready Marriage, a Christian guide to discovering hope and purpose as a military wife.
But I agree with Gary. Everybody get a copy. Read it.
It's by Ashley Ashcraft. She and her husband, Tim, have been our guests today. You can find out more at buildingrelationships.us. Again, buildingrelationships.us. And next week, we open the lines for your questions and comments.
Well, that's right. And you can leave a message for Dr. Chapman now at 1-866-424-GARY. Again, call with any relationship question you have. 1-866-424-4279. Our thanks to Janice Backing and Steve Wick for their work behind the scenes. Building Relationships with Dr. Gary Chapman is a production of Moody Radio in association with Moody Publishers, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute. Thanks for listening.
