CityView Magazine - Fayetteville, NC
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/9360
15 months, every day I was gone, she knelt and prayed that Psalm over me,” he said. “I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful wife or a greater gift than her blessing me invisibly with God’s touch through that Psalm.” During the months of battle that followed, an estimated 4,000 bandanas were dispersed throughout his brigade. Hawkins said each bandana’s Psalm was a constant reminder of hope. “Hope that they are not forgotten by the land they’ve left to defend and for which they are sacrificing,” he said. “Hope that they are not forgotten by a God who loves them and wants to hold them through some very tough times. Hope that there is a life after the war, and ultimately, hope that there is life after death, through a saving relationship with a God who loves them.” Vanessa Forbes, a platoon leader at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq, requested bandanas for her entire platoon. “I wanted bandanas for my guys because having a religious scripture brings us comfort when we are outside the wire, and it will hopefully remind my soldiers to pray,” she said. “The most important part of this ministry to us is to remember that God is with us through this entire trial in Iraq.” But the ministry also reaches deeply into the heart of our community. Operation Bandanas board member Carol Quigg was leaving a local restaurant when she walked past a group of soldiers that would soon be deployed. Quigg remembered the stack of bandanas she had at home and offered them on the spot. As word of Operation Bandanas continues to spread, a group in Georgia opened a chapter there, and requests for bandanas keep pouring in. “This Psalm is a great source of inspiration,” Gray said. “I like to think of God as our refuge – that secret place you can go where you’re protected. It’s just a beautiful picture of how God hovers over His children. “It’s exciting when you’re doing something bigger than yourself. It’s a faith builder. Get out of the way, let God do His work, and join Him in it.”CV CityViewNC.com | 65