Daily Word Meets the U.S. Marines

I had one copy of Daily Word^® when my husband Phil and I were struggling to make ends meet. For a long time, we were eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Sometimes when we really wanted to go gourmet, we would switch to tuna salad sandwiches. Those were cheap staples.

It was Phil, me, and my two little children—the oldest was almost 6 and the youngest almost 2. I had left my job, family, and everything behind in Kansas to start over when the kids and I moved to Maryland. We didn’t even have furniture.

When I moved there, I already had a position waiting for me in the Procurement Division of the Army at Edgewood Arsenal. But the job wasn’t available for a couple of months. We were truly stepping out on faith.

Every fall, I am reminded of how Daily Word helped pull us through. Phil was in the U.S. Marines, and November 10 is the Marine Corps’ birthday. On the military base, they were planning a huge parade and open house for family and friends. It would be my first time to meet Phil’s fellow marines.

I was in my second year in Unity. I was an eager and voracious reader of everything positive—Catherine Ponder, Eric Butterworth, May Rowland, Florence Shinn—you name it, I read it and put it to practice.

Daily Word literally saved my life more than once, and I know that someone else needs that inspiration—lots of people do. This little book has kept me going and gotten me and my family through some tough times.

Lunchtime Inspiration

I set out to keep Phil as motivated and encouraged as possible. I knew he wanted to provide more for us—this ready-made family—but could only do so much. So every morning when I packed his lunch of peanut butter and jelly or tuna and an apple, I would carefully write out the Daily Word message onto a note card (because I only had one copy) and place it inside the lunch bag in hopes it would add light to his day.

He never mentioned it. This went on for months. Then came the Marine Corps’ birthday, and the kids and I joined Phil on the base for the festivities.

As soon as I walked in the door of the office where he worked, I was greeted with open arms by the gunnery sergeant and Phil’s fellow marines. They acted as if they had been waiting to meet me. One of them led me over to Phil’s desk where underneath the glass were all the note cards with the Daily Word messages lined up by date.

They had all been reading Daily Word every day when Phil opened his lunch. While he never said a word about it, I knew he was proud of how that simple gesture helped to jump-start their day.

Help and Encouragement

Phil and I are entering our 50th year together, and we’ve come a long way since those lean years. But as the saying goes, if God will bring you to it, God will bring you through it. It is no secret what faith in God can do, and we all need help and encouragement. That’s what Daily Word does for me.

As a Unity minister now, I make it my business to open services with Daily Word and include it on the screen in my PowerPoints. Daily Word literally saved my life more than once, and I know that someone else needs that inspiration—lots of people do. This little book has kept me going and gotten me and my family through some tough times.