Week Ten of Operation Heal Our Patriots Brings Healing and Rebirth.
The last thing Natalie heard was a mortar round exploding and her husband shouting, “We’re taking incoming.” Then, the phone line went dead. Natalie wondered if that was the last time she’d hear his voice.
Natalie endured many restless days and nights while her husband, Army Sergeant Eddie Shanks, was deployed to Afghanistan in 2010. She had minimal contact with him, and when she did, the time was brief.
Army Sergeant Eddie Shanks and his wife, Natalie, enjoy bear viewing at Katmai National Park.
Eddie worked in a security role and his vehicle often ended up in the direct line of attack. “On an average day, we’d get hit three or four times by rockets, mortars, and sniper rifles,” he said. “I have multiple traumatic brain injuries from getting blown up too many times.”
Eddie also suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and that, combined with the lingering effects of his brain injuries, began putting a strain on the couple’s relationship when he returned. Eddie had a hard time controlling his temper and communicating his feelings to Natalie.
When he tried to sleep he was haunted by horrific battlefield experiences that his mind continually forced him to relive. “I was attacking Natalie. I was throwing her into the walls and smothering her with a pillow.”
Mental health struggles weren’t the only thing bearing down on the Shanks, as Natalie lives with Crohn’s disease and chronic kidney disease. Doctors have already given her the prognosis if the kidney disease progresses and she is forced to go on dialysis: “I’ll be gone a couple years after that.”
“On an average day, we’d get hit three or four times by rockets, mortars, and sniper rifles.”
A weakened immune system put Natalie at a higher risk for COVID-19. She got the virus several times and is now facing long-term effects, such as brain lesions that are causing her to forget things more easily, she said.
“The last few years have been very heavy and emotional,” Natalie said. “I’ve watched Eddie grow in his faith, but I felt like every day I was losing more of mine.”
Although Natalie and Eddie are committed to each other, they realized they needed help navigating the choppy waters of post-military life and marriage. They applied to participate in Operation Heal Our Patriots with the hope that the program would help them strengthen their relationship and bring them closer together.
Renewed Commitment
At first glance, it’s not at all apparent that the Shankses are fighting so many mental and physical battles. They are an outgoing, friendly couple who love to laugh, make people feel welcome, and are quick to extend help to family and friends.
Franklin Graham joins Eddie and Natalie after their baptism in Lake Clark.
But it was finally time for them to receive a blessing. “It was hard for us to say yes to this trip. We felt like we didn’t deserve it,” Natalie said. “But from day one, we heard people say that we were here for a reason.”
Natalie realized that one of those reasons was to bring her into a relationship with Jesus Christ. She saw God’s love demonstrated through the witness of staff and volunteers at Samaritan Lodge Alaska, and one night after talking with our military chaplains, she prayed to receive Christ as her Lord and Savior.
“This changes everything,” she said. “This will change our family.”
Eddie was already a Christian and had been praying for God to work in Natalie’s heart while in Alaska. They were both baptized in Lake Clark on Friday, Aug. 5
“It felt like a weight was lifted. Everything has been renewed,” Eddie said.
Eddie and Natalie also rededicated their marriage to God and to each other during a special ceremony at week’s end. “In our hearts, we needed to do it to show that we’re in this together,” Natalie said.
Natalie and Eddie rededicated their marriage to God and to each other.
The couple gained different tools and Biblically based strategies during the week that will help them continue moving forward when they return home.
“We’re sticking together for the long haul. We knew there were things we needed to work on, and this week is telling us how to do it,” Eddie said. “It had been trial and error before now.”
Eddie said that in addition to the marriage classes and the overall focus on Christ, he is especially grateful for the gift of being able to devote time to his wife.
“Spending time with just your spouse, you get to learn more about them—it’s made me fall more in love with her.”
A New Beginning
We praise God that the Shanks were among eight individuals baptized in Lake Clark during the week of July 31-Aug. 5. Joining them were Marine Corporal JT Parris and his wife, Caroline, who rededicated their lives to Jesus Christ in Alaska.
Although the couple grew up in church, “we’ve never had God be a priority in our lives,” Caroline explained.
Marine Corporal JT Parris and his wife, Caroline, strengthened both their marriage and their faith in Christ while in Alaska.
JT and Caroline have walked through their share of hard times during the 12 years they’ve been married. JT deployed three times, with his first deployment lasting their entire first year of marriage. Those deployments left him with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. After five years in the Marines, JT joined the police force, which came with its own mental trials and added to an already heavy burden.
“Your brain can only handle so much. It’s a cumulative, constant building up of trauma,” he said. “It took me a long time to realize that it’s not something that’s going to go away with time. This is part of my life.”
Learning how to process and work through past experiences will be easier now that JT and Caroline are committed to looking to God for wisdom and guidance.
“This experience in Alaska most definitely saved my marriage,” JT said. “You have to let God take control of your life and quit trying to do it yourself. Faith in God is the only thing I’ve found that gives me peace. It will be the cornerstone of my family.”
“This experience most definitely saved my marriage.”
Caroline and JT also participated in the marriage vow renewal ceremony because they want their relationship to thrive and they’re excited about building their marriage on the foundation of Jesus Christ.
“This week has been a new beginning,” Caroline said. “A new beginning for my walk with Christ, for our marriage, and for our whole family.”
Please continue to pray for the military couples who will be welcomed this season at Samaritan Lodge Alaska. Pray for God to heal their marriages, and for each individual to know God’s love for them.
