Scott DeLuzio: [00:00:00] Thanks for tuning in to the Drive On Podcast where we are focused on giving hope and strength to the entire military community. Whether you’re a veteran, active duty, guard, reserve, or a family member, this podcast will share inspirational stories and resources that are useful to you. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio, and now let’s get on with the show.



Scott DeLuzio: Hey everybody, welcome back to Drive On. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio, and today my guest is Karis Meyer. Karis is a military wife of 18 years and an inspiring author dedicated to helping others navigate through suffering. With a background in Christian education and counseling, Karis brings a wealth of knowledge and personal experience to our conversation in her latest book, Suffering Redeemed, Finding Strength to Endure.

Purpose in pain and hope for tomorrow looks into her journey with chronic illness while offering insights and [00:01:00] practical tools for finding hope and purpose amidst suffering. Today, we’re going to explore how Karis wisdom and perspective can provide valuable guidance to military veterans and Those who have faced and continue to face challenges.

So before we get into that, I want to welcome you to the show, Karis. I’m really glad to have you here.

Karis Meier: Thank you. It’s great to be here.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely. So let’s take it back a bit. Can you share a bit about your journey as a military wife and maybe how your experiences have shaped your perspective on suffering and resilience and those types of things?

Karis Meier: Yeah. So I met my husband through my sister who went to college with him. I had never really thought about the military much before that. My grandfather was, um, a soldier in the, in the military, [00:02:00] World War II. But other than that, I hadn’t really I didn’t have any previous experience with the military. So I knew he was going to be, I mean, he had went to RO2C at Wheaton College.

And so I knew he was going to be in the military at least for a little while. Um, but I honestly will tell you, I had. No idea what I was getting into. Um, so we actually ended up speeding up our wedding because we knew he was going to be deploying. So this is in 2006. Um, and we knew he was going to be deploying to Iraq.

And so we. Got married in April, 2006. And he left a month later for, um, Thailand for training. And he was stationed in Alaska. So I moved, moved up to Alaska, didn’t know anyone, didn’t know anything about the military, and then my, my husband leaves, um, So he went to [00:03:00] Thailand for a few months, came back for a couple of weeks, and then went off to Iraq for 15 months.

And so it was, uh, it was like, uh, you know, just kind of a shock, a shock start.

Scott DeLuzio: I was going to say, talk about being thrown in the deep end when you get married, not really knowing a whole lot about the military, and then You’re basically your first year plus of marriage is dealing with a deployment with your husband away and being in a unfamiliar location. Um, you got all of the, um, you know, the check all the boxes as far as things that military spouses have to deal with all in a very short period of time.

Right.

Karis Meier: Yeah, yeah, it was well, and on top of that, so on our honeymoon, actually, I started feeling quite sick and started losing weight and I couldn’t figure out what was going on. Um, you know, a lot of people are like, Oh, [00:04:00] it’s just nerves. You’re nervous. You’re getting married. You know, you’re moving to Alaska.

Ben’s deploying. There’s a lot going on. Um, but throughout that, um, summer and even into when my husband deploye...