A program called Operation Heal our patriots is helping vets renew their marriages and find Christ.
Marine Sergeant Mike Ossner and his wife Angela attended Week 8 of Operation Heal Our Patriots at the recommendation of a Marine Corps chaplain.
As the result of two deployments to Iraq, Mike suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, and degenerative disk disease that regularly sabotages his mobility and often creates intolerable pain.
Mike has also experienced ongoing doubt about Christ after seeing so many casualties on deployment.
Mike had not come to Alaska expecting much beyond the basics—maybe a chance to get away with his wife and to see the state where he’d always dreamed of living.
Mike spent years as an agnostic. He studied other religions, he studied no religion, and he found himself sinking deeper into anger and aggression.
Mike brought those questions and emotions with him to Samaritan Lodge Alaska, unashamedly approaching chaplains throughout the week with his skepticism. Angela had accepted Christ earlier in the week, but Mike just wasn’t ready. Then one afternoon while his wife was away hiking at a waterfall, he sat down by the fire and struck up a conversation with Franklin Graham.
Graham said, “It wasn’t anything I said, It was the Holy Spirit. [Mike] was just ready.”
In addition to Mike and Angela, four more people received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior during the week.