Northway lived in Modesto until going to college in 1989. She had attended Modesto Christian, Beyer and Davis high schools. Her calling as a chaplain came during a service at Calvary Temple in 1987.

"I am living proof that God chooses the foolish of the world to confound the wise," said Northway, who is assistant post chaplain at Camp Buehring in Udairi, Kuwait. "If God can use me, he can use anybody.

"Through all the adolescent chaos, he preserved my desire to reach out to people in transition and who are feeling homesick."

Northway said there was nothing in her upbringing that pointed her toward the military. She insisted that she never was, and never will be, a tomboy.

When she first joined the Army Reserve — not as a chaplain, but a regular recruit — there were a number of people who were certain she never would make it.

"They had a party at Calvary Temple and the kids all thought I'd be back in a couple of weeks," Northway said. "My Army recruiter even bet that I'd never make it."

To the surprise of many, including herself, she endured. She did have a stress reaction to the marching and physical conditioning and had to be carried off the parade ground. "My knees didn't work, but they did recover." The Army offered to let Northway quit then, but she chose to persevere.

In talking about her journey of faith, she quotes Proverbs 16:9: "A human makes plans in their heart, but God directs their steps."

Coping with changes and challenges from home are some of the the everyday burdens that Northway tries to lend troops a hand with.

Many of the questions are literally life and death.

On one hand, soldiers hear stories about others who have prayed with the 91st Psalm and believe their lives to have been spared miraculously. "Then some ask about those (who prayed) who don't come back," Northway said.

How fate chooses one person for death and another for life also can be troubling to soldiers. "You hear of really evil people and wonder why God doesn't take somebody really evil," Northway said. "But everybody is somebody's baby or somebody's sunshine."

One of the biggest worries troops abroad have is maintaining their virtue. "New Life Ministries will issue every soldier a battle kit — there's a male kit and a female kit," Northway said.

"When soldiers fail to live up to their own standards, chaplains like Northway are there to help them and their spouses pick up the pieces. Even in the darkest moments, there can be a divine moment. "I do have moments of epiphany. It happens when I'm allowed to pray with soldiers. It's when we invite God into the conversation. That's the epiphany."

She borrowed a title from her favorite singer, Steven Curtis Chapman. "It's 'All About Love.'" She tells the GIs that love isn't a 100-yard dash. "It's more like a 500-mile march." She's happy to take that message to anyone who will listen. "It is a privilege to serve God and country anywhere I'm sent."