The single thing that brought me the most comfort while our son was deployed was prayer. Praying for him took away my feelings of helplessness. I was able to relinquish my need to control, not only because I had something to do, but more because of the prayers themselves.
Click here to donate gift subscriptions to Guideposts Military Subscription Program.
My conversations with God helped me to become more familiar with my Lord. As I got to know Him better, my faith grew, and I learned to trust Him more and more. I kept a deployment journal and wrote down a lot of my prayers. Those became the basis of my book, While My Soldier Serves. Today I’d like to share one of those prayers with you:
Give My Soldier Faith in the Midst of Evil
We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28, NASB)
Dear Lord, I’m praying for my loved one’s faith today. I know it’s got to be shaken by what he’s seeing around him. Instead of being shaken, use his circumstances to strengthen his faith. Let him see the situations around him as evidence of Your great love.
We live in an imperfect world. Use that imperfection to show him how great Your power is. Let him see evidence of how You work things together for good, instead of for evil. Use the situations around him to strengthen his faith in ways that will prepare him for the future You have for him.
Lord, I can’t begin to imagine how You can do that in the middle of a war zone, but I’m asking You to show up in a mighty way. I know that in the Bible there are stories of horrible circumstances, yet people could see You at work. They could watch You bring good things out of bad situations.
Let my loved one see how great You are and how You still perform miracles. Give him evidence that You still show up when You are called. Renew his faith and make him stronger.
Amen.
Adapted from While My Soldier Serves by Edie Melson (Worthy Press 2015)
