A prayer for veterans

Lord God of Mercy,

You know the pain of war and the inner workings of the human mind and emotions. I ask Your presence to fall upon the veterans of our countries today. Be Jehovah-Rapha, the God of healing to them.

Administer grace to the anguished. Lavish love on the lonely and forgotten. Help those of us to reach out to them, we who can’t begin to understand the pain of participating in war or living with someone who’s been traumatized by war.

Help us be a people who understands and appreciates the pain of others. Give us mercy and love for the marginalized. Let us not hate those who differ from us, but let us not also ignore and embrace sin because we are too afraid to reflect Your glory in our confused world.

We need Your wisdom, today and everyday. But I ask that today, above all days, uplift the hearts of servicemen and women, encouraging them in the power of God. Make Your Church a lighthouse to the wandering heart and the weary soul.

In Jesus’ name,
Amen.

image by George Hodan