A Prayer for the Military Community

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A prayer for the military community

by Kristi Hofman

Kristi Hofman has been a military spouse for 10 years. She and her husband, an active duty Army chaplain, have four young children. They have journeyed through deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan and currently call Fort Bragg, NC home.

Almighty God, Lord of Hosts, we call out to you as the One who is sovereign over all. Watch over and protect our nation’s military members and their families. Sustain them with your everlasting arms.

Take into your most gracious protection our service members currently deployed. May you be their comfort and their guide as they live and walk in a foreign land. Give them reassurance that you are a shield around them, an ever-present help in time of need. Grant our service members courage so that in all things they may serve without reproach. Encourage them while they also encourage one another.

As they serve around the world, we ask that you guard their families and loved ones back home. Provide them with peace and surround them with love as they mourn the absence of their loved one and long for their return. May they find hope and strength in you for the trials of each new day. Be with military children who endure the difficult burden of knowing their father or mother is in harm’s way for months on end. Guard these children’s hearts and minds despite the loneliness and uncertainty of having a parent deployed.

Lord God, be with marriages in the military. Preserve the bonds of husband and wife despite the stress that military life brings, stress only compounded by the decade of war our nation is in. Help military chaplains in their efforts to equip military marriages with ways to stay connected and communicate effectively despite the challenge of frequent deployments. Give husbands and wives strength and resilience to endure separations, frequent moves, and all the uncertainty military life brings.

For some, Lord, service takes their toll permanently in physical and emotional damage. For those wounded in battle, we pray you would come beside them.. Sustain and strengthen them amidst treatment, pain, and adjustments to life with an injury. Help them to find competent care and support, and to not be afraid to reach out for a helping hand or a listening ear. Be with their caregivers in the demanding role they have. Give caregivers renewed energy to offer support and love as they tend to the needs of the injured. Strengthen them as they both monitor and advocate for their loved one.

We know that war is very costly. Some have made the ultimate sacrifice, laying down their precious lives in service to our nation. Each one of them was a son or daughter, perhaps a husband or wife, father or mother. For all those who feel the pain and the toll of this war in the loss of their loved one, comfort them. Be a father to the fatherless and defender of widows. As they cast their cares on you, may they know the consolation of your love. We thank you for the freedoms these service members fought for which we enjoy today.

For each and every veteran who has served our country through the years, we thank you for their sacrifice. Comfort those who struggle in life after war. Help us to honor and care for those who have given so much for us.