Who to Pray For?

When I was home on leave, a friend asked me “who should I pray for over there?” Personally; I don’t think there is a bag limit on prayers. If there were, I would say, first and foremost, the wounded soldiers would be at the top of my list. Some time ago, a kid (I never knew him) lost both legs, an arm, and at least one eye. Every day for the rest of his life, he will have to struggle and I’m sure he can sue all the prayers that he can get.

Next on my prayer request list would be the regular soldiers over here. Things are tough over here and with the 15 month extension, getting tougher. Some are handling it well enough, but some can’t. Since I’ve been here, there have been 2 suicides that I know of. One kid got a bad phone call from home, went outside, and shot himself in the head. These guys are super, but they have their limits and can sure use some extra prayers as well.

Finally I would say that families of the troops need some extra prayers. Repeated, long deployments are taking a severe toll on families. It is not uncommon at all to hear that a guy went home on R&R only to come home to an empty house and no family. According to Army Times, repeated, long deployments have not had an adverse effect on divorce rates. The families are coping well enough, but they could use some extra prayers.