Posted on 03/19/2004 12:51:59 PM PST by TEXOKIE
THREE CHEERS FOR OUR WONDERFUL TROOPS, THEIR ALLIES, AND ALL WHO ARE SERVING IN SUPPORT CAPACITIES IN THE WAR ON TERROR! YOU HAVE GIVEN THIS NATION A YEAR OF VICTORY IN THAT WAR! The honor is yours, but know that we bask in your accomplishments and love you for your steadfast service on this day!
Welcome, everyone to the 10th Troop Prayer Thread! Today is the anniversary of the resumption of hostilities with Iraq, wherein our troops have made military history that shall ring down the centuries.
The troop prayer threads are dedicated to giving our troops, allies, and all who are serving the Holy Cause of Freedom, including (but not limited to) the families and loved ones waiting at home and those who are not in uniform but who are serving in dangerous situations supporting our troops and gathering intelligence spiritual support. We seek together to offer prayer, scriptures, encouraging messages, and other devotions dedicated to this purpose.
We have over the past year gathered together a prayer list of these servants of freedom. You will find it posted below. FReeper amom has been serving as our List Keeper this past year and I wish to thank and commend her for doing such a meticulous job of keeping it updated. She has also been keeping our ping list up to date. If you wish to submit a name for the prayer list or to add or take off a name from the ping list, please let either or both of us know.
For those of us who have somewhat limited computer capacity, or still have phone modems, we request that graphics be limited to pictures of loved ones for whom we are offering prayers, special visuals that seem particularly appropriate, and as much as possible, non-moving graphics. Thank you.
Thank you so much for spiritually supporting our troops, allies, support civilians, and their families.
We are grateful to God that for those who have been injured or taken back Home, He has dispatched angels to their care.
To view the previous prayer threads, use these links:
Troop Prayer Thread 9:
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1031704/posts
Troop Prayer Thread 8:
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/994696/posts?page=451,50
Troop Prayer Thread 7:
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/973786/posts
Troop Prayer Thread 6:
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/917197/posts?page=301,50
Troop Prayer Thread 5:
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/898097/posts
Troop Prayer Thread 4:
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/879044/posts
Troop Prayer Thread 3:
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/873600/posts?page=151,50
Troop Prayer Thread 2:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/870136/posts
Troop Prayer Thread 1:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/863153/posts
For those who wish to pay their respects and honor our Fallen Heroes, please visit this thread:
Names,Stories, and Pictures of Fallen Heroes of Operation Iraqi Freedom
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/872330/posts?q=1&&page=601
Dear Lord,
Lest I continue
My complacent way
Help me remember
Somewhere out there
A man died for me today
--As long as there be war
I then must
Ask and answer
Am I worth dying for?"
Taken from the book, "A Man Called Intrepid" by William Stevenson about William Stephenson, the head of British intelligence services prior to and during WWII. He wrote this at the very beginnings of the Battle of Britain and shared it with Eleanor Roosevelt.
STAR SPANGELED BANNER
Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
'T is the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us as a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
FRANCES SCOTT KEY
AMERICA, WE LOVE YOU!
AMERICA, WE LOVE YOU!
AMERICA, WE LOVE YOU!
AND OUR LOVE IS GREAT ENOUGH TO HOLD YOU ETERNALLY VICTORIOUS IN THE LIGHT!
Tonk, and all Viet Nam veterans, need to hear that they are and always have been appreciated, honored, and loved by those of us who were rendered "the silent majority" by a news media bent on denying us a voice, and providing one for traitors to everything our soldiers were fighting and dying to defend. They would do it now if they could, and they are certainly trying. Many wounds are being reopened by the events of the day, among veterans and civilians alike from that era, and perhaps it is God's way of providing healing for all of us who now have an opportunity to make our voices heard here on the Internet, on Rush's program, and other similar outlets that were unavailable then...and by the opportunity to defeat J.F. Kerry, who is a symbol of what the left stood for then, and stands for now. God bless our veterans, and those who remain in harm's way today. God bless all Americans to see through the deception and the deceivers, and to soundly defeat them in November.
Thank you for your service, Tonk. Here is a (((((welcome home))))) that I wish I could have given back then. God bless you and all of our Vietnam vets. You were and are the heroes of my heart.
Spoken like a true hero. That love is what makes the difference between a hero and someone like Kerry who "was in Vietnam".
My nephew Bryan is with the 2nd Armored Calvary Regiment which has been extended. We are so proud of him and were so looking forward to his coming home. Bryan is OK with the extension; he's not complaining at all. In fact he talks about possibly making the Army a career. This is a kid who hasn't even been out of high school 2 full years(graduated June 02).
His mother (my twin sister) is really upset in spite of Bryan trying to tell her he's cool with everything.
Today I gave money to a vet giving out poppies and collecting for disabled vets. I was about to tell him about Bryan (just because I'm such a proud aunt and love to brag about him) and I realized I was going to cry. I just gave the old man a bunch of 1's and never said a word. This isn't like me. I'm a former Army sergeant myself (hey, Bryan had to get "it" somewhere).
My 81 year old mother is the world's staunchest republican but I can tell even she is starting to question the Iraq situation though not in so many words. Again it's the extension that is getting to her.
She lost her first husband in Korea in '52 and last year my brother(Vietnam vet) was killed in a motorcycle accident on his father's birthday. My mother's first husband was his father.
On top of that my brother's widow and my other sister and her family are totally anti Bush.
All of this is really piling up on us.
I guess I'm typing all this just to get it out of my system. Please pray for Bryan and our family.
BELOVED FATHER IN HEAVEN,
We place before you Bryan, NEPA's nephew of the 2nd Armored Calvary Regiment, which has been placed on extended status in Iraq. Father, we understand that this young man is "cool" with the extension, and is even considering the military as a career. Grant him your guidance and knowledge of your Vision for his life. We also hear reported that the mother and grandmother are finding the extension very stressful, so we place before you his mother and grandmother and his entire family and ask for your Peace and Joy to be upon them.
We ask that you will grant this young man one of the prayer blankets we have been weaving together for each of our troops over the past year to supplement the golden chain mail armor which we visualize as the "whole armor of God." Wrap him in one of these blankets woven from our prayers and your love and the many qualities of your heart that we wish for him. Let him at all times have instant access to your love, protection, wisdom, courage, hope, health and healing, service, and mercy according to the need of the hour. Please assign him a team of angels who will guide, guard, direct, and protect him at all times, but especially in times of danger. Grant him quick reflexes and the ability to be nimble and move with the Holy Spirit out of harm's way if he is threatened.
We ask that you will surround this precious family who is holding vigil for him. Grant all of them peace, joy, and especially abundant Faith during this time of waiting.
We ask that NEPA will be enfolded. Please let him feel and know of a certainty that we are grateful for his past service as an army sergeant.
Comfort and heal the grief and the records of grief which Bryan's 81 year old grandmother and others in the family have endured. Let those former losses be soothed in this grandmother with the balm of your loving touch so that their pain is not being used to create hardship on her by dark forces while she is holding vigil for Bryan. Hold her in the highest light possible, and let the former things have no sway in her present condition. We mourn with her for the loss of her first husband in Korea. We mourn with her for the recent loss of her son to a motorcycle accident on his father's birthday. We ask that all pain of those losses be minimized and mitigated as much as your Great Law will allow.
We ask that any and all conditions within the family be healed which may be creating any sort of division or discord whatsoever. Let all family members be guided only by you as to matters of conscience and politics. Let none of that impinge at all on the mission which members of this family have in holding vigil for their young hero in Iraq.
Father, enfold Bryan's mother. Enfold this whole family, for separation from a loved one who is in harm's way is a very difficult challenge. This which we ask for Bryan, NEPA, and their family, we call forth for all who may be in a similar situation of need. Let only your divine Will be done. We thank you, Father, for we know that our prayers are heard. Thank you for being our loving, approachable Father. Thank you for being also the Mighty God which you are, and for whom all things are possible.
Amen
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