A Blessing Before War

Greetings All,
This Morning I sent an email to my former student who is about to ship off to Afghanistan.(You might recall that I have mentioned her in two other posts)


I sent her my blessing.


                                           I didn't cry when I wrote it.
                                     But perhaps this will explain how I feel.

I am aware of the weight of the words I left on that page.


Those were the words that I want her to remember when she is in the midst of explosions, screaming, all sorts of carnage, and looming death.


I pointed her toward God.


That's the ONLY and the STRONGEST thing I knew to do.


She is about to run headlong right into the face of the biggest ocean of evil & destruction she has ever experienced in her life...and I had to make sure she was carrying her SPIRITUAL LIFE RAFT with her.


She is NOT my daughter.


I did NOT raise her.


But I am being impacted by her life and can not imagine how the actual parents of our military troops must feel.


Some are vested in generations of military life and have become accustomed to the emotions of sending off loved ones to war.


But how do you REALLY ever get accustomed to sending your baby...the one you nursed, changed, rocked, and held for so many years....how do you EVER get accustomed to sending them into a war?


She is NOT my daughter.


I did NOT raise her.


But the weight of the words I left on the page this morning was significant.


I gave her the words I want her to remember forever
...and the words I wanted to say to her NOW...in case she dies.


It was a long email.


But it boiled down to this....


-I wrote down my pray over her life...and asked God for some specific things for her.


-I told her a few things I wanted her to remember about God and what to SEEK from Him.


-I told her that I was Proud of Her.


-I told her that I Love Her.


After that...what else is there!


We make life so very complicated...but it pretty much comes down to this:


Act Justly
Love Mercy
Walk Humbly With Your God

Micah 6:8 "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. 
   And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy 
   and to walk humbly with your God."
IN HIM,
Grace