UNDER GODUNDER GOD
As people all across the country gather today to celebrate our nation’s freedom, we are continuing to fight for the freedom of others around the globe. Michael came to me in January and said he’d been speaking with a recruiter and that he would be leaving in two short weeks. He firmly knew this was God’s plan for him. And he was stepping out in faith and needed to know that I would be OK with this. I said NO I’m not Ok with this…don’t you know we’re at war???? Michael hugged me and said…just pray about it. I need to know you’re behind me in this. You bet I prayed. Prayed hard he’d change his mind!!!!! But, God had a plan for my son. And I’ve had to accept that this was it.
Today Michael is preparing for the last 5 day field combat training exercise before he graduates from the mechanic school. The past 6 months have been a journey we will never forget….I’ve seen my son grow in so many ways…emotionally, and physically, but most of all, spiritually. He has been tempted from every angle, but all glory to God, has remained faithful and true to His Lord. One day he was frustrated because he was “doing everything right” and yet continually getting punished for everyone else’s bad behaviors….I reminded him that God would reward him for being a faithful and obedient servant.
I wrote Michael every day of basic training, and sent a scripture card in each one. At graduation in April he said God was at work in this….he needed those very scriptures each day…and began to look forward to the next one and the next, and they were exactly what he needed! He was in the spiritual place of having to completely rely on the Lord.
God is at work in so many other ways here I don’t have time to tell you about them all. My mother’s heart certainly wants people to pray for my son’s safety in his 8 years of Army Reserves enlistment and future areas of service, but my servant’s heart wants you to pray for something even larger….for God to use him, and to keep Michael near to Him and seeking Him. Michael’s eternity is already safe and secure, so I ask you to pray more for Michael to stay firmly under God. Firmly in His grip. To be used to further the Kingdom work. To continue be a bold witness for other soldiers who need the Word. You see, that’s where Michael’s safety is….under God.
God is there in
But, we don’t hear stories on the news about God being in
Lt. Carey Cash wrote a book that I firmly believe God led me to. It’s called “A Table In The Presence” and in his book Lt Cash describes miracle after miracle that his unit experienced as they advanced and invaded Sadaam’s Presidential Palace. God literally “prepared a table for this unit of marines in the presence of their enemies.” 49 Marines were baptized, the whole unit was in regular Bible Study, and each man in this combat unit knew that they were completely sheltered under the mighty hand of God. This unit survived heavy attack that should have brought them down in defeat. Tough, battle ready soldiers were brought to their knees in humility at how God was with them in the midst of war.
Let me give you just a couple of examples of their testimonies….one marine was resting prone on the ground and was run over twice by a fully loaded Humvee. He stood up without a single scratch or broken bone. He knew he’d been spared! He went out and told everyone about his miracle from God. Another Marine accepted Christ and was baptized in Sadaam’s palace courtroom the day following the invasion….the very room that saw abuse, tyranny and oppression at that moment in time became the courts of the Lord! God used that one man at that moment of time to bring about one of the most incredible events this entire unit experienced. Victory over evil. A story that will be told for decades….
The “unit Bible” was lost one night during a convoy in a blinding sand storm…which totally distraught everyone in the unit…it was their “lifeline”…their comfort. The next morning it was found in the middle of the road where hundreds of humvees had been traveling in a convoy. The Bible was completely whole, dry, unbent, unscathed. Completely perfect. The entire unit rejoiced and knelt in prayer and praise….feeling the hand of God upon each of them. They called it their “sign in the sand”.
And there are those who want to remove the phrase “under God” from our pledge? Ask this Marines unit. Ask the ones who witnessed events that they can’t explain. Ask the ones who rode the front lines that dark night in April of 2003 when they were given orders to cross into
So pray. Pray for our troops….for God to work in the lives of our Christian soldiers to be witnesses to those who still need to accept Him as Savior and Lord. And certainly we need to pray that our nation will remain under God.
Oh, and by the way….Lt Cash? Found out he had an inoperable benign brain tumor at the same time he was called to be a navy chaplain. He was experiencing severe migraines and blurred vision. But after he stepped out in faith and accepted God’s call his symptoms disappeared, and after two tries, he was cleared for duty, and he served his year long term in
Lucy Cain 7/05
