Tuesday, November 10, 2009

A mother's prayer

I've been following the Fort Hood shooting with sadness and interest. I mainly just read the stories about the acts of heroism that have come out of that tragedy. I especially love the story of police sergeant Kimberly Munyer, a 34-year-old mother and civilian cop who took down the murderer with four shots to the torso while taking some bullets herself. She is well. She is a hero.


This article caught my eye today on CNN.com. It was about a local fire chief who rushed to the scene to help. He found Officer Munyer and stayed with her until she was transported for medical care. However, it was what he described doing when he arrived on the scene before he even found her that caught my attention. He said it was chaos when he got there. With no clear sense of what was going on but the well-trained instinct to dive in and help, the very first thing he did was pray. In his words:


Rhoads, who began as a volunteer firefighter 26 years ago when he was just a teen, took over the scene as incident commander. But first, he paused for a quick prayer. "I just asked the Lord to be with me, to give me the strength and the courage I need to do my job wisely and keep my people safe."


That really struck me. I realized that he was there as a first responder to save people's lives in that moment.


But I also realized that as a mother, that's a prayer in pretty much those exact words that I need to pray for my children, and their battle in a world that devalues morality, every day.


And so I will. I will arm them with truth and a love of Christ, a knowledge of good, with kindness and fairness and virtue. And then I will send them out at the start of each morning, and pray this prayer for them.




22 comments:

Kristina P. said...

This is something I've really been trying to do more when I go to work. I work in a somewhat sressful field, and I realize that I don't rely on prayer enough.

Valerie said...

Thank you. I have to same prayer in my heart as well.

Lara Neves said...

Excellently said, and something I definitely need to work on.

Jenny P. said...

In addition to praying for safety and courage and strength, I find myself also praying that my children will remember to be kind.

It's such a mean world... I want the to always be kind.

Anonymous said...

I didn't know that. How powerful. I'm...without words. I'm so grateful to the mother who taught a man to pray like that.

Stephanie said...

Brilliant.

It's spiritual terrorism out there, and we need to pray with the same intensity we would if we were sending our kids out into "real" terrorism.

wendy said...

Beautiful. Those prayers on behalf of your children will indeed be heard.
PRAYER ---what a mighty tool in this world of chaos
what peace it brings

Annette Lyon said...

Absolutely beautiful. And so true. Thanks.

Unknown said...

I'm with LT. God bless whoever first taught that man to pray. And thanks to you, Melanie, for the beautiful reminder.

Andrew & Sarah Clawson said...

Love this post...

Kazzy said...

Great prayer idea. Thanks for the reminder...

Baak Talk said...

You know, I'm finding that in most of this miracle or survivor stories, where good comes of something bad, you will find that the person prayed for help. In fact, I can't think of a story where it isn't so. Prayer is so underestimated!

Susan said...

Thanks for this post. Our kids need our prayers so much.

As for the story you are following--I have a soft spot for first responders. My husband was a professional firefighter before he decided to go to vet school. I got to meet a lot of other firefighters and they are some of the coolest people. I mean, who else has the nerve to put their life on the line and run in a burning building to save someone else, or to pull up to a shoot out and forget about themselves and just go to work. I will be thinking of them today as well as all the living and fallen veterans that serve our country.

LisAway said...

Very neat.

Really, once you send them out, you can't really be a first responder. You have to work all preventative-like. And this prayer is a good way to do it.

Dedee said...

It's amazing how much more fervent my prayers get now that I have kids who are out in the big wide world!

Thanks cute girl!

(Since I know you are a fashionista, what kind of earrings do you recommend to go with Kenny's necklace? It looks so fabulous, but I need some earrings to go with it. I'm just getting back in to jewelry and accessorizing after ignoring it for years and I'm lost on this one.)

Becca said...

Good words. And all good comments. You have lovely fans, you know.
I find myself in my kids' schools, thinking, I hope someone prayed for that kid today.

Stephanie Faris said...

I think we all need to pray more often...not just when we feel stressed but at all times, to count our blessings and let God know we have Him with us even when we aren't going through rough times.

Carolyn V. said...

Yes, I agree. Prayer is awesome. =) Loved your post today!

Amber said...

Moms need the extra strength from the Lord to accomplish their duties. Thank you!

Angie Muresan said...

Such a beautiful prayer. The only other thing I would add to mine, is for my children to have compassion for others.

Kimberly Vanderhorst said...

That was beautiful. Truly.

Amber Lynae said...

This is a wonderful post. Prayer is so important in our lives.