Dear Lord:
We thank you for the beauty of the earth, the freedom you have given we Americans to make our determination about how to live our lives and for the love and hope that your very being as Our Creator provides us daily. But many of us are troubled this day, the day after the official Veterans Day and the day in which our nation celebrates it as a national holiday. We are troubled because after all of the many wars that our young men and women have fought, after the sacrifice they have given with time and physical injury for her cause, many still don't receive the love and help that they need to repair their lives from the ordeal they went through. Injury, pain, suffering, in many cases physical damage, but for others an unseen mental impact, have crippled so many and limited their lives, some even to the point of being a living hell.
Many of these brave Americans were volunteers, others were drafted and answered their call. They willingly gave themselves to the dangerous service that was put before them and paid a price that so many more of us were fortunate to avoid. Some who came home at the end of their service injured and anticipating help, received a figurative "band aid" for their cure and eventually gave up, opting to live in pain or even disappear into the lost world of homelessness. Others have fought the system relentlessly to no avail, yet continue to try and get what they need with the same determination that they used on the battlefield. Whatever happened, it doesn't matter, for it is this nation's responsibility to care for them and make their lives as whole as possible. And if we would put the same effort into meeting that responsibility as we do in preparing for and entering war, it seems that it could be accomplished. So, Lord, we pray that you will infect the minds and souls of all of our leaders and politicians, as well as the hearts of all our citizens, to actively do the right thing for the forgotten heroes and make the remainder of their lives as comfortable as possible so they can cope and live with a smile once again on their face.
Furthermore, Lord, we ask that you instill in all of us the will to try our utmost to avoid compromising on this issue by listening to your guidance. While we know that strife will never be completely ended in a world sometimes so filled with animosity and hate, we do know that with you in our hearts and in the hearts of our leaders we will be able to discern the difference between the necessity of war and a tool too easily used before all else has been tried.
Thank you, Lord, for being here with us and giving us the time to speak with you reverently about such a serious subject. And we ask this prayer in the name of Lord Jesus, who you gave for us on the Cross so that we all might have the opportunity to belief and thereby enter your Eternal Kingdom when our life on earth is done, Amen.