My late husband was drafted into the United States Army during the Vietnam War. Before he left for his one-year tour of duty, I was desperate to say something comforting or hopeful. All I could think of was, “Come back to us, and keep prayer close.” He responded, “I don’t believe God answers prayer anymore.”
I felt my heart drop. I was afraid for him, going into war without knowing the power of prayer. When I arrived home that day, I called a Christian Science practitioner and asked, “How do I pray for my husband, who is on his way to Vietnam?” In essence the practitioner replied, “Pray, pray, pray without ceasing.”
This echoes St. Paul’s counsel to the early Christians (see I Thessalonians 5:17). But how was I to do that? We had four children, all under nine, and one not quite three months old, so there was much to do besides pray.
I would ask God to help me see that only His love was on the battlefield. In God’s eyes, there were no enemies.
Each day I acknowledged God’s love and care for all of us and let Him lead me through the day. Once the children were in bed, I would study the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. I usually ended my reading with a prayer asking for continued guidance of all of us, including my husband. Then, feeling certain that divine Love was ever present—even on the battlefield—I would fall asleep in peace. This was my commitment to my husband and to the world.
When morning came, I was up early with the children. Even though I’d sometimes had little sleep, I still had plenty of energy to do what was needed for my family. Throughout the day, when thoughts of my husband in Vietnam would cross my mind, fear would creep in. At those moments I would ask God to help me see that only His love was on the battlefield. In God’s eyes, there were no enemies.
The ninety-first Psalm was my constant prayer. It begins: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust” (verses 1, 2). Then I held to the truth that divine Love is infinite and all-inclusive, so God is everywhere, protecting everyone.
My husband wrote to me each day about his life as a soldier. About three months into his tour of duty, he said that he had been promoted to sergeant first class and was responsible for thirty soldiers. Arrangements were made for him to attend a leadership class, but when circumstances prevented him from traveling, his commanding officer decided to send him back to his company without taking the class. Upon hearing these orders, my husband went to the officer to plead his case for being allowed to attend the class. He wanted to be the best leader possible and felt that without this class he might not have the skills needed to safely lead the men under his command. But the officer’s answer was still no, and my husband returned to the barracks with a heavy heart.
Divine Love is infinite and all-inclusive, so God is everywhere, protecting everyone.
Then it came to him that he could pray. So with all his heart he prayed late into the night. He didn’t know if God would answer him, but the next morning the officer came in and said he had thought it over and decided my husband should attend the leadership class after all. My husband wrote to me that he was so relieved and happy that his prayer was answered.
During the rest of his time in Vietnam, my husband and his platoon had some significant experiences of divine protection, and he gave God the credit for their safekeeping. One day they were out in the field, when mortar shells were fired upon them repeatedly from close range. But remarkably, none of the shells hit the ground where they were. Another time when the platoon was at their home base, my husband and two other soldiers had just left the mess hall together when a mortar shell hit the ground near them and exploded. All three men flew up in the air and hit the sides of the buildings, yet not one was hurt.
Another time when the patrol was out in the field along the border, they unexpectedly came upon an underground complex that went from Cambodia into South Vietnam and ended very close to their own army base. By the time my husband’s platoon made it down into the tunnels, the enemy soldiers were gone, and they had apparently left in a hurry. The platoon found maps of the US Army base with plans to overtake it. Before leaving, my husband’s men set charges and destroyed the underground complex and all its contents. Both sides were protected.
My husband told me there were times when he’d be in his bunk in the barracks, thinking about a mission he and his platoon would be going on the next morning, and he’d begin to shake and break out in a sweat. He’d think, “Maybe this time I won’t come back—I won’t make it.” But as he lay there trembling, an angel message from God would come to him, telling him not to fear, that he would return safely. At that moment he would feel the fear drop away, and he knew he would be all right.
At the end of my husband’s tour of duty, two weeks after he had left Vietnam and was in Japan, I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night feeling an urgent need to pray for the platoon he’d left behind. I realized I had stopped praying once I knew my husband was out of Vietnam and would soon be home. That night I prayed specifically for the platoon until I felt peaceful.
One day a few months after my husband’s return to the States, he brought home a soldier who had served under him in Vietnam. The soldier said that two weeks after my husband left Vietnam, the platoon was out in the field when they found themselves surrounded by enemy soldiers. They could not see a way out, but suddenly a fog rose up from the ground and they were able to escape to safety. I calculated that this was the same night I woke up with an urgent need to pray for the platoon.
“Did you all get out?” I asked. The soldier’s response was, “Yes, every one of us.” We were told that during the time my husband was in Vietnam, there were soldiers from other platoons requesting a transfer to my husband’s platoon because they thought he was lucky.
I am so grateful to know that, as the Bible says, God is “a very present help in trouble.”
