Saved From A Heavy Burden

This is not a prayer that is on my current prayer list, but something that I prayed for continually many years ago and God faithfully answered.

During this time, the United States was heavily engaged in Iraq and I would constantly hear about casualties from the war.  My brother was in the Army and scheduled to deploy to Iraq for one year.  Of course, I prayed for his safety, but there was one other thing I prayed for heavily: that he would never kill anyone.  I did not want my brother to bear that burden for the rest of his life.

My brother was in the infantry and the infantry was naturally seeing the heaviest casualties.  My brother's platoon was asked to patrol some of the most heated areas in Iraq.  On two separate occasions my brother saw suicide bombers explode right in front of him.  In one of those, he and his men were the intended targets.  The bomb detonated early.  My brother fell backwards but really had no more than bumps and bruises.  The fact that my brother came back home safe after completing the year, was an answer to prayer.

Yet, what was even more amazing was that my brother never killed anyone.  Every platoon in my brother's company was involved in a firefight and saw casualties except for my brothers.  His platoon had patrolled the same areas as the rest.  His platoon had hunted down suspected terrorists and they had brought in many suspects for questioning, but my brother never had to shoot anyone.  I am thankful that my brother came back from Iraq safe and without the burden of taking someone's life.