Defend Us in Battle

On June 24, 2005, Georgia J. received notice that her son (we’ll call him Kenny) fighting in Iraq with the National Guard, had been critically injured, and was being transported by helicopter to a level 4-5 trauma hospital in Iraq.  He had severe injuries; among them were collapsed lungs. One was totally collapsed, and the other 2/3. The voice on the phone grimly stated that Kenny might not make it out alive.  

When the information came, Georgia was alone.  “As I have known Jesus since I was a little girl, I immediately started to pray,” Georgia says, “But they were prayers without words, as my grief and stress were immense.”  Somehow Georgia sensed that God was asking her to give her son up to Him and of course, she could not.  Not right away, anyhow.  But as the minutes passed, Georgia slowly surrendered.  “He’s my only child, and it was really hard to say to the Lord, ‘do what is best for Kenny,” she says.  But just as Abraham was willing to sacrifice his beloved son at the Lord’s command, ultimately, Georgia did too. The next few hours would bring her the information she needed. Kenny would be either stabilized---or home in God’s arms. 

More minutes passed, and in the silence, Georgia now sensed the Lord speaking to her (“it was very clear and brought me immediate peace for some reason”).  “He said He has a special place in His Heart for soldiers and that they will receive a reward that no one else will have, that this is a Holy War and must be fought," she says.  Then Georgia felt a presence in her living room and felt arms around her as she sat in her chair. She looked around, through her tears, but there was no one there.

After twenty minutes or so, the phone rang.  It was the Red Cross, calling to say that the trauma team had stabilized Kenny, and he was en route to Landstuhl Army Medical Center in Germany.  “A friend had come to my house by that time and we prayed,” Georgia says.  “We were sitting on the deck outside and it was getting dark. As we closed our prayer I happened to look up, and I saw a robed man holding a long sword: he told me he had protected my son against the enemy and then he disappeared.”

It is well known that Michael the Archangel does battle for us, both spiritually and physically.  Was the figure him?  Georgia isn’t sure if it was the Lord or an angel who appeared to her, but the reassurance was what she needed.  “I don’t think the war is really about oil or imperialism---like I thought it was---but whole tribes of people are getting massacred, so it makes sense to me that God would need someone to protect them.”

Not wanting to get involved in political arguments, Georgia kept this experience to herself, sharing it (until now) with only a few close friends.  “Kenny ‘coded’ five or six times during his first few days in ICU, and was unconscious for a week, so for awhile it was touch and go,” Georgia says. “But that kid had so many prayer chains going for him that heaven couldn’t help but hear.” Today Kenny is still in the Guard, taking medicine for a kidney condition and struggling with some damaged depth perception but otherwise in good shape.  And Georgia is looking forward to meeting the angel who did battle for him.

(C) 2006  Joan Wester Anderson  www.joanwanderson.com