Testimonies

Group offers prayer support to family whose son died in Iraq
By Paulette George

As I walked through the parking lot of the school I pray for weekly in my Moms in Prayer group, the high school principal shared tragic news: “Susan Nelson’s son Ricky died in Iraq yesterday.”   

Shocked, I agonized for another mother, the administrator of our school. Six marines had come to the Nelson’s with the news. Ricky had been with two other Marines when a roadside bomb exploded, two of the Marines were killed. One was their son.  

Our Moms in Prayer group met and prayed for comfort for the Nelson’s and his beautiful young wife. We prayed that Ricky’s life would be a testimony to our community.  

During a school memorial, cameras and reporters fixed on Susan and Lennie Nelson and their daughter-in-law, Kristen. Susan addressed the crowd. She could have cried out in anger at those who took her son's life, or she could have told how hard this was. Instead, she witnessed. 

“I want to publicly say … Ricky is with Jesus. That is what our purpose in life is: to someday spend eternity with Him.” Then she encouraged others to be sure of where they would go if they died.   

The front page of the local paper headlined her words of faith. Our prayer group wondered if God was answering our prayer that through this tragedy Ricky's life would be a testimony. 

When the leader of The Patriot Guard Riders, a group which honors the life of fallen soldiers, learned I was the Moms In Touch (now Moms in Prayer) group leader at Susan's school, he asked me to pray with the members. I was surprised to see 75 to 100 in attendance. This was not my plan, but I knew whose it was. In the midst of the pain and tears surrounding Ricky’s death, God was fulfilling His promise to "work all things together for good."   

David, Ricky’s brother, said Ricky and the men with him were singing “Amazing Grace” when he died.  There was no doubt this song was finished in the presence of the Lord.       

Written by Paulette George, Freelance Writer/Moms In Touch group leader,
Christian Life School, Kenosha, Wisconsin

Prayer for Grieving Parents
 Heavenly Father, our hearts break over the death of a child, any child. We pray you comfort the hearts of the mothers grieving the loss of a child. Be their strength and endurance. We pray you replace their agony with a peace that passes all understanding.