Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine art the Power, and the Glory, and the Kingdom forever.
Please accept the heartfelt best wishes of this protestant in your hour of need. I can’t pray to saints for intercession, but I still share Faith in God. Yes, I am using faith as a proper noun because even I know that there is only one true Faith. I’m just excommunicated for a bit until we reconcile with the Church.
Still, I’m sure we both know that Faith can give extraordinary strength and peace to men. I know from war, where I thought death was certain. Truly, I had no idea what I was doing at first, I thought I was going to die and get all of my Marines killed as well.
Never lost a battle, or even one Marine, because I surrendered to the Will of God. I trusted His hand to guide me, even if it meant my death, and He delivered. Rather than being broken by the war, I came to see God’s perfect design in everything. He never tasks us with anything we can’t handle, only those things which lead us closer to Him.
I look around at this whole universe, and I realize it is true. Bounded on all sides by infinity, a concept we cannot understand, with only this one enemy, entropy, and only one weapon to combat it: life. The process of creating ever-greater order. Whether we want to or not, that is what God has tasked us with.
Do I know why,? No, I have no idea what the hell we’re creating and I don’t need to. It appears to be something so awesome that it would take hours to explain. Within that perfect design, God took the time to explain to us how to live good lives, and grant us forgiveness using an aspect of His own being when we screw it up. How amazing is that? Apparently amazing enough to create a world where religions last thousands of years, and nothing else does.
I could go on for hours, and will if you desire, but the point is that God has given you the strength to both live and die. It is right here in this community where even heretics like me will hold your hand, come what may.