War-time Love Letters

From 1939 to 1945, more than 100 million personnel from more than thirty countries were involved in World War II (WWII).

Many wondered whether this global combat would ever end. My father, Harry, was a part of this conflict. He enlisted in the United States Army and served overseas at a small island in the South Pacific called New Caledonia.

He had met my mother, Rose, on a blind date before his deployment, and they were apart for thirty months. For almost three years, they wrote letters to each other every day. Mail took one to four weeks to cross the ocean.

The dedication in these daily letters kept them connected and began forming a bond of love that would forever link their hearts.

My father returned to the United States when the war ended in December 1945 and was married to my mother for sixty-two years.

As I was journaling prayers to my heavenly Father (which I have done now for more than fifteen years), it struck me how much my daily letters to Him were like my parents’ letters during the war. Just as my father was enlisted to fight in WWII, as a believer in Christ, I am enlisted in Christ’s army. For over six thousand years, this planet has been in a war with evil forces. These spiritual conflicts with evil continue to rage about us though many are oblivious to them. But we know from prophecy that this war will end, and Satan and sin will be destroyed forever. And just as my father came back from war and married my mother, Jesus will come to marry His bride (the church) and take her home to heaven with Him. The preface to a book by a favorite writer of mine states, “Prayer is the channel of communication between our souls and God... We cannot weary or burden Him by our frequent heart-to-heart communications.”* Let us commit to developing that love relationship with our Lord so that when He comes, we will be ready for that marriage with Him, which will last forever.

Karen M. Phillips