**This post was originally published in June of 2020, and I actually got a lot of backlash for writing it. Even now looking back over it, I am not sure why this post was met with so much anger, but I surprisingly kept it around and an republishing it today. Prayer is powerful and effective, and I am so thankful to hear of those who are willing to pray over my husband and his colleagues on a regular basis.
I always struggle a bit with how to talk about supporting police officers in a time when it’s not exactly popular to do. I have not shied away from expressing the fact that I WANT to use my platform here to rant and complain and cry and receive attention, since the last few weeks of our lives have been incredibly difficult. However, I feel that I cannot in good conscious publicly share the details of why it has been so challenging for us. For now, I will just leave it at the fact that it has been hard and it has been challenging.
Prayer seems like the weakest and smallest thing anyone could do at this time. However, it is actually exactly the opposite- it’s the most powerful and meaningful thing that could be done. Praying for an officer, reaching out to tell them that you have prayed for them is FAR more effective than posting a few memes on Facebook or even engaging in a civil conversation with friends. Again, I will not share many details, but the police officers in our country need our prayers right now. I hope that you will read through this list and find that it is not a trite list of prayers that elevate law enforcement officers above all others. It is a truly genuine cry that you pray not only for the law enforcement officers on the job, but for their hearts as well. Remember that these are individual men and woman who are facing great change and the unknown right now.
As always on this matter, I will include this brief disclaimer: Please do not ONLY be hearing my voice in this time. As I mentioned in my last blog post, I am not a person of color and so I cannot speak to that right now. However, I can seek out and listen to their voices, and I strongly encourage you to do the same.
I am, however, married to a law enforcement officer and so I am very immersed in that life and that is my current experience, which I feel like I can speak into. Again, I do not want my voice to be the loudest or the only one in the room, but I also feel like the things that we are experiencing are important.
Regardless of where you stand on this incredibly divisive issue, I would encourage you to pray for your local police officers, especially if you know one personally.
- Pray for their safety.
- Pray for wisdom on the job.
- Pray for friends for them who will step into positions of accountability, processing and encouragement
- Pray for relationships to build between officers and their communities
- Pray that the stresses of the job would not overflow into the lives of the children in law enforcement homes, but that families would work together to support one another while also finding peace and rest at home
- Pray for them to be able to rest and sleep at night (or during the day if they work night shift! ;))
- Pray for the words they say and the thoughts they think both on and off the job to be above reproach
- Pray for their families at home who are facing a lot of uncertainty, long hours and stress
- Pray that they will not second guess all of their decisions at work, but that they would still run towards the hard situations and calls, trusting their tactical training.
- Pray for their hearts to be guarded against bitterness, that they would respond to every person and every call without bias or reflections on hurt that has happened or is happening
- Pray specifically for the black and minority officers who are experiencing the fight for racial justice while feeling caught in the crossfire of also being a police officer
- Pray that through this they will turn to the Lord and his Word
- Pray for those who are losing their job or who have decided to quit, that as they move forward they would not become hardened, bitter, or feel like they are victims of this revolution, but that they would be willing to use these experiences to grow and impact the world for good.
- Pray for them to be able to listen to voices of their communities, and that gentle voices full of truth would be louder than insults and obscenities that are hurled at them
- Pray that communities would be willing to support law enforcement officers, both in calls for reform and accountability, and also in smiles, in encouragement and in continuing to allow officers to utilize businesses and be represented accurately for the hard work they do in society.
I appreciate each and every one of you who is taking the time to listen and learn and spend time in prayer for our family and the many other officers out there, as well as the communities they serve.
Thank you for this Suzanne. I will keep this and come back to it. I will keep praying for Theo and other officers as I pray too for equitable systemic changes.
I love that you are praying for the police. Do you have specific scriptures that we can pray? In our prayer group, I have committed to pray for the police while the other women are praying for the military, for children and other specific groups.
I wrote down most of these requests the first time you published these and pray them specifically for Theo, as well as in general. He is often in my prayers! At the same time, I also have requests for making equitable systemic changes, like Tam said. I don’t think that praying for one means we don’t pray for the other, so I don’t understand why people would be angry about this post.
Hi Suzanne– I am a good friend of your aunt Laurie Devalve. My youngest son is a state trooper. You voiced most of how I feel. I pray for LE daily and will continue to do so.