YouVersion Logo
Search Icon

The Greatest WarriorSample

The Greatest Warrior

DAY 6 OF 7

 God Will Light Your Path

Hernando & Mari Peña 

Master Sergeant, US Army, Retired

I was deployed away from my wife, Mari, and our 16-day-old son just two months after the Twin Towers fell. When I returned home, I decided to retire after many years in the Army.

We decided to have another child. But my retirement was stopped and when our new daughter was about one-year-old, I was deployed again.

As I led a team in tracking down insurgents, I witnessed some of my men getting killed – men that I had desperately wanted to return to their wives and families in one piece. 

Then I found myself in the middle of an IED blast that shook me severely and left me with a brain injury. 

As I tried to leave the war behind me, I found that I had actually brought it home with me to my family. The flashbacks and nightmares led to jumpiness and anxiety. I was unleashing a full-blown rage. As my drinking became heavy, my moral compass began to spin out of control. I needed help.

I’ll let my wife tell the rest of the story.

Hernando went from being an attentive, kind, affectionate husband and father to a paranoid, hallucinating, spirit-crushing stranger. 

I received an email from a friend, inviting me to church to hear someone speak about combat trauma. As they described the symptoms, my jaw dropped. I began to pray with desperation and hope. 

A couple from the church asked us to get together with them once a week to pray. As they learned our story, they immersed us in the Bible. 

Slowly my husband’s heart began to soften. I knew I’d never have the man that I married, but God gave me a deep love for the new man that my husband had become.

Life is still challenging but I believe that God will continue to light the path that we are on together.

PRAYER: Lord, bring Your life and truth of Your Word into the pain of my past. Bring Your healing. Shine Your light in the darkness of my life and give me hope. 

Scripture

Day 5Day 7

About this Plan

The Greatest Warrior

God, why would You let good men die? Why wouldn’t You let me die with my friends? If you have questions like these, then you’ve come to the right place. In this series, you will hear stories from warriors who have struggled with these very questions. These warriors consider themselves to be part of something bigger – part of God’s story. 

More