most richly blessed

Perhaps no prayer written on the Civil War battlefield had such lasting resonance as the one recovered from the body of a dead Confederate soldier, found in Devil’s Den after the Battle of Gettysburg.

I asked You, God, for strength that I might achieve,
I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey;
I asked for health that I might do greater things,
I was given infirmity that I might do better things;
I asked for riches that I might be happy,
I was given poverty that I might be wise;
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men,
I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God;
I got nothing that I asked for,
but everything I hoped for;
I am among all men most richly blessed.


One Nation Under God: The History of Prayer in America by James P. Moore, Jr. Doubleday, 2005. p.176