On the morning of December 8th, 1944, General Patton called Third Army Chaplain James O’Neill.

Terrible rains were keeping the United States Army General from defeating the Nazis. They were no match for the U.S. and Allied forces, but unusually heavy rains bogged down Patton’s Third Army for two months leading up to the Battle of the Bulge. What the Nazis were unable to do on their own was taken care of by the weather – keeping the third Army and the Allied forces at bay.

That morning, General Patton knew what needed to be done to win the war – that’s why he called.

“Do you have a good prayer for weather? We must do something about those rains if we are to win the war,” he said to his Chaplain. O’Neill responded that he did not know but would look for one.

“How much praying is being done in the Third Army?” Patton pressed. O’Neill thought for a moment before asking, “By the chaplains or by the troops?” Patton responded, “By everybody?”

O’Neill paused before responding. “I am afraid to admit it, but I do not believe that much praying is going on. When there is fighting, everyone prays, but now with this constant rain – when things are quiet, dangerously quiet – men just sit and wait for things to happen. Prayer out here is difficult.”

General Patton took that opportunity to explain to his chaplain the power of prayer.

“Chaplain, I am a strong believer in Prayer. There are three ways that men get what they want; by planning, by working, and by praying. Any great military operation takes careful planning, or thinking. Then you must have well-trained troops to carry it out: that’s working. But between the plan and the operation there is always an unknown. That unknown spells defeat or victory, success or failure…some people call that getting the breaks; I call it God. God has His part in everything. That’s where prayer comes in.”

O’Neill understood. The chaplain had just been schooled by his general about the power of prayer.

When he couldn’t find a good prayer for weather in the prayer books that he thought would be acceptable for the task at hand, he decided to write one himself. Here’s what he wrote:

Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies and establish Thy justice among men and nations. Amen.

The chaplain’s short and simple prayer was printed on small, wallet-sized cards and distributed to each of the 250,000 soldiers in the Third Army from December 12th through the 14th, 1944.

They were asked to spend the next two days reading the prayer and asking God to stop the rain.

And that’s when General Patton and the Allied forces got their breakthrough.

Two days later, they had six straight days of perfect weather. The entire battle was turned around.

Over the next few weeks, with the help of Allied troops to the north, the Nazis were pushed back. Close to the end of the battle, when the troops were on the offensive and victory was near, Patton saw the chaplain and smiled. “Well Padre, our prayers worked. I knew they would,” he said.

The general was right. We can plan. We can work. But between the plan and the work, there’s always the unknown. And the difference between defeat or victory, success or failure, is prayer.