We are living in a very trying time. In light of recent events, like the October 1, 2017 shooting in Las Vegas, there has been a magnifying glass put on hate. Not to mention natural disasters like Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. People are hurting, frightened and angry. I’m going to preface this blog by saying I am not going to spell out my political views for you guys. There are enough political blogs on the internet.
What I will say is that I am praying for all of those that have been affected by these events and are feeling anxious, hopeless or depressed because of them. In particular, violent happenings can seem like an everyday occurrence and I don’t want to become numb to them. I can remember when I was in 5th grade and the Columbine High School shooting happened in Colorado or in 8th grade and the Twin Towers in New York City came crashing down.
I remember the confusion as a kid and sadness surrounding these events. Back then, I had big dreams of becoming a journalist and watched a glut of coverage on each tragedy. Since my middle school and junior high aged days, there have been more senseless acts of violence.
When the Sandy Hook shooting happened in December 2012, I remember just weeping for those families and praying for them. At the time, my husband and I were talking seriously about starting a family and my heart was broken over those children that lost lives and their dear families with holes in their hearts.
One of the biggest revelations I had after my son was born was that everyone is someone’s child. If you are a parent, you know that there is so much work in the beginning for little return. Yes, newborns are cute (well most of them 😆) but they require a lot of effort. Feeding and changing and sleep deprivation in the first months can be overwhelming but the love and joy of watching a human grow from birth is indescribable.
In times when unfortunate event like this happen, I always comeback to 3 things. Firstly, nothing is promised. My health. My possessions. My family My friends. Nothing. Secondly, how can I show my little bubble how much I care about them because nothing is promised. Thirdly, people are not that different. We all came into this world as helpless infants and someone -hopefully- loved us enough to care for us in the beginning when we could not do anything for ourselves.
If you know me personally, you know I will stop and pray for you. ANYWHERE. Walmart. The Gym. Outside a church service. Wherever. My faith in God is too great and He has done too much for me to not stop to pray someone who is in need or hurting.
To those of you that are wondering why these tragedies happen, I do not know. What I do know is that I’ve experienced a real love and peace from God that I would’ve never known otherwise. I trust Him with my worries and my whole life. And even though I don’t know everything and can’t prove to you that He’s real, I am a better person for believing in Him.
That being said. I’m going to trust God with my friends and my family and our future as a Americans. My children, age 3 and 11 months, are too little to know what is going on. I want those precious little humans to believe that there is still good in the world and that Mom and Dad believe in a loving heavenly Father. I want them to know that their parents love them fiercely and there’s nothing that will ever get in the way of that. I want them to know that when we fail and have short comings, there is Someone who is filling in those parenting gaps. I want them to know that their parents put their actions where their mouths are and when we say we’ll “pray for you”, we’re not being polite but we follow through on those words. And with that being said….
Dear God,
I thank you for blessing me with with being born in this country. It is truly a privilege. I thank you that you have blessed me with food, clean water and shelter and that I am in want for nothing. I pray for America today. I pray that you will heal those that are hurting and afraid. I pray for those that have recently lost loved ones and that they would know that they are not alone. There are so many people that are thinking about them during this time and wanting to help them. Although it won’t bring their loved ones back, I pray that they would feel comforted in knowing how many people are supporting them during this time and that you would be with them.
I thank you for the first responders that were able to help in these recent tragedies. I pray for the things that they saw and anything that they are emotionally carrying with them from timely care. I pray for healing and peace for them as they continue to care for others.
I also pray for the political leaders and lawmakers. Give them the wisdom to carry out help as they need to do their jobs and the funds to carry out relief efforts.
I pray that during this time, we will fuse together as a nation. Putting our differences aside to help one another and move forward. I thank you that you are working even now and that we can trust you with our whole hearts. I know that this breaks your heart as you watch us hurt. I pray that Tour peace, comfort and healing would seep into every wound of those that are hurting. I pray that you would take the blinders off of our eyes and remind us that we’re not that different after all.
In Jesus name I pray, Amen. ❤️🙏🏾🕯️✝️
Psalm 34:18 NIV – The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.