That was me, in 1998 at the Westside Middle School shooting. We all have different stories about that horrific day, but as another day much similar to that one unfolds today for the poor babies and families in Newton, Connecticut-we are remembering painfully what happened here in our own community, and the heartbreak we feel because we know what that town is experiencing right now.
Father God,
I lift up to you, as are people around the entire world right now, the community of Newtown CT. There are parents and siblings Lord, just like me, who simply hold a picture and pray that their family was not one of the ones killed. Lord, there are pure and innocent children, like my sister and SO many others, who will forever remember the gunshots, remember the blood stained hallways, remember the screams, remember everything. forever. Hold them near. Lord there are teachers, like our sweet Mrs Spencer and so many others here, who risked their lives today to save their students. There are families who have waited and waited and waited, only to find out that their mom or son or daughter is not coming out alive. And Father, I ask you to wrap your Daddy arms around them, all of them, and comfort them in a supernatural way today. Send your angels to do battle in the heavenlies so the sweet sweet souls affected by this tragedy today are not mocked by the enemy and are safely able to grieve and to weep and to learn and to grow from this, without outside interference. Many paths will be chosen today God, for many people, and I ask that you be there with them as I know you already are, guiding the decisions they make and the healing that will take place for the rest of their lives. God I thank you today, for the Glory I know is yours, and the beauty that I know you will turn this mess into. Because that is who you are, and something very beautiful will come of this awful tragedy. It just has to. And whether that gift is faith or forgiveness or grace for the human race we may not ever know, but we can rest assured that You Father are THERE. You are in this. And You have something to say. God I thank you from the bottom of my heart for my sister. When I hear of tragedies like this I am no longer a 25 year old level headed adult--I am a terrified 9 year old child praying over a picture of her sister, begging you, "please God, not Brittany. Please God, not her." And it wasn't her. And thanking you once will never be enough for me although I know you know how grateful I am to still have her. We all take for granted the loved ones in our lives Lord and the unconditional love that we should always show them, as well as our brothers and sisters in the world. Father may we take many lessons from this tragedy, LOVE, being one of them. I pray for the peace in which only you can provide God, for the community of Newtown. I seek guidance for the community of Jonesboro--may we unite and find a way to collectively be there for the families in Connecticut. The entire world was with us here during our tragedy, and Lord may we find the strength and the ability to be there for them during theirs. One of the most helpful tools in healing God is knowing we are not alone in the fight, that we have people rooting on our behalf. Well God, I ask that you show us as the Jonesboro community, how to root on the behalf of Newtown, Connecticut. Lord we love you so much, and we trust that you are faithful and have plans of GOOD for us and not of harm. So we offer this up to You. We surrender our grief and our pain and understand that you have bigger and better plans for those sweet babies who lost their lives today, and wow what we KNOW you are going to do in the lives of the families here on earth who lost them. Thank you for taking this from us. We know you are big enough to handle our questions and our anger and our confusion, and as our perfect Daddy we thank you for that, for you too know what it's like to lose a son. Thank you for Him. And it's in His name I pray to you now,
Amen
