THANKFUL

Chatting with Jesus

Thursday, March 30, 2023

Lord, our heavy hearts still grieve with the families and friends of the innocents slaughtered in the Nashville school shooting. You grieve with them as well, but in our grief, we overlook how Your heart grieves for another family who lost a child, their daughter.

The parents of the shooter must be devastated in ways we can never understand. Shock. Guilt. Disbelief. Shame. Denial … All our inadequate human words fail to describe the pain of their devastated souls. The devil, the originator of this evil, probably wasted no time playing the “what if” and the “if only” game with them, multiplying their pain. We don’t know the status of their relationship with You, but we pray they are responding as Your Spirit reaches out to them. May we offer our prayers as well. We all need You, Jesus.

Lord, did this family lose their daughter long before the school shooting? Perhaps, while searching for meaning in life, trying to find her purpose, she got caught up in a counterculture that offers a fantasy world denying reality. Maybe spiritually blinded by Satan’s lies, she felt rejected and lost hope for this life. The manifesto she left may explain why she took out her anger in such a vengeful manner. Sadly, this confused young lady’s eternal fate is forever sealed. Oh, Lord, if only she would have called on You instead.

Only You, Lord God, can mend broken hearts, heal crushed spirits, and resurrect dreams. Only You can restore hope to the broken whose lives are forever changed by immense sadness hanging over them. You will redeem and comfort all who cry out to You.  But Lord, how terribly sad for those who refuse to call upon You. How painful it must be to grieve without hope.

Lord, in our darkest hours, You are our hope. Amen, Jesus.