God's Promise Keepers - As Our Nation Grieves

In light of today's horrific events in an elementary school in Connecticut, I'm delaying sending out the Christmas Grief Relief post I prepared for today.  It will be published tomorrow.  Like so many others, I cannot stop the tears as I think of frightened children, the same age as some of our grandchildren, their parents, grand parents, siblings.  A School Principal, teachers - we don't yet know names but every one of us is connected to the human horror that took place in an elementary school that just celebrated Christmas last night.

Newscasters search for words and try to hold back tears as their own imaginations take over and they think about their little ones and like people across America want to rush to the schools of their children and sweep them up and hug them tightly and take them to their safe homes.  The terror is that Evil reigned in this school and trying to stop it from striking again seems hopeless.

I resonated with the mother of a young woman killed at Columbine, who spoke through her sobs, expressing her own heartbreak that families of these "babies" have no idea of the long, painful path on which they find themselves....how they will shut off part of their souls so they won't have to experience the full grief all at once....that there is no shortcut through grief....the mother of a young woman who physically survived Columbine but dropped out of school at sixteen, whose best friends committed suicide....who suffered from terrible nightmares....who just now can sit in a classroom....the mother trying to describe the terrible ripple effect of this terrible Thing, this EVIL THING...and how all those who experienced Columbine have been thrust back in to the horror by today's events.

I had to go to bed and sleep this afternoon to try to regroup from the physical impact of the slamming wave of grief that stirred up such deep empathy for these bereaved families.  I know, I KNOW, their journey will take them to the edge of hell, where they will need help to survive.

People ask, "Where was God in that school?"  Where was He indeed?  God did not carry the guns into the school, but God will be present in the aftermath, in the hearts, hands and feet of those who go to comfort and encourage and try to help their friends and neighbors take tiny steps into the new normal.  God with skin on.  Without those people, coming to us in our grief journey, we would not have survived. And God makes promises to those who love His Son, Jesus.  And sometimes He keeps those promises through those who step into the grief with us.  I'm praying for those who are struggling to even breathe today. But also for those who will be God's Promise Keepers - the ones who will stand in the gap, who won't try to answer why or explain what happened but will simply be present, will simply be God's presence.

In His grip with you,
Sharon