A Prayer For A Shocked Country

Heavenly Father,
If you don't mind, I'd like to ask few questions this afternoon. Why do people do senseless things? Why are there presently over 30 families mourning the loss of loved ones due to the senseless and heinous act of one individual? Why are there several more people in hospital rooms wondering why he committed this senseless act and changed their lives forever? Why are there many people wandering around V.T.'s campus right now wondering why this horrible thing has happened? Why is it that suddenly people have to feel mourning for the dead and guilt at the same time because they are glad that it wasn't them? Why did this happen?

What caused that young man to decide that taking the lives of others and himself was the only answer he could come up with? Did someone walk by him on the street the day before that could have made a difference if they'd only made eye contact with him? If we had all prayed for our world a little harder could this have been prevented?

Lord, I find myself with a broken heart - for all those families full of hurt, anger, and unanswered questions - for the scared people of the world that are wondering if they or their families could be next - for that young man who apparently felt that his life had come to a place where this senseless act was the only way to get the answers he needed.

One day maybe I'll get the answers I want - but in the meantime, I'm gonna have to lean on you even harder. I'm gonna have to have more faith that you are in control even when it doesn't feel like it. I'm gonna have to hold tighter to my little ones, my hubby, my parents, my brother, my aunts and uncles, my cousins, my grandma, my best-friends, and all the friends that have come to mean so much to me, because I don't know when any of them won't be there to hold tight to tomorrow.

Father, please help us to love one another. Help us to reach out to those in need. Help us to recognize a need when it's sitting on the tip of our noses and then give us the strength to meet it. Help us not to judge to harshly for we never know when we may be sitting in the judgement chair. Help us to be like you.

Amen