Tuesday's brutal and senseless act at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, has created a community of parents who are at the beginning of their grief journeys after losing a child. For seven, eight and nine year-old children, maybe there is a chance they could die from an illness, or an accident. It makes no sense that they died from gunshot wounds at their elementary school. It makes no sense that nineteen children were killed along with their two teachers. But it happened, regardless. Now the families are left to try to make sense of a senseless act.
I pray for the community of Uvalde, Texas. I pray for the teachers, staff, and families who are a part of Robb Elementary School. I pray for the first responders who risked their lives and worked a horrendous crime scene that will be etched in their memories forever. Most of all, I pray for the families who lost loved ones, especially the parents of the children and teachers who were killed. After the dignitaries visit and go home; after the press moves on to the next story; and after the memorial services end and the attention falls away; the parents will be left with the unanswerable questions, with the prolonged grief, and with the pain of losing a child. I pray these parents will have the resources to talk through their grief, and they have a faith in God that will guide them through. It is times like these when I wish Love Never Ends peer support groups were available in every city and town, especially Uvalde. We are working on recruiting and training facilitators and starting new groups. If you would like to start a group in your community, send an email to info@loveneverendsministry.org to let me know.