Prayer for Oklahoma

Lord, who are these people, Your created children, who suffer pain deeper than words?

A mommy who lost her precious 3rd grader in this devastating tornado-monster in Oklahoma yesterday?

That daddy who thought his child would be safe 
learning at school?

A little boy who can’t imagine never playing ball with his best friend again?

A young couple who had just started out and now their carefully-planned future 
lies in a flattened pile of rubble? 

An elderly man and his wife who just wanted to live out their final days on earth in peace?

The OK firefighter who usually assists others, now facing his own need for help?

Those first-responders climbing and clawing through the jagged boards looking for a glimpse of life–their minds and bodies throbbing with compassion fatigue…yet they work on?

God, I lift up these men and women, boys and girls to You. 
I only taste their pain, while they are drowning in it. 
I’m removed; miles away. YOU are there. “You are close to the brokenhearted.”*
Hold their hurting hearts and may they sense Your presence.
Because of Jesus, I come to You knowing that you hear me 
and the myriads of others who pray.
Amen.

*Psalm 34:18 NIV

---