On Dec. 15, 2012, the day after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, I remember driving my kids to school.
I remember the emotions backing out of my driveway looking at Grace and Jude, knowing the horror of events just hours earlier in Newtown, Connecticut. I drove slower that day telling them how precious they were to their dad and me. As a mom, my five-minute drive to school was one that I wanted to never end.
When I pulled to the school to let the kids out, I remember praying out loud and passionately. I prayed for their protection; I prayed for their security; and I prayed that God would heal the broken hearts of the parents of Sandy Hook Elementary that didn’t have children to drop off that day.
In this Dec. 14, 2012 file photo, as hundreds stand outside St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, which was filled to capacity, a couple embrace during a healing service held in for victims of a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Gunman Adam Lanza opened fire inside the school earlier that day, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
Almost exactly three years after the Sandy Hook shooting, the Los Angeles County Schools shut down due to a bomb threat. More than 1,500 schools were shut down and approximately 650,000 kids felt a fear that no child should ever experience. When the schools reopened on Wednesday, parents no doubt struggled with their own fears as they drove their children to school.
No matter the city or district, one thing is clear: the biggest fear of any parent is that something would happen to their child.
[sharequote align="center"]The biggest fear of any parent is that something would happen to their child.[/sharequote]
As a mom of four children, if something were to happen to any of them it would be undoubtedly the most devastating experience of my life. Schools don’t even feel safe anymore. I remember the days when I was in school when the biggest threat was being sent to detention. We felt safe, and bomb threats and school shootings weren’t even a possibility. Today, our culture has mourned hundreds of acts of school violence. Although I wish we could go back to safer days, we are faced with the horrifying reality that these acts of terror are present in our culture.
So, what do we do as parents? How are we supposed to cope with these endless, meaningless tragedies?
My husband and I have chosen put our faith and trust in God’s protection over the four lives He entrusted us with. We know that God loves our children more than we do, and He goes with them to school when we can’t. In the wake of the Sandy Hook anniversary and the recent bomb threats, it’s hard to remember this truth when our children are our most precious possession; however, God tells us in Psalm 91:11-12.
“For He (God) will give his angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in there hands that you do not strike your foots against a stone.”
We are trusting God to do that with our children. We have also decided to pray for the protection of the schools our children attend. We pray for the administration, for the teachers and for the staff,
I challenge you to do the same. When you as a parent aren’t present with your child, pray for God’s presence to protect them. Trust also, that God will also give his angels charge concerning your child. In times like these if you feel the same way I do, turning to the Lord is the most powerful thing we can do.
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