When Tragedy Strikes

           Another school shooting. Another tragedy. Lives lost so senselessly.

          I'll admit, it's very hard for me to watch the news lately. So many unconscionable acts of violence because of hatred and bigotry. When it comes to my own family, I can't help but pray for their safety. Who wouldn't, in a world like ours?

          Even though I know that worrying can't change a thing, I still feel a certain amount of anxiety every time I drop them off at school. I realize that worrying about my kids is part of being a caring parent. Yet, for so long, I struggled with my emotions. After all, doesn't God urge us not to worry?

          As I studied the Scriptures, I gradually came to understand that worrisome thoughts are not a sin, for I am human, and the devil will continually try to trip me up by whispering, "What if...?" But it's what I do with those thoughts that matters. I can choose to ignore Satan's whispers, or allow them to take root in my mind. I can take them to the cross and leave them there, or I can keep them close and nurse them into a heavy, wearisome burden I was never intended to carry.

          Psalm 139:16 says, "All the days ordained for me were written in your book, before one of them came to be" (NIV). God has ordained the number of days each one of us will live, before we are even born. In other words, we are immortal until the day God has predestined for us to enter into eternity.

          Worrying about my family's safety won't add a single day to their earthly lives. No matter what I do or what I think, I cannot keep them here on earth one day longer than God has already ordained. So, rather than becoming a slave to my worries, I give those cares over to God -- even if I have to do so every time those negative thoughts flitter through my brain -- trusting Him with each one of those I love.

          After all, the safest place we can be is in God's care.