Tragedy Turned Hope

We listened, and our hearts sank, at shocking news about someone we know. We didn't know the person on a daily basis or even have them to our house, but we have reaped enough of their wisdom to want to call them a friend. 

The news was shocking, disheartening, and to some maybe even unforgivable, but to us, it was an immediate picture of the size of grace and vastness of love. 

We heard the news. We stopped everything and prayed. We prayed because we aren't going to let the devouring one have the upper hand in this anymore. We aren't going to join the masses that beat down what's already been broken. We prayed because we have hope, and it's bigger than the shock.

God is bigger than what shocks you. 

He loves deeper than what breaks you. 

I've seen texts and heard calls and I'm surrounded by ones also in this holy war. A war against slander and judgement. A war for truth and the future. Could we believe that this will leave an imprint, more beautiful than what it looked like before? We can. And we will. 

Instead of making things complicated, today, let's love the lost. Let's place eyes on them and burn with what He sees. The lost may be a neighbor or a relative, it may be you and it may be me. Jesus, dissolve our shock and fill our lacks with unconditional love. 

Cheers to a better week than ever before. Hope.