God bless Texas

By Kristen Banks

It’s hard to joke and feel light hearted when our next-door neighbors in the state of Texas are going through such a terrible catastrophe as the flooding and havoc wreaked by Hurricane Harvey this last week.

In this patchwork that makes up our great nation, when one of us is torn the rest of us are affected. Just like a quilt, if one piece is damaged, it’s impossible not to notice the deficiency in the whole work itself.

It’s hard to make sense of tragedies like this. There are so many questions, and so few answers. There are so many people hurting, misplaced, or even lost. Right now lives are changed, things are broken, and there are some things tragically, that will never be the same again.

In times like these it’s easy to feel helpless, like anything you could do, say, or have to give is so small up against the need that you don’t want to try at all. Faith can be lost and discouragement begins to settle in. Discouragement leads to disagreements and finger pointing. One thing is for sure: there is not one of us who could have “caused” this storm and there is not one of us who could have stopped it either.

Instead of letting tragedies like this tear us apart at the seams, these are the times when we should all come together to bind up the broken hearted, bear with the grief stricken, and do our best to mend the damage that’s been done to our beautiful country. If we all do what little we can, just like a quilt is made one tiny stitch at a time, we might be able to put this state and this nation back together again.

It might not look exactly the same, but it can still be turned into something beautiful, a thing that we can all come together to love, appreciate, and enjoy.

A lot of people won’t be able to provide physical or monetary aid for our friends in Texas, but we can all say a prayer. We can pray that God gives us strength, peace, and comfort. We can pray that He gives us the opportunity to aid and love each other in the ways that we are able, that He softens our hearts and helps us to be understanding of each other in this difficult time, and that we are able to see Him in each other as we put the pieces back together and move forward.

Please agree with me, if you can, and pray this prayer as we ask for God to Bless Texas.