Engraved in the Palm of His Hand

My thoughts were born in the same place that many of my deeper thoughts are woven together: the quiet monotony of rocking my baby to sleep. The four older children had brushed their teeth, listened to  two chapters of a book, and gone to bed, but Alaine's lashes still refused to meet.  Swaddling her and holding her close, I paced the room, half-listening to the special news report broadcasting on the TV.  Broken people gathered in an athletic arena to hear the President offer words regarding Saturday's shooting tragedy in Arizona. 

He spoke a few words and I began to rock in place, drawn to what he had to say.  While he spoke words of tribute to the victims, sympathy to those who lost loved ones, and praise to the heroes, I was struck by the absence of hope. 

"There is nothing I can say that will fill the sudden hole torn in your hearts," he said. 

But there is One who can fill the holes, mending the hurts. We are unlike them who have no hope. We are not immune to pain.  We still ache and we still groan for relief, but  "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." 

"We are grateful for... a volunteer in Gabby's office who ran through the chaos to minister to his boss... We are grateful for the men who tackled the gunman as he stopped to reload. We are grateful for...Patricia Maisch, who wrestled away the killer's ammunition...And we are grateful for the doctors and nurses and emergency medics who worked wonders to heal those who'd been hurt."
 

The list stopped there while my own heart cried out, "Are we not  also thankful  to God, the one who placed those heroes among the chaos of that day?  Who gave strength to the hands of the medical workers?  Who gave healing to the victims, if not our Lord?" 

"Scripture tells us that there is evil in the world, and that terrible things happen for reasons that defy human understanding."

I am so grateful that His word also assures that, though we do live in a fallen world and we don't always understand why bad things are allowed to happen, we that know Him have hope.  Even when He seems to be silent, He is moving.

I've always loved the story of Elijah in I Kings 19.  Finding himself in a desperate situation, Elijah was waiting for the presence of the Lord.  Having been witness to the awesome power of God,  he assumed  the Lord would show Himself in a powerful way.  After looking for the Lord in the wind and the earthquake and the fire, Elijah heard a gentle whisper and knew the Lord was near. 

He has not forgotten us for we are engraved in the palm of His hand.  There is no other place I'd rather be.

Please excuse these stumbling words as I write outside of my element.  Politics and "news-y" things are so outside of my comfort zone!