photo #8411643

My Mama heart has been wrecked watching these events unfold. Their little smiling faces on missing posters are burned in all of our minds. Beautiful and innocent. I wandered through Walmart the other night shopping for camp supplies for my Carter. Teary. He leaves this week. The same thing your parents did last week. Tiny shampoo bottles. Shower shoes. Flashlight. Candy. I hugged him last night and told him I loved him. The same thing your parents did last week. But they had no idea you wouldn’t come home. When they kissed you goodbye, reminded you to brush your teeth and behave. They had no idea when they glanced in the rearview mirror waving, that it would be the last time they saw you. They would have soaked up your little features a little longer. To remember every detail. They had no idea. We can’t explain away the “why”. It doesn’t make sense to us. I told Mike yesterday, being just gutterally honest, I don’t know why the God who parted the Red Sea, the God who can whisper a word and dry up every drop of water on the face of the earth allows something like this to happen to babies. At church camp. It’s impossible to reconcile in my finite mind. What I do know is we live in a broken world where the unimaginable happens daily. Sometimes He intervenes, sometimes He doesn’t. This side of heaven we will never understand why. What I do know is we serve a loving God who’s present even in the floodwaters. He was in the trenches with them. I know that those babies were never alone, not even for an instant. He was holding them. They were ushered into Jesus’ presence, their little rain-soaked faces lit up as they locked eyes with Jesus. I can hear their delighted little-girl shrieks when they saw their Redeemer. The One they went to the Texas Hill Country to learn about. He was with them every step of the way. He was there. Holding them. Singing over them. Even in the floodwaters. Father, heal broken hearts. Hold these families. Bind up their wounds. Remind them of Your love. You say that when we have no words you intercede for us with wordless groans. Lord this loss leaves so many speechless. We ask you -go to battle on their behalf. Draw them into your presence. Wipe their tears. Lift their heads. Nourish them physically and spiritually. Be their strength. Be the light in their darkness. Fortify their spirits for the days ahead. Bring them sunshine again Jesus. Hold them. Amen. This is what I imagine it looked like in heaven early in the morning on July 4th, 2025…❤️‍🩹🫶🏼, Afton