Tragedy and Triumph

Oh, how I've cried!  I don't recall ever being more affected by a news story.  Perhaps it's because I live in Connecticut just an hour away from the horror.  Maybe it's because I have children that I cherish and in particular have a kindergartener who loves her classroom and teacher so much that she got mad at me for checking her out early one day.  Maybe it's just because I am human.  Whatever it is, I have shed real, genuine tears.  I have hugged my children and wondered why and how something so awful could have happened.

I received phone calls, texts and messages on Facebook from concerned friends and loved ones.  The small consolation of this event is that I feel loved and cared about and I got to connect with people yesterday with whom I wouldn't have otherwise. 

Though I am grief-stricken and have sorrowed about it all over again today, I cleave to the testimony I have that God is real and that He cares.  I know that, though it may take a long time, He can and does heal crushed souls.  I will be praying, mightily, that the families who lost their greatest blessing will receive strength through the atonement of Christ to get through the loss and that we as a country will find the strength and wisdom needed to carry on.  As we turn to Christ, our King, we can triumph.  Merry Christmas to us all!