I was in a hotel room during our family vacation when I began to see the news – the news of the growing count of lives lost and names of the young girls missing from their summer camp. Their sweet little faces stared back at me from the screen on my phone.

I looked around and felt a sense of gratitude that all of my children were in my immediate presence. I thought about next Friday, when I will send my 12-year-old daughter to camp with our church group. I felt the fear grip me – the reality that anything can change in any given moment.

I absolutely cannot imagine sending my daughter to camp, only to have her go missing, or worse yet, never return.

I literally felt sick to my stomach, and my husband offered to take our kids to the pool for a quick swim. In the silence, I looked around the room and spotted my daughters’ tennis shoes. They had worn these shoes earlier that day and the day before as we hiked together in the Grand Canyon. But here they sat, empty.

I cried as I thought of all the parents who are faced with sudden emptiness.

Shoes left out on the floor. Stuffed animals in an empty bed. A bedroom once filled with life and laughter. Now all sit, empty.

We’ve all heard it said, “When one mother cries, we all cry.” But this…

This collective grief of so many mothers and fathers is felt so intensely by parents all over the state of Texas, maybe even the nation.

If I can leave you with any encouragement today, it’s this.

We serve a God that does not leave us in the emptiness.

“God brings healing to our brokenness, beauty into our circumstances, and hope in our desperation.”

As we pray for all the families and friends who are missing loved ones and suffering the greatest grief – the loss of their precious children, let us remember that “the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18 ESV)

May He meet them in their emptiness and fill it with Himself – His comfort, love, and peace that surpasses understanding.