Pray With Us for Their Healing

On Feb. 14, a day that should have been marked by the celebration of love, hundreds of students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, fled the raging bullets of a 19-year-old gunman.

Students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School walk out of their school building after a shooting.
(Photo courtesy of Christy, current student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.)

For some, the deaths of 17 innocent people—14 of them high school students—on Valentine’s Day will become just another sad news story in the days to come. But for 17 families grieving in South Florida today, it is the end of a story of hope, love and the promise of a bright future. It is the beginning of a story of grief that may last a lifetime.

This is a time for mourning—the first step in the process of healing. We may not be able to understand the depth of their pain, but however deep and dark it is, we can pray for their healing.

At our morning prayer meeting the day after this horrific event, a Gospel for Asia staff member who grew up near Parkland, Florida, where the school shooting happened, shared prayer requests for the people affected. Visibly shaken, she told us of the people she knew who were either students or teachers at the high school. Thankfully, her friends were able to escape.


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