On Sunday night, June 12, 2016, I couldn’t sleep.  I was distraught as I watched the news coverage of a mass shooting in Orlando, Florida.  A man walked into a nightclub and gunned down forty-nine people.  I watched as survivors cried for their friends and loved ones whose lives were taken in the wee hours of that Sunday morning.  Some were still in shock and others had literally spent hours on the floor in a bathroom stall, trying to hide from the gunman.  I cried along with them. I could not begin to understand a hatred so strong that would lead a young man to commit such a heinous act.  As the night wore on, officials were interviewed.  There were those who spoke of why this happened and endless offerings of what we needed to do to stop this kind of violence.

As I sat on my sofa asking God to help me make sense of it all, I had a GodSTOP moment. When 2 Chronicles 7:14 came into my mind, I knew God had sent these words to me.  “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Not once in all the hours I watched had one person even mentioned prayer.  What has happened to us?  Surely we haven’t forgotten how to pray, or have we?  Have the Christians of our nation forgotten that we have a Heavenly Father who is able to heal our land?  All we have to do is humble ourselves, turn away from our wickedness and ask God to forgive us.  He always keeps his promises, and He will heal our land if we do what He asks of us.

Dear God, please awaken our hearts and show us how to recognize evil and wickedness in our lives.  Please, Father, forgive us, and heal our homes and our land.  Let us get back to prayer and to studying your Word. Let us put on your armor and fight the battles that are before us.

-Debbie