“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6
Ellie was excited because she was going to read a verse at her church on Sunday. Now, instead, her father is trying to find the right words to explain to Ellie’s four sisters that Ellie is never coming home. How on earth do you explain to four little girls that their ten year-old sister has gone to heaven?
Ellie was one of the nineteen children killed in the horrible Uvalde tragedy this week. “The sweetest girl you’ve ever had the chance to meet. And I had the honor of being her father,” said Steven Garcia while in tears on a Today show interview. “Ellie loved basketball, TikTok and the colors pink and purple. She hoped to be a cheerleader and had already begun planning her quinceañera.” The family said she had already picked out her dress, even though it was five years away, and her father said they will buy it and hang it in her room.
Amerie Jo enjoyed drawing, performing science experiments and making people laugh. She wanted to become a YouTube star. “She was a real good student. Very playful, very silly,” dad Alfred Garza III said. “She was a perfect daughter.”
Garza went to the school when he heard about the shootings. He waited six hours for ten-year-old Amerie Jo, who was his only child. While he waited, he offered solace to kids who got out of the building. “They were just overwhelmed and crying, so as many as I could, I said to them: ‘Hey, do you know your mom, dad’s phone number? Let’s call them. Let’s have them know you’re OK,’” he said in the Today show interview.
While he was waiting to hear news about his own little girl, he helped to ease other parents’ pain by letting them know that their child was alive. He pushed his own fears aside to offer those scared children a tiny glimmer of hope.
No child should endure that sort of anguish, especially at such a tender age. It is hard enough for an adult to come to terms with such a gaping loss, let alone little ones, who are far too young and innocent to make any sense of how cruel life can be.
The thought of these families’ suffering in the most agonizing of manners is just heartbreaking. How can we cling to hope in the midst of so much pain? The only way I can think of is by grabbing onto God.
I have met many parents on my earthly journey that have lost a child. God-incidentally, I just met two of those parents at the beach today. I was in the water talking to my hubby in Spanish. A couple nearby said to us: “Que rica está el agua hoy.” (The water is great today). We spent the next few minutes talking to them, and as we were leaving we introduced ourselves. When they told us their names, something clicked in my memory. I asked them if they were associated with “Hermanos al Rescate” (Brothers to the Rescue). Sure enough, their son Mario was one of the four pilots killed back in 1996 when their plane was shot down by the Castro regime in international airspace. He was only 24-years-old, the youngest of the four. How do you recover from losing a child so tragically? You don’t. But you can keep going with God’s help. Otherwise you would just crumble.
I pray to God for the people of Uvalde, especially those families that lost a loved one. I pray for a hope that brings them healing.
Please Lord, take their grief, fear and suffering in your capable hands. Place them near your heart; care for them, transform them—and us—while you’re at it, because we just don’t understand. How long, O Lord? How long will this last? When will you put an end to the suffering in our world?
Copyright © 2022 Christy Romero. All rights reserved.
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