With fallout and tensions continuing to build after the recent events in Virginia, Jericho President Carrie L. Amos shares her prayerful heart:

When the splinters of our fallen world release the ugliest and the most hateful among us, and when many feel helplessness bordering on hopelessness, we must turn to our God, who reminds us that our Hope is in Him. After the horrific events in Charlottesville VA this weekend, our thoughts and prayers are with those who lost loved ones, with those who are injured, and with all those who are pained by what has transpired. We pray to God for His comfort at a time when everything seems to hurt – our hearts and souls for what we feel, our ears for what we’ve heard and our eyes for what we’ve seen.

With each escalation of hate and violence among our society, we grieve for our nation, and look to God - and only to God - for our peace, our hope, and our healing. Lord, we need you. We’re grieved, and we need you. We lift our leaders to you, Father, and ask that you give them your wisdom, your guidance, and your heart for your children. We pray that all those who have heard that they are “less than” would know that they are loved and cherished by you, Jesus, and that their value, because of who each of us is in Him, is inestimable.

And may we remember that, as Martin Luther King so famously said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” I pray that the Jericho Partnership will continue to bring light and love to our community, and share the love and peace of Christ with ALL people.