Grief and Lament in Texas

Thoughts and Resources to support those suffering

Photo by Lukas Hron on Unsplash

What is there to say…

Here is San Antonio, the devastation and heartbreak occurring in our backyard is immeasurable.

Everyone I know is no more than 1 or 2 degrees away from the tragedy. And all of us are experiencing the collective cloud of grief that hovers.

It’s hard to breathe. It’s hard to sleep. It’s hard to stay focused on anything other than praying “Lord Jesus come. Lord Jesus be near. Lord Jesus… Jesus… Jesus.”

Two big questions keep rising… what can we do? And what is God doing?

I’ve struggled to put into words all my own swirling thoughts… my mind feels like it’s moving through sludge. All I can recite is “God is good. God is sovereign. God is good. God is sovereign.”

So today I’m going to lean on both the work and words of others - passing them on to you as you also process what you’re experiencing first hand, or are consuming through the news.

First, What can we do?

- All local sources are saying to please, please, please do not start sending tangible items yet. There simply aren’t the places or the people to organize, sort and administer donations at this time. Literally all hands and feet are on the river banks searching for lost children and other dearly loved individuals.

If you can’t stand waiting (I get it!!), then please donate monetarily to The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country. They have boots on the ground and will use your money to provide exactly what individuals need.

- My church (Redeemer Presbyterian, San Antonio) is hosting a prayer service this Thursday, July 10th 6:30-7:30pm Central Time. If you’re local, we’d love to have you join us. If you are farther away, will you consider setting a timer on your phone and praying with us during that service?

Of course the immediate families of the victims should be at the top of our prayer list. But also consider praying for:

• First responders doing recovery work

• Counselors, therapists, teachers, and other adults who will be serving hundreds/thousands of traumatized children in the coming days/months

• Local churches that are seeking to provide Gospel Hope to those most hurting

• Other agencies to have wisdom in using resources and administering aide

• Politics and finger-pointing to be laid down

- And lastly, simply reach out to your friends. I’m learning that no matter how much suffering we see on the news across the world, nothing prepares you for experiencing it in your own backyard. There is no escaping that it hits differently when it is your literal neighbor who is weeping.

If you’re not in South Texas, if you’ve never heard of these people or places, I don’t expect you to be impacted the same way.

What I do ask is this - picture us in the trenches of suffering. And position yourself on the edge of the pit. Put on the armor of God, link hands with other believers, and pray fiercely for us. See yourself on the battle field. Hold up your shield of faith so you can protect the rest of us from the flaming arrows of the evil one who seeks to strip us of faith and harden our hearts against our loving God.

In Jesus name, the Church must keep praying…

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Second, What is God doing?

A friend forwarded a message to me that her friend had sent to her… and I got permission to share pieces of it with you here. It is long, but I’ve been reading it over and over and it has helped put to words so many things swimming in my head that I can’t seem to make coherent. I will leave you with her words and pray it blesses you.

“As a shepherd I’m supposed to have answers. But sometimes I just have tears…

There is a heart-wrenching tension we must sit with, one that stretches both the human soul and the theological framework of even seasoned believers.

Could God have stopped the flood? - Yes.

Could God have preserved every life? - Absolutely.

Did God have the power to send angels, divert waters, or awaken every camper before danger came? - Without question.

And yet, He didn’t. Not in the way we prayed. Not in the way we hoped.

This is where we enter the sacred realm of mystery.

Even the Apostle Paul, caught up to the third heaven, confesses: ‘Now we see through a glass darkly…’ (1 Corinthians 13:12).

There are moments in life where divine sovereignty doesn’t align with human expectation, and in those moments, our theology must not collapse, it must deepen.

We often ask, ‘Why didn’t God act?’ But what if the deeper question is: ‘Why does He sometimes choose restraint, even when it breaks His own heart?’

The cross is our clearest example. Jesus could have called legions of angels to prevent his crucifixion, but He didn’t. Not because He couldn’t, but because there was a greater purpose at work, a redemptive plan hidden within the suffering.

Could this be one of those moments?

We do not claim to know the full mind of God (Isaiah 55:8-9), but we do know this: His delay is never his absence, and His silence is never His apathy.

Sometimes God restrains His hand so that a greater Kingdom revelation might emerge, even through the ashes of grief.

Let us be clear: this tragedy is not a sign of God’s judgment on these children, this camp, or this region. This is not wrath, it is travail.

Creation is groaning.

The earth is trembling.

And the Kingdom is advancing through birth pains (Matthew 24:8).

This flood did not take God by surprise, but nor was it His delight. We serve a God who weeps with us (John 11:35) and enters into our suffering with scars of His own.

Though we cannot answer every “why”, the believer’s voice must anchor the people of God in what is unshakably true:

God is still good. His goodness is not circumstantial, it is covenantal.

He is still present. Even in the storm God was there, in the cries, in the chaos, in the quiet miracles. He is ‘Emmanuel’ - God with us.

He is still working. As Romans 8:28 declares: ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.’

This does not mean all things are good. It means that even the worst thing… can become the soil for divine redemption. Let’s not allow mystery to give way to unbelief, let’s not allow pain to steal our posture of faith.

This is the time for the Church to weep and to war. To mourn with those who mourn. To declare the goodness of God even in the valley. To contend for a generation that has been shaken.

We don’t have all the answers, but we have a God who still speaks, a Gospel that still saves, a Kingdom that cannot be shaken.”

-Molly Hoebeke, Dallas TX

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Love, Marissa