Yes, My Thoughts and Prayers Do Matter

"Your thoughts and prayers don't matter."

How many times have you heard someone say this recently? Or seen it as a comment on a Facebook story about yet another awful shooting? It seems to be the fashionable thing to say lately.

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of hearing it.

I get why people say it. They're sad. They're angry. They're confused. They want to know how yet another gunman was able to slaughter an innocent group of people. And I agree that we need to do as much as we can to prevent these incidents from happening in the future.

But none of that is an excuse for disrespecting someone else's attempt to express genuine concern for those who lost someone. It seems that compassion for our fellow man is something we should encourage, not condemn. Isn't it disregard for others that causes most killers to do this?

Thoughts and prayers are all I can offer, as they are all most of us can. I couldn't have prevented this shooting from happening. I never met any of the people involved and never heard of them until this happened. I wish I could have stopped this, but I had no way of knowing it would occur.

None of us have the ability to prevent all bad things from happening. We can argue that changing this law or that law would have prevented this latest shooting, and maybe that's true. But evil people will do evil things. Guns have been used to kill people, but so have knives, trucks, bombs, and many other items for a long time. Evil has existed since the book of Genesis and will, unfortunately, always be with us, regardless of what weapons are available.

For those of us who feel helpless, offering condolences and seeking guidance from God is sometimes all we can do. These events don't make sense to us, so we have to look for hope in something bigger than we are, to trust that God has a greater plan even in the worst of times.

It's ok to ask questions. It's normal to cry out to God and wonder how this could happen. But God doesn't "cause" bad things to happen, nor does he "allow" them. Bad things happen because Satan is in control of this world. Mankind has chosen to turn their back on God, starting with The Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. Therefore, we have had to see what life is like without Him. It's not pretty.

It's because God is not of this world that we seek Him. We put our faith in Him, the faith that despite all the sorrow we see here, this is not the end game. There is a greater plan in place. For many of us who are left behind after such a terrible event, that is all we have to hold onto. That's how we try to get through this. It's how we try to be there for those who are hurting the most.

If that's not how you want to cope, that's fine. If you think it's important to pass more laws to prevent killings, that's great. But don't put down other people for trying to show compassion. If you really believe that thoughts and prayers do nothing, than neither do your criticisms of those who care. Please have some respect.

To those who are distraught from this latest shooting, or who are still hurting from a previous tragedy: I hope you will accept my thoughts and my prayers. I wish I could do more. I would love to be able to bring your loved ones back, or to at least take away all the pain you've suffered because of your loss. And I wish I could prevent this from happening to anyone else ever again. But I can't. The best I can do is let you know that I do care and that I can pray for healing and understanding in this difficult time.

Perhaps if more of us did that, there would be less hatred and less evil in this world.