O, Holy Spirit, pray for me for I have no words for these atrocities in Uvalde and Buffalo, for the many other places, just in the United States, let alone around the world, where gun violence has taken innocent lives! I can barely see to type through these tears. Please pray for me for I cannot today.
I am a retired elementary school teacher. The children I was given each year, each month, each day, were mine for each and every day. I loved them dearly. I cared for them as though they were mine. I still carry them in my hearts, to this very day. Oh, I cannot begin to fathom what Irma Garcia and Eva Mireles went through during that hour of terror. Yes, it was TERROR. What the children had to be going through in that hour of TERROR! Some called 911 for many times during that hour TO NO AVAIL!
Oh my God, hold the survivors close to You for the rest of their lives, Lord, for they heard and witnessed carnage, 142 rat-a-tats, death, absolute TERROR!
How can people call themselves “pro-life” and think that being “free” in order to own an AR-15 (all within the Second Amendment rights) is more important than the LIVES of those 19 young children in Uvalde, the two teachers who were trying to save their students, the seniors in Buffalo, the many, many others in these moments of pure TERROR?
Why did the Uvalde parents need to give their DNA to the Coroner? AR-15s do tremendous damage as they enter and leave a body, even going through deep and hard surfaces! THINK ABOUT THAT!
Why is such an horrific gun needed? Not to hunt! It is made to murder in a war zone. Uvalde and Buffalo (and others) became war zones because of the AR-15.
“You shall not murder.” Exodus 20:13
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.” Galatians 5:13-15
I am so sorry:
UVALDE, TX @ Robb Elementary School
Nevaeh Bravo age 10 (“Her aunt noted that Nevaeh’s first name is ‘heaven’ spelled backward.”)
Alithia Ramirez age 10
Jayce Carmelo Luevanos age 10
Jailah Nicole Silguero age 10 (Jayce and Jailah were cousins)
Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez age 10
Jacklyn Cazares age 9 (Annabell and Jacklyn were cousins)
Alexandia ‘Lexi’ Aniyah Rubio age 10
Layla Salazar age 11
Maite Rodriguez age 10
Miranda Mathis age 11
Eliahna “Ellie” Garcia age 10
Uziyah Garcia age 8
Amerie Jo Garza age 10
Xavier Javier Lopez age 10
Rojelio Torres age 10
Jose Manuel Flores, Jr. age 10
Makenna Lee Elrod age 10
Tess Marie Mata age 10
Eliahana Cruz Torres age 10
Eva Mireles, 44
Irma Garcia, 48 – Joe Garcia – husband of Irma Garcia died of heart attack/heartbreak. (They left four children — a Marine, a college student, a high school student and a seventh grader.)
And just ten days before that with another AR-15.
I am so sorry:
BUFFALO, NY @ TOPS grocery store
Roberta A. Drury age 32
Margus D. Morrison age 52
Andre Mackneil age 53
Geraldine Talley age 62
Celestine Chaney age 65
Heyward Patterson age 67
Katherine Massey age 72
Pearl Young age 77
Ruth Whitfield age 86
Aaron Salter age 55 – (on duty officer posthumously awarded the city police department’s Medal of Honor and promoted to lieutenant.)
Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
and let the wicked be no more!
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
Praise the LORD! Psalm 104:35
O God! I am so sorry that this nation, where I live, is so low that we cannot even agree that these terrible AR-15s, these weapons of mass destruction, of mass murder, should never have gotten out of the hands of the military. O, God, forgive us! My heart is so broken…for what these children went through that day, what the senior shoppers went through, for the loss of precious lives, for the families and the communities that must live on. The survivors within the store and the school, their families, the communities will suffer for years and for always. O God, please forgive us. You know my tears and You capture them. Is Your bottle large enough, Father? Forgive us for we have strayed so far. Guide us back to Your place of peace. In the Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
P.S.
The Uvalde mass shooting suspect had purchased 1,657 total rounds of ammunition along with two AR-15s.
- (A U.S. soldier would take 210 rounds into combat. A magazine usually holds 30 rounds, and a U.S. soldier generally takes seven magazines – one in the weapon, and six spares – into combat.)
- Of the 315 rounds found inside the school, 142 were spent cartridges, or fired bullets, and 173 were live rounds, or unfired bullets.
- 142 fired bullets on the lives of 19 children and 2 teachers!
- (OH MY! Tears are falling again as I type this awful truth about what this human being did to children and teachers.)
- Investigators found 60 magazines total – 58 in and around the school and at the site where the suspect crashed his car, and two at his residence.
So much tragedy.
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Hi Linda, as I am in South Africa, we hear about these things and we are truly saddened by it all too. It is so unnecessary. Heart-breaking. There is so much to pray for, so much to hold up to the Lord in prayer. Your remembrance of these people is really special.
God bless
Tracy
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From Joanne Viola
I do not know what is happening because you are not the first:
Linda, I tried to leave a comment on your post “O My God, O My Soul” twice and for whatever reason I was unable. But I so appreciated your thoughts. Here is what I tried to comment.
In His Love,
Joanne
Linda, the tears still flow as I hear the stories of each of these towns. We truly cannot comprehend what took place that day. May God draw close to these families and bring His comfort, His peace, and His protection as only He can. Thank you for sharing your perspective as a retired teacher. {{hugs}}
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So very sad Linda. No words can really express the heartache we all feel. Couldn’t agree more, AR-15’s have no place in society for any reason.
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As the wife of a teacher, I hear your heart. Tragic!
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from Lois Flowers ~
Hi Linda … I tried to leave a comment on your latest post but my tablet is being finicky so I thought I would send it via email. Here’s what I wanted to say … feel free to post it as a comment if you like.
Oh, Linda. So much sadness for one small town to contain … it’s hard to even begin to understand all the things that went wrong for this to happen. Thank you for sharing your prayers and perspective as a former teacher … again, I can’t even imagine. Hugs, friend.
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Also stopped by from #tellhisstory. It’s so much fun to reread “linked” posts and discover new things the 2nd time around.
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Linda-thank you for pouring your heart out to God about this terrible tragedy and for sharing them.
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Tragic post I’m glad you wrote but devastated that you needed to. It seems to me that we care about children when they are our own. Apparently others, not so much. Trafficking also speaks to to this. We should be outraged by it too.
I so agree with you-why do we need guns like this? Have we slid so far down these rabbit holes we cannot claw our way out?
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Thanks for writing this post. So sad and heartbreaking. Praying this prayer along with you!
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Linda, thank you for sharing these powerful words of truth. I am praying your closing prayer with you. Many blessings, Beth Willis Miller
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I just cannot fathom this either, Linda. Amen to your prayer and thank you for speaking up as you are.
I am privileged to live in a country that does not permit the sale of such weapons to non-military. I can’t imagine being an educator or a parent of my two daughters in a country that does permit something like that. So hard for me to understand people supporting something like that.
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Is New Zealand looking for a senior-aged woman to migrate?
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😊 they would be blessed to have you. I still live in the Netherlands with my Dutch husband and dual citizen girls. We are finally going “home” for a family visit this summer / Kiwi winter (it’s been 4.5 years since we’ve been home).
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Maybe I need to move to the Netherlands. !!
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Amen!!
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