Prayers for Newtown and Any Parent Who Has Lost a Child.

I have had no words since finding out what happened on Friday. Like most parents, I just keep thinking about my own beautiful baby and the unspeakable grief of the Newtown families. As a parent you do the best you can to give your kids the best life and opportunities you know how. It is so disheartening to think that even when you do everything in your power, someone can come and suddenly take all that away from you. It's not fair and it is so difficult for me to wrap my mind around this. My heart is so broken for every family touched by this tragedy.

Tonight I read this well written piece by the mother of a child with mental illness, and it immediately made me think about the children I interacted with during my inpatient psychiatry rotation. On one hand they were just kids, but without a moment's notice they could become both violent and extremely dangerous. I have no intention of making this a post about mental illness, but I know first hand that it is real. And it is terrifying because these children who are sick really have no options until they end up doing something worthy of going to jail - which houses the greatest portion of those mentally ill in this country.

No parent should have to bury their child. Be it from gang violence, sickness, or a horrendous, unimaginable massacre like what occurred on Friday. No parent should have to deal with this. Ever.

As the days following this tragic event continue to pass, I hope and pray that we start having some serious conversations about our country and all of the things that are so broken. Enough is enough. Something has got to change.

"When calamity comes, the wicked are brought down, but even in death the righteous have a refuge." Proverbs 14:32

To all those gone from this earth far too soon, rest in heavenly peace.