I certainly believe that prayers, not thoughts, can help in many ways, even in the aftermath of tragedy...
- God can comfort and heal the survivors affected by this.
- Prayer can also result in God changing the heart of authorities or other individuals and giving them wisdom.
- Prayer can stop authorities from overreacting and making us all defenseless.
- Prayer could change authorities views about leaving our kids unprotected.
Things it's too late to pray for, but that could have helped.
- Prayers for the drug addicted mother, could have helped her want to get treated, or perhaps gotten intervention.
- Prayers for the kid, might have gotten him the help he needed.
- Prayers for protection of the school kids, might have put an officer on the scene earlier, or moved the kids out of harms way.
The problem of priorities in prayer.
We don't often foresee a tragedy in advance to be able to pray for it. I don't think I've ever prayed to prevent mass shootings. But I've prayed for defense of Ukraine, where a lot more death is occurring. And I've prayed for the comfort of the families who have lost a child or loved one in Texas.
There's a lot to pray for.