#PrayforSyria...#Prayfor...Assad

I usually don’t go to bed to the news because I always end up having outlandish nightmares that have me reeling by the time I wake up. This morning I woke up to the atrocities happening once again in Syria. My heart hurt for all the lives lost and the unrest that is happening in the country. It especially pained me to see the images of children curled in a fetal position, suffering from the torture of their injuries.

When there is a tragedy in a country, up pop the hashtags for a call to prayer. I have to be honest because although I know the intentions are pure, I wish I had it in my power to do more than pray. I wish that I knew what to do to stop all the bloodshed, to bring healing and hope to a hurting people. I can’t pretend that I know all the reasons why the war is happening but if prayer is a method or tool to initiate the change, then that is what I will do.

I know there is power in prayer and so I will not only write a hashtag but I will bow my knees and pray to a God I know listens, for a country I know is hurting. I will pray not only for Syria but for Assad. A lot of times we would rather not pray for the vile or what some might consider evil. We would rather pray for what is familiar to us, something we can relate to. But let us remember light does not need light, darkness does. And so, I will remember to include Assad in my prayers, that he will know the good and do it. I know our world does not change by ascending the same stairway but by forging new steps. Whether a hashtag will change anything is yet to be seen but at the very least it will be known that we are never too far away to feel each other’s hurt or stand for another’s justice.