Finding a 'New Normal' After Losing Two Daughters to a Shooting

From today's CitizenLink:

On Dec. 9, 2007, teenage sisters Stephanie and Rachel Works were killed outside New Life Church in Colorado Springs. In their new book, "Gone in a Heartbeat," David and Marie Works tell their story of love, loss and an enduring faith in God.

From the transcript:

I think the most important thing is that we can find God in the present moment. I know it seems really counterintuitive when bullets are flying, glass is shattering, people are dying, that God is there. It seems like the evil one has really taken control. But that, in our experience, wasn’t the case and hasn’t been the case. And that has made all the difference in the world as evil walks with us every day. As the theologians would say, He is really omnipresent. He doesn’t leave us or forsake us.

The other thing is that He can give us a peace that we never had. And that comes from grace. We use the phrase that “we were carried in the hands of His grace, from the minivan on.” And we felt like we were just being carried along. We were just kind of actors in a play and not really in control of anything, but everything was happening according to some cosmic plan, and everything was working out very well. We have been graced like I can’t even imagine.

It’s a double-edged sword because at the one time, we were feeling so blessed, and the other time there’s this huge hole that is never going away in this life. That part is never going to be resolved until we cross over and are together again. Other than that, God has been incredibly good to us in every way shape or form. We have a wonderful Church family that has been incredibly supportive. The community has been supportive. My employer has been incredible. I don’t know what else you could ask for. It’s kind of amazing, the whole thing.

We feel radically blessed. I have to admit when I look at other situations, it seems that ours has been somewhat easier. And I can’t really explain that. I wish I could promise everyone that the pain isn’t going to be that bad, ‘cause in our case, it hasn’t been that bad if you look at other things. For us, there’s days we still cry. Some days we just don’t feel like doing anything. That’s just life. That’s just the process we’re in.