I asked my brother, Charles, a missionary in Tanzania, how I should pray for my student who murdered his mother, and what he sent me was exactly what I was grasping for but unable to reach. His words were profound and mean a lot to me, so I decided to share them in case anyone else finds themselves in a similar situation...

Dear Penny,

  There is so much that the public will never know.  Maybe his mother was abusive, who knows?  Maybe the meth just made him crazy.  What you can and should pray for is peace for his heart, strength to endure what he must, calm to keep things from escalating, you pray that he finds reasons for his behavior and becomes a better, stronger man as a result.  You pray that he is treated fairly by the legal system, and you pray that he opens his heart to those who want to help him.  You also pray for peace and calm for yourself.  You did not cause any of this and there was absolutely nothing you could have done to prevent it.  We must pay the consequences of our actions.  You can also pray that God will support him, comfort him, guide him, and give him ultimate peace.  If you do pray these things for him as often as you can, you will also bring peace to your own soul.  We hurt for you and share your pain.  We are praying for you as you pray for him.  Sometimes bad things happen.  Pray that the best can happen is what does happen.  It is all we can do, but it is what we must do for our own peace.  God bless you, we are holding you in our hearts.

Love sometimes hurts,

Charles