Prayer for the state and the FLDS families

Originally appeared on spirituality.com

Reports about more than 400 children in Texas being taken into state custody after authorities received a call alleging child rape and underage marriage offer ample reasons for prayer. Last week, the Texas Supreme Court upheld an earlier appeals court ruling that state authorities and a lower court abused their authority when they seized the children from a polygamist ranch, which is run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS). The children are being returned to their families, but officials say that the state will continue its investigation.

No one can be in sympathy with actual child abuse or with illegal acts. But the child bride who allegedly made the call reporting abuse still has not been found, and there is some belief that the call was a hoax. Meanwhile, the families are asserting that their children are being harmed by Child Protective Services’ decision to put them in foster care and disperse them throughout the state.

At this writing, the case seems so tangled that it’s hard to tell what the best answer would be, but prayer is a wonderful tool for finding solutions that are both right and just. In our prayers, we can affirm that both the courts and the families have the ability to express the wisdom of Solomon because they can respond to divine guidance, just as Solomon did. Solomon was once called upon to decide which mother was the real one in a case of disputed motherhood. He was successful because he refused to be hurried, and most important, because he trusted God, divine Mind. Mind is ever-intelligent and infinitely present. There is no place deprived of His wisdom and goodness.

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