{"id":239,"date":"2025-07-07T12:33:03","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T16:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/?p=239"},"modified":"2025-07-07T12:33:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T16:33:03","slug":"trump-faith-office-calls-nation-to-prayer-citing-psalm-3418-as-texans-hold-out-hope-for-missing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/2025\/07\/trump-faith-office-calls-nation-to-prayer-citing-psalm-3418-as-texans-hold-out-hope-for-missing\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Faith Office Calls Nation to Prayer, Citing Psalm 34:18, as Texans Hold Out Hope For Missing"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_242\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-242\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-242\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/457\/2025\/07\/Camp-Mystic_crediut-Left-TODAY-YouTube-Right-The-White-House.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-242\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">TODAY \/ YouTube | Right: The White House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As Texans grapple with heartbreak after catastrophic floods claimed at least 82 lives across Central Texas, including 28 children, the White House Faith Office is urging the nation to turn to prayer and hold onto hope.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement Sunday, the Faith Office quoted Psalm 34:18, reminding Americans, &#8220;The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.&#8221; The office called on believers to pray for the victims, families, and first responders still searching for the 41 people who remain missing, including 10 girls and a counselor from the historic Camp Mystic, a Christian all-girls camp along the Guadalupe River.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Amidst this tragedy, our nation must come together to pray for the victims, their families, and the first responders conducting rescue missions,&#8221; the statement read. &#8220;May God wrap His loving arms around all those in Texas.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In Kerr County, Sheriff Larry Leitha confirmed that 68 bodies have been recovered, including many from the devastated Camp Mystic grounds. Families returned over the weekend, quietly sifting through mud-soaked cabins, overturned bunks, and scattered clothing in search of belongings and any sign of hope.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We will continue searching until everybody is found,&#8221; Sheriff Leitha told reporters, as helicopters, boats, divers, drones, and search dogs were deployed to navigate debris-filled waters, high currents, and even water moccasins that have complicated rescue efforts.<\/p>\n<p>Texas Governor Greg Abbott, speaking at a press briefing, acknowledged the pain gripping families across the state. He emphasized the continued danger of flash floods as rain threatens already saturated grounds in the coming days. &#8220;We must stay vigilant and keep praying,&#8221; he said, noting that while the worst flooding may have passed, risks remain.<\/p>\n<p>The historic Camp Mystic, founded in 1926, has been a place of faith, growth, and summer joy for generations of girls across Texas. It has ties to prominent Texas families, including those of former President Lyndon B. Johnson and former First Lady Laura Bush. As it prepared for its 100th anniversary, the camp has now become the site of heartbreak, with families seen kneeling and weeping, embracing amid the debris.<\/p>\n<p>Former campers, now adults, have described Camp Mystic as a place that shaped their faith and friendships. &#8220;It brings me to my knees,&#8221; Kim Barnes, whose family attended for three generations, shared with NPR, while Lauren Garcia called it her &#8220;favorite place in the entire world.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Recovery efforts are now focused on identifying the deceased and supporting grieving families, with the Texas Rangers collecting DNA samples for rapid identification.<\/p>\n<p>President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration has issued a major disaster declaration, providing federal resources to aid Texas in its recovery and search efforts.<\/p>\n<p>In the face of this tragedy, the call to prayer remains clear. As families, church communities, and rescue teams continue to search and wait, many are clinging to the hope that God&#8217;s nearness, promised in Psalm 34:18, will sustain them through the darkness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As Texans grapple with heartbreak after catastrophic floods claimed at least 82 lives across Central Texas, including 28 children, the White House Faith Office is urging the nation to turn to prayer and hold onto hope. In a statement Sunday, the Faith Office quoted Psalm 34:18, reminding Americans, &#8220;The Lord is near to the brokenhearted&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":242,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Trump Faith Office Calls Nation to Prayer, Citing Psalm 34:18, as Texans Hold Out Hope For Missing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"White House Faith Office urges prayer, quoting Psalm 34:18, as Texans grieve and search for missing after floods claim 82 lives.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/2025\/07\/trump-faith-office-calls-nation-to-prayer-citing-psalm-3418-as-texans-hold-out-hope-for-missing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump Faith Office Calls Nation to Prayer, Citing Psalm 34:18, as Texans Hold Out Hope For Missing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"White House Faith Office urges prayer, quoting Psalm 34:18, as Texans grieve and search for missing after floods claim 82 lives.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/2025\/07\/trump-faith-office-calls-nation-to-prayer-citing-psalm-3418-as-texans-hold-out-hope-for-missing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"In His Hands\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-07T16:33:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/457\/2025\/07\/Camp-Mystic_crediut-Left-TODAY-YouTube-Right-The-White-House.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Beliefnet Contributors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Trump Faith Office Calls Nation to Prayer, Citing Psalm 34:18, as Texans Hold Out Hope For Missing","description":"White House Faith Office urges prayer, quoting Psalm 34:18, as Texans grieve and search for missing after floods claim 82 lives.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/2025\/07\/trump-faith-office-calls-nation-to-prayer-citing-psalm-3418-as-texans-hold-out-hope-for-missing\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Trump Faith Office Calls Nation to Prayer, Citing Psalm 34:18, as Texans Hold Out Hope For Missing","og_description":"White House Faith Office urges prayer, quoting Psalm 34:18, as Texans grieve and search for missing after floods claim 82 lives.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/2025\/07\/trump-faith-office-calls-nation-to-prayer-citing-psalm-3418-as-texans-hold-out-hope-for-missing\/","og_site_name":"In His Hands","article_published_time":"2025-07-07T16:33:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/457\/2025\/07\/Camp-Mystic_crediut-Left-TODAY-YouTube-Right-The-White-House.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Beliefnet Contributors","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/2025\/07\/trump-faith-office-calls-nation-to-prayer-citing-psalm-3418-as-texans-hold-out-hope-for-missing\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/2025\/07\/trump-faith-office-calls-nation-to-prayer-citing-psalm-3418-as-texans-hold-out-hope-for-missing\/","name":"Trump Faith Office Calls Nation to Prayer, Citing Psalm 34:18, as Texans Hold Out Hope For Missing","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/2025\/07\/trump-faith-office-calls-nation-to-prayer-citing-psalm-3418-as-texans-hold-out-hope-for-missing\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/2025\/07\/trump-faith-office-calls-nation-to-prayer-citing-psalm-3418-as-texans-hold-out-hope-for-missing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/457\/2025\/07\/Camp-Mystic_crediut-Left-TODAY-YouTube-Right-The-White-House.jpg","datePublished":"2025-07-07T16:33:03+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-07T16:33:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/#\/schema\/person\/450625ec20bf3e8a84060b9321455f3d"},"description":"White House Faith Office urges prayer, quoting Psalm 34:18, as Texans grieve and search for missing after floods claim 82 lives.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/2025\/07\/trump-faith-office-calls-nation-to-prayer-citing-psalm-3418-as-texans-hold-out-hope-for-missing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/2025\/07\/trump-faith-office-calls-nation-to-prayer-citing-psalm-3418-as-texans-hold-out-hope-for-missing\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/2025\/07\/trump-faith-office-calls-nation-to-prayer-citing-psalm-3418-as-texans-hold-out-hope-for-missing\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/457\/2025\/07\/Camp-Mystic_crediut-Left-TODAY-YouTube-Right-The-White-House.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/457\/2025\/07\/Camp-Mystic_crediut-Left-TODAY-YouTube-Right-The-White-House.jpg","width":1200,"height":900,"caption":"TODAY \/ YouTube | Right: The White House"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/2025\/07\/trump-faith-office-calls-nation-to-prayer-citing-psalm-3418-as-texans-hold-out-hope-for-missing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Trump Faith Office Calls Nation to Prayer, Citing Psalm 34:18, as Texans Hold Out Hope For Missing"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/","name":"In His Hands","description":"Finding hope in heartbreak, held by His grace","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/#\/schema\/person\/450625ec20bf3e8a84060b9321455f3d","name":"Brandy Grenier","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/author\/bgrenier\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/516"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions\/245"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inhishands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}