A dozen years after the fall of the twin towers, after the devastating and horrific crashes of five domestic airplanes in three different states of this nation, we remember September 11th when the month begins its cycle.

This year, a new pillar of hope towers where the former skyscrapers stood. Just this May, the final piece of the new 105-story, 1,776-foot-tall One World Trade Center was erected in honor of the fallen victims. It’s the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

Sept. 11 brought mourning, frustration, outrage and depression, and left the entire country asking one question: “why?”

We were all left to witness these events in absolute horror and fear, unable to grasp the situation. We were left wishing it wasn’t real. We stayed glued to the TV, tense, nervous and upset. 

Through it all, one constant theme unfolded: God isn’t finished yet. ”Where is our Father’s healing hand in all these things?” many probably questioned.

He is in the strength to face the loss of a loved one. He is in the hope we give our children as they grow without a family member. He is in the binding together of neighbors and communities to support each other. He is witness to the sacrifices of unconditional love we see day in and day out.

In a time of complete despair there were incredible acts of grace. Unselfish actions took place immediately that day, from firefighters running up the staircases while everyone else was running down and volunteers putting themselves to work to families in local communities across the country banding together to provide support and encouragement to each other.

This was a ravaged nation that turned inward for support. After 9/11, an almost palatable ache for healing emerged. This in itself can be seen as God’s healing hand. Let it be that He continues His work within us, as individuals and as a nation on the whole.

Late firefighter Stephen Siller was one of heroes who past away that day. Siller just finished his late shift at Squad 1 in Park Slope, Brooklyn when he overheard on his scanner that a plane crashed into the World Trade Center. He put on his gear and raced his truck to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, running back into the fray, and in a heroic and selfless act, died one of the bravest Americans this nation has ever known. 

His death and the other deaths of those who died helping others prompted our nation to ensure they will never be forgotten; we honor their lives, their courage and their bravery with a National September 11 Memorial & Museum. Foundations, races, golf matches, charities, dedications, scholarships, memorials and even songs have been created in the honor of those who died.

Miraculous events are still being shared amid the survivors and family members of those who are no longer with us. Powerful, life changing or reaffirming instances when some confirmation of support and love breaks through and settles into the spirit.

What has been experienced since the day of 9/11 is an immense camaraderie, a unification to bind together for one purpose: the compassion of life and the living of every day as if it were our last.

In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present. —Francis Bacon

One moment in time drastically jolted many citizens in this country to the reality that we are all very mortal. When we look back at 9/11, we find we need each other. We need a deeper more personal relationship with Our Father––someone who finds us in our weakness and lovingly sets us up upon his lap, wiping away every tear, letting us know we are loved. 

Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work. —Nehemiah 2:17-18, KJV