'God is going to have the last word': Among Baltimore riot chaos, hope stands in one reporter's incredible discovery

A prayer circle calls for peace.

As fires spread and riots of people run around the town, a local Baltimore TV news reporter caught a glimpse of hope for a better tomorrow. Standing around a destroyed and burned building was a group of people forming an "impromptu prayer circle."

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Deborah Weiner of WBAL-TV noticed the group and went in to see what was happening. She describes the scene as "raw, and real and powerful."

According to Weiner, the group sang and praised God, thanking the Lord for protection while calling out for peace and pleading for guidance.

The prayer circle took place near the Mary Harvin Transformation Center. The center was a working $16 million project that would have included senior living apartments, counseling, health programs and educational programs. All are "much-needed" in the community, but the forming building was burned down during the riots.

"Please reach out and touch these young people. Give them courage and stretch and wisdom to do and make the right decisions and right choices, father God," one woman passionately prayed, as the group joined hands, according to Weiner. "We will rebuild."

According to another woman praying, she knows God will help them build something bigger and greater for their community.

"We allow the negative to make us be positive," exclaimed Rev. Donte Hickman of Southern Baptist Church in Baltimore said as he stood in the middle of the circle. "We know that the devil - whatever he meant for evil - God is going to turn it around and work it out for our good."

Hickman remains "disheartened and bewildered" over the destruction and "mysterious fire" of their revitalization project.

"God is going to have the last word," he stated.