We lost our son in 2005. He was just 20 years old. He was shot by his roommate as he was coming over to our house to celebrate Father’s Day.
He had recently graduated from a drug rehab program. But like so many young people afflicted with this disease, he couldn’t break away from his old “friends.” We have no idea why he was killed, and we still struggle, every day.
You’re never the same once you lose a child. It changes the way you live, it changes everything.
But seeing how God has worked in our lives and in the life of our family has been miraculous. We were all brought to our knees, and decided the only thing we could do was to put all our trust in the Lord. Something like this either draws your family together or it tears it apart. And our family has been strengthened. We are always there for each other.
We wanted to reach out to others in some way, and make something good out of this. So for the past several years, we have been going to two of our local shelters, and sharing our story. We help minister to the men and women who may be suffering from the same addiction as our son. We tell about the Lord’s saving grace, about the hope we have because of His promises, how He changes you and what the Lord has done in our lives.
And we have forgiveness for his roommate who is still in prison. We don’t understand how we forgave him, we just know that forgiveness is there. Christ had to have put it there because we couldn’t do it as humans on our own.
Maybe our testimony and our son’s story will bring someone to know Jesus. If so, that is a sacrifice that we are willing to accept, just like God did with His Son.
4 Comments
paul choo
June 8, 2017 at 9:05 pmJesus said : “forgive them .. ” Luke 23:32
in God’s love?
Luis Tellez
July 27, 2017 at 11:49 amGod through his love continue to heal you and use you as his vessels of grace and love
Beautiful story
Sherwin Dungog
October 25, 2017 at 9:27 pmHow beautiful story they have! Many young people now a days are struggling on how to weed out of using drugs but only Jesus can do by surrendering our life and accepting Him as our personal savior. To Forgive someone who do something wrong with us is God’s powerful works with in us….
Kelly Johnson
May 22, 2023 at 4:09 pmI was thankful for what you said about forgiving your son’s killer. Some people forgive easily. Some of us struggle mightily. I have told God many times that I just don’t have it in me to forgive. (And it doesn’t help for people to demand I forgive because God told me to.) Sometimes it is just God because you know that even though you’d like to be willing you’re like the man with the sick child. I forgive, Lord. Help my unforgiveness.