Our day began like any other day. I woke the girls for school. Kristie rode the school bus, it just wasn’t cool to be seen being dropped off at school by your parents. I kissed Kristie goodbye, told I loved her and left to take Stacie to school. She didn’t like riding the bus. That morning I dropped her off as usual, kissed her goodbye and told her I loved her. That was the last time I saw Stacie alive. I spoke to her again around noon, after she arrived home from school, never to hear her voice again.
Stacie and Kristie were brutally attacked in our home in Manassas, Virginia. Stacie was viciously stabbed to death. The perpetrator then waited in our home for over two hours for Kristie to return home from school.
After finding her sister dead in her bedroom, Kristie was forced to the basement, bound with her own shoelaces, raped, strangled, wrists cut, stabbed, and her throat severely slashed. She was left for dead. No witnesses – or so he thought – Kristie survived!
S.T.A.C.I.E. Foundation
The S.T.A.C.I.E. Foundation Striving To Achieve Compassion Intervention and Education, is grounded on the principal of Christ’s Foundation.
“The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house, yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock.” Matthew 7:25
My relationship with Jesus only became stronger after the brutal attack on our family. Not to say I didn’t question and doubt the Lord. I did, time and time again. But I took my anger, questions, fears, doubts and my hopes to Him, time and time again.
Forgiveness
Tired of fighting this battle Lorraine struggled with unforgiveness. She knew forgiving him would set her free, yet she clung to doubts and fears, and selfishness. She justified her anger by her pain and suffering.
Until the Lord called her to forgive the offender. She refused at first, as the pain was to much to offer forgiveness from the evil person who stole her daughter Stacie and mutilated Kristie.Why should she forgive him for such a heinous crime against her family? He doesn’t deserve forgiveness, nor will he ever receive it from me, Lorraine thought.
God knew her heartache first hand. The very people He created crucified His son, Christ Jesus. And God forgives us daily. Realizing this was her key to freedom, Lorraine asked the Lord over and over again to show her how to forgive him. “Pray for him,” the Lord said. At first she refused to pray for a murderer. The Lord led her to Acts 16. And her view of the offender begin to change.And she begin to pray for him.
And Lorraine asked the Lord to show her who this man, Paul was through His eyes. “Show me who you see Lord, because I don’t see the child of God You.”
The Lord did! Her eyes were opened. The Lord asked her to pray for Paul. Again she said, “No! Why should I pray for his lost soul.”
God answers prayer! Lorraine continued to pray for Paul and after a year Lorraine heard Paul became a Christian. She doubted God could reform a murderer. How many of us bulk at the Lord’s leading and when He finally answers that long awaited prayer, we stand in disbelief of His work?
Lorraine shares her struggles, honest and raw emotions, pain and suffering of walking the journey God laid out for her. One thing she knows for certain… He never left her side.
Yes, Paul became a Christian, but he still could not forgive himself. Lorraine and her family met with him the day before his execution via a phone conference from death row. Paul shared his journey of accepting the Lord. The evil one thought for sure he had Paul’s soul, signed, sealed and delivered. But God won his heart. Through Paul’s unforgiveness of himself, the evil one still fought for Paul’s soul. He was convinced he could win Paul back before his execution, but God won his heart.
“Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are His, and Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.” 2 Timothy 2:19
When Lorraine shared with Paul that her and her family would be praying him through the execution, he cried a deep heart wrenching cry from the depths of his soul. God won his soul. Paul was executed the very next day. The next day, Lorraine received a call from Paul’s attorney, John. He shared with her and her family Paul’s visit with his mom and brother. He told them repeatedly, “They forgave me!” But the message John really wanted to give Lorraine and her family was this: Paul forgave himself. Lorraine is convinced without a doubt Paul is home with Christ, in heaven, and Stacie was there to welcome him home. She looks forward to seeing them both when Christ finally calls her home.
There is going to be one big party in heaven the day when we are all reunited with our Lord Christ Jesus. This is one party you won’t want to miss.
Unforgiveness is Bondage
Bondage is harsh, dark, unrelenting, and hopeless. It keeps our mindset hostage to the evil one. We have to cry out to Christ to and believe He can set us free. Believe in Him and receive the freedom He desires to give you. Repentance is vital. Paul repented and accepted Christ. Paul is in eternal freedom. God loves you so much…
“For God so loved the world, that He gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
