Ethel's Daughter - Kristin Saatzer

Our nation heard the news and reacted with heartbreak and horror after a twenty-one-year-old massacred nine people on June 17, 2015, in a Charleston, South Carolina church. A young man sat for an hour with this amazing group of Christians (who welcomed him into their fold as they prayed) and then he shot them dead.

Sitting on my mom’s couch two days later, watching the latest news on this story, I heard these words:

*“I forgive you,” Nadine Collier, the daughter of 70-year-old Ethel Lance, said at the hearing, her voice breaking with emotion. “You took something very precious from me. I will never talk to her again. I will never, ever hold her again. But I forgive you. And have mercy on your soul.”

Would I be able to react this way towards the murderer had my mother been gunned down?

Hearing Nadine’s heroic words wrenched my heart with anguish and admiration. As did the words of the other family members of those killed with similar sentiments and words of forgiveness. These people became my faith heroes.

No one should suffer this kind of horror. No one. But it happens – not usually on the level of murder in a church, yet loss and grief are part of life on this earth aren’t they?

Stepping into Nadine’s shoes, could we forgive the murderer of our loved one two days after the crime occurred? Two weeks? Two years? Where will our faith be in moments of trauma and pain?

I don’t know Nadine or the others, I wish I did. Please bear with me as I speculate – my goal here is to honor the family members of the lost and learn from them. As a Christian, I know the power of the Holy Spirit gave these families the power to forgive.

Yet, I also believe there is a second key to their forgiveness: they filled their spiritual banks with coins along the way.

As children when we wanted a special toy, we saved our coins in a piggy bank. When the bank became heavy, we broke it open and our gold-mines fell to the floor. Next, we picked up the coins and took them to the toy store.

I think Nadine filled her spiritual piggy bank over and over and over with valuable, heavy coins for years. I think Nadine has a well-worn Bible full of writing and highlights. I think Nadine has worn out carpet next to her bed from kneeling in prayer. I think Nadine is a woman who loves her church and the fellowship she receives there.

Nadine broke open her heavy spiritual-bank the day her mother died. She picked up those heavy-God-filled coins and forgave the murderer of her mother. Our hero invested heavily in her faith and it produced dividends in the most trying moments of her life.

A role-model of faith.

How about you, my friend?

Is your spiritual bank full? Have you made rich deposits to pull from in your dark moments? Do you wish to invest in prayer and intimacy with The Father? Have you subsidized your bank by bible reading, scripture memory, and church fellowship?

For my determined purpose is that I may know Him

{that I may progressively become

more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him,

perceiving and recognizing and understanding

the wonders of His person, more strongly and more clearly}...

Philippians 3:10a (AMP)

Let’s determine today to fill our spiritual banks. Determine to know Him, to become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him. Determine with me to know Him more strongly and clearly than we do. Because knowing Him pays earthly and eternal dividends.

And you too will be spiritually rich, just like Ethel’s daughter.