The Storyteller

My mom looked down at his boot and said, ‘What is that?’ And there was a bulge in his boot and I just remember this... I was very young, but I still remember every detail... and he said, ‘It’s a gun,’ and he pulled it out and he showed it to her. And just in a flash, a shot went out.

Growing up without a dad was not easy. But it was in the loss of his father that Jimmy came to know God as his Heavenly Father. Listen as he reflects on how that happened, and then explains how that can be true for you too.

It's not often that a boy gets to see his father die. It's even less common to hear someone talk about it. But that's what Jimmy does as he shares what happened the day that his dad unexpectedly took his last breath. What goes on in the heart of a child when they witness something like that? And what does it mean for yet another boy who grows up without a father?

Hazel grew up on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in South Dakota. When her family moved to the town of Dupree, she experienced prejudice for the first time. However, at a young age she ended up getting married to a white guy in order to get away from the abuse at home. The result was not what she was expecting.

Drunk, hungover, and sometimes thrown in jail. It wasn't fun... at least not for Horace. But that's how life was. One day, he found himself with his back against the wall. He had a wife, three kids, and lost his job. It was a crisis that usually would have sent back to drink and get drunk, but this time it was different. He turned to God instead. Life is different now.

"I remember him preaching, but I can’t tell you what he preached on. All I can tell you is when an invitation came to make a public profession of faith, I could not help myself. It was as if someone threw me from my chair, pushed me from behind, and I walked up. It was a powerful moment, and I will never forget it, because the release I felt from years of abuse, the pain I felt from never being told, ‘I love you,’ was suddenly lifted off and hope came to me, and I want you to know He came to me."

"All this while going to church, all this while walking through society, all this while acting like everything was fine in the family unit, basically living a lie but yet internally screaming out ‘somebody please help me, somebody please help my family, somebody do something. Isn’t there anybody that can see this, anybody that can sense this?’ Screaming out literally at the top of our lungs for all of our children and even my mom, ‘somebody please help.’"

"We began to read into the demeanor of the person who would come to the door, and be able to pick out, “Okay, is this a safe moment or is this a dangerous time? Is this one where we are going to have to huddle?” because a lot of times during abuses, my siblings and I would huddle in the corner. We would just hang on to each other as my mom would take the brunt, as she would try to stand between us and my father."

Admitting that he had a problem with alcohol was difficult, but it was necessary. Though his wife stayed by his side and his family stayed together, his drinking had taken it's toll. He felt that he may become another statistic of alcohol. He felt that God was so far from him. But He wasn't. Listen as Gilbert tells how he found forgiveness and restoration.