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June 2, 2014Kathy Sanders and her daughter Edye were working in an office in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, when they heard a deafening explosion and felt their building shudder. The Murrah Federal Building, one block away, had been bombed by Timothy McVeigh and his accomplice, Terry Nichols, in the deadliest act of terrorism on American soil up to that time. The attack took place at 9:02 AM, when the building was filled with people who had just come to work. One hundred-sixty-eight people died, including 19 children in a day-care center, and more than 680 others were injured.Kathy and Edye rushed into the street and soon had their worst fears confirmed: Edye’s two sons, Chase, three, and Colton, two, were among the children killed in the blast.
In the months that followed, Kathy and Edye and their families were torn with sorrow but also gripped by the anger and rage at this cruel and senseless murder of innocents that was shared worldwide. But sometime along the way Kathy, a Christian of strong biblical faith, began to be stirred by Jesus’ words and example of forgiveness of the unforgivable. She prayed to be able to forgive her grandchildren’s murderers, and she began to reach out to their family members, who were now also innocent victims, being vilified and shunned for what their father, brother, or son had done.
Kathy was shocked to find out that most people who learned of her acts of forgiveness and compassion toward the murderers and their families were scandalized, though this was the pure Christianity of the New Testament.
Kathy Sanders has just published her story, a riveting account of the Oklahoma City bombing and its aftermath in her life, entitled Now You See Me: How I Forgave the Unforgivable (click to purchase). She hopes that her story will empower people to forgive and to experience the inner liberation that comes with turning retribution over to God.