VA Tech Testimony

A friend sent us this testimony about her son.  The providence of God is so wonderful.  God’s care over us is always there but so many times we just don’t recognize it.

Dear Friends and Family,

I just felt to write a note to all of you concerning the tragedy which occurred here in our town this week. 

I am overwhelmed and so thankful for all of the phone calls and emails we have received from all of you asking about our family and especially our son, ****.  Your concern and caring has meant so much to our family this week, and especially to **** who was closer to this tragedy than the rest of our family.

I have a very personal and overwhelming testimony of what I perceive to be the “Tender Hand of Jehovah” in our lives.  This might not seem important or even possible to many, but in my heart I have a tremendous awe right now of how God has protected us even when we didn’t know the future.  Our son, ****, is a third year Civil Engineering student at  New River Community College, which is here in our area.  He begins classes at Virginia Tech in May for the summer semester to complete his degree.  As most of you know, we have home educated our family.  Our son graduated from high school in 2004.  We did not do Calculus or Trigonometry due to the fact that we were enrolled in ABEKA Academy and were not in the “loop” for those classes.  When **** entered NRCC, he realized that those classes were important for his degree, so decided to go ahead and do some of those while there.  As a result, his pace for classes at NRCC was slowed down approximately one semester.  I have felt frustrated for these years because I had not foreseen that **** would need those classes, and felt that he was “behind” due to my negligence.  After the events on Monday at VA Tech, I was speaking with a neighbor about the situation, and sharing how that our son would be entering those same classes in May—the Civil Engineering classes in Norris Hall where the shootings occurred. I just felt a strong presence drop down on me as I realized that had it not been for those classes that we had not completed, our son would most probably have been in Norris Hall on Monday morning.  Dr. Loganthan, the Civil Engineering professor who was killed, was to have been **** professor in May.  I was just overcome with praise and thanksgiving to the Lord that he had protected **** from this day—what I thought was negligence turned out to be the Lord’s Tender Hand guiding our footsteps without our knowledge at all. I really am unable to express in words the feeling in my heart.

Our entire community is going through a time of grief and the atmosphere is very heavy and depressed.  Our entire family knows folks who attend and work at Tech.  Friends of both my sons were housed in Ambler Johnson Hall and heard the early morning gunshots.  One classmate of **** is unaccounted for—presumably one of the wounded as his name has not appeared on the list of victims.  Our  hearts are full, and go out in empathy to the parents and families of the victims.  Please remember them in your prayers.

I am thanking and praising God for all of our “family” around the world who have cared so much this week.  God bless all of you.  You are beautiful.