Letters from My Father’s Murderer: A Journey of Forgiveness by Laurie A. Coombs

Laurie Coombs was an unmarried college student when her father was murdered, shot twice by a jealous husband. In her book, Letters from My Father’s Murderer, Laurie recounts her journey, first on her own and then as a follower of Christ, from shock and outrage, through periods of depression, anger, and despair, and eventually into a forgiveness that healed both her own broken heart and the heart of the man she viewed as her enemy.

Laurie tells her story with brutal honesty, sparing neither her father nor herself as she documents the pride and selfish choices that contributed to the tragedy and then kept her in pain for nearly a decade after her father’s murderer, Anthony, was convicted and sent to prison. When a friend invited her to church one weekend, Laurie heard God’s voice calling to her clearly through the sermon. She gave her life to Christ and watched amazed as God began to heal the depression and anxiety that had plagued her since her father’s death. As her faith deepened, she sensed God’s calling her to forgive Anthony and to demonstrate it by taking him a Bible. Although bewildered by the summons, Laurie determined to obey God and applied for permission to visit the prisoner. The prison ultimately denied her access, but her action initiated a correspondence with Anthony that would change how they saw each other, themselves, and even the crime itself.

The story Laurie tells is ultimately a story about God and the beauty and healing God can bring to even the most tragic and brutal circumstances if we allow him full access to our hearts and our pain. Anyone who has struggled to forgive a cruel or thoughtless act that caused suffering will identify with Laurie’s very human journey, from self-righteous indignation and demand for justice to a peaceful recognition of purpose in the pain and trust that God will work through our obedience to bring hope and redemption to a hurting world.

Laurie’s journey of obedience taught her lessons about forgiveness that she shares with her readers. She begins with obstacles to forgiving that we all face. If she forgave Anthony, would he think that what he did was okay? Would forgiving betray her father’s memory? At one point she realizes that her human forgiveness was limited and conditional: “I think I was waiting for Anthony to be where I wanted him to be before I forgave him.” To love her enemy, and God was telling her to, she needed grace that could only come from God. When their letters became heated with accusations and condemnations, Laurie recounts her very human desire to shower Anthony with shaming rebukes, but God stopped her and instead gave her words of grace and patience to write. This single act of obedience, which ran against her natural grain, was a turning point for Anthony. She reports that his subsequent letters seemed more humble and genuine. God kept healing and redeeming, eventually leading them both into ministry—she through writing and speaking about forgiveness and Anthony through a new prison ministry.

Toward the end of the book, Laurie writes: “I didn’t want my faith to be just a belief system. I wanted it to be real. I wanted it to impact my life. I wanted it to change the way I lived.” She concludes that she did, in fact, complete her original mission—to bring Anthony a Bible—in the very act of reaching out to him with the love God was giving her: “The thought of God using me to help bring forgiveness and healing to the very one who had harmed me was a beautiful thing. I saw it as a picture of the gospel itself.”[Tweet “Book Review: Letters from My Father’s Murderer: A Journey of Forgiveness by Laurie Coombs”

Watch a video interview with Laurie Coombs: Video Interview

Visit Laurie’s webpage: http://lauriecoombs.org/

Purchase the book from Amazon: Letters from My Father’s Murderer