TODAY, WE ARE THRILLED TO WELCOME OUR GUEST AUTHOR, TAMMY HORVATH WHO IS SHARING A CHAPTER OF HER FIRST MEMOIR, 'GONE IN AN INSTANT' #RWRTeamBlog #ReadWriteRepeat

TAMMY HORVATH'S AUTHOR BIO

Tammy Horvath writes nonfiction. Book 1, Gone in an Instant, shares the story of forgiving her son’s murderer. Book 2, Life Begins with Travel, shares her journey of finding her smile while traveling. In Book 3, Deep Inside, Tammy exercises to heal but ultimately confronts the killer. Surprises lurk on island adventures and hikes through the Canadian Rocky Mountains in Book 4, Exploring Mountains and Beaches. Book 5, One Text Away, explores the concept of free will and how even Tammy is not immune to the world’s temptations. Book 6, Life After Losing Luke, shares 50 devotions about how to unlock a life filled with peace, purpose, and hope.

Chapter 1

Gone!

Every morning when I rise from my bed, I notice all the places Luke is missing from. He’s not hanging out in my spotless living room, making the cat jump for the toy just out of reach, making me laugh. He’s not in his messy bedroom where his deodorant, razor, and cigarettes lie right where he left them.

He is gone.

On August 2, 2017—the day I’ll never forget—a murderer’s bullet ended my nineteen-year-old son’s life. Why did God allow this to happen?

I never could have survived the following days, weeks, months, and years without God’s deep love and comfort. And while I was angry a stranger would murder my son, I never once felt hatred for the killer. God’s Word tells us:

“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. … Do not take revenge, my dear friends.” (Rom. 12:17, 19)

I chose to forgive my son’s killer for what he took from me.

Throughout my life I’ve made so many mistakes undeserving of forgiveness, and yet I was forgiven. At fifteen, I rebelled against God and my parents to be with the charming twenty-four-year-old predator who would become my husband and the father of my son. Ignoring good advice and God’s strong warnings, I left my difficult home situation, only to find that the man of my dreams was a clone of my alcoholic father, whom I had run away from.

My one joy in this nightmare was Luke. For years, I endured my husband’s infidelity, alcoholism, abuse, and criminal activity until one night he was killed in a car crash. At twenty-eight years of age, I found myself widowed, a single mother to my very young child. The heavenly Father I’d rebelled against became my only hope.

Eighteen years later, just when my son reached the prime of his life, the unspeakable happened and he was gone.

The most unexpected thing took place when I faced my son’s killer and told him directly that I forgave him. My heart broke for him—this total stranger who seemed little more than a boy himself. Through my pain, by God’s grace, I felt a flood of love for my son’s murderer. I wasn’t just making a public declaration of forgiveness. Forgiveness flowed through every fiber of my soul. With it, came peace.

I had never thought of myself as a writer, but God had a different plan in calling me to write Gone in an Instant: Losing My Son. Loving His Killer. This book doesn’t just chronicle the agonizing events of my son’s death but follows my own journey to faith, forgiveness, love, and renewed hope. Ultimately, it’s about how I learned to live each day to honor my son’s memory and to serve God with the assurance that he will use my son’s death for good, because that is what our heavenly Father does.

Forgiveness is not easy; it takes a lot of work, but the end result makes it all worthwhile.

Do you struggle to forgive but can’t figure out how? Do you want to be free, once and for all, of all the things you haven’t forgiven yourself for? Have you lost a loved one and can’t find healing for your pain? Do you feel God has abandoned you or was never with you in the first place?

If so, you are the person for whom I wrote this book. As you read, may God comfort you with the comfort he has given me.

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Books can be read in any order and are available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats at https://mybook.to/TammyHorvath.

COMING SOON: On Monday, 22nd December, our team member, author Lorraine Carey, is sharing Chapter 6 from her novel, ''Mysteries of the Red Coyote Inn'.