{"id":16416,"date":"2022-12-16T10:08:26","date_gmt":"2022-12-16T15:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=16416"},"modified":"2022-12-16T10:25:04","modified_gmt":"2022-12-16T15:25:04","slug":"grandfather-of-murdered-7-year-old-forgives-granddaughters-killer-in-heartwrenching-facebook-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2022\/12\/grandfather-of-murdered-7-year-old-forgives-granddaughters-killer-in-heartwrenching-facebook-post","title":{"rendered":"Grandfather of Murdered 7-Year-Old Forgives Granddaughter’s Killer in Heartwrenching Facebook Post"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"athena<\/a>
Wise County Sheriff’s Office<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The grandfather of a little girl who was abducted and murdered has published a heartbreaking Facebook post offering forgiveness to the purported perpetrator.<\/p>\n

\u201cA friend just asked me the other day if I believe God speaks to people. I happen to know He does, as He is speaking to me now,\u201d Mark Strand\u00a0wrote<\/a>. \u201cThis flesh, this man that I am, is angry, and I want 5 minutes alone in a cell with the psycho that took our Athena away from us.\u201d He continued, \u201cBut there\u2019s a soft, gentle voice in the back of my head telling me I need to forgive him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strand is the grandfather of Athena Strand, a 7-year-old whose remains were found on Dec. 2 after she\u00a0went missing<\/a>\u00a0from her dad\u2019s Texas home two days earlier. According to Fox News<\/a>, Tanner Lynn Horner, a 30-year-old FedEx driver, is accused of killing the little girl and is held on a $1.5 million bond.<\/p>\n

The grieving grandpa continued in his heartfelt post to juxtapose the flurry of emotions he feels as a man with the spiritual response he\u2019s called to have as a faithful individual.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis flesh man hopes he remains blind and deaf to the message of salvation and never sets foot in the same heaven that I know in my heart my darling Athena resides in now,\u201d Strand\u00a0continued<\/a>. \u201cAnd yet, that gentle voice persists. Why, you ask? Because Hate is a powerful force that will take root in your soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on to say God wants to protect people from hate, calling it a \u201cgateway for evil\u201d in the world today. Then, Strand clearly explained who that \u201csoft, gentle voice\u201d is in his heart and mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat gentle voice is the Holy Spirit of God speaking to me right now,\u201d he wrote. \u201cHe\u2019s reminding me that my savior, Jesus, willingly laid Himself on a cross and died in my place to reconcile me to God the Father, but also that He did that for All of us, even this man that my flesh so hates at this very moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strand wrote he\u2019s fully aware of what will happen if he refuses to listen to that voice and forgive; he knows forgiveness is for his own \u201cprotection and \u2026 peace.\u201d Pushing past the hurt and pain, Strand\u00a0concluded<\/a>\u00a0his post by publicly forgiving the accused.<\/p>\n

\u201cHate will not win. I hope my family will understand that I don\u2019t do this for the sake of this man,\u201d he wrote. \u201cI do this for the sake of my family and myself and to Honor the voice of God, who is giving me the strength to say this. I do this to honor our precious Athena, who knew no hate.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you wish to read the post in its entirety, click\u00a0here<\/a>. Athena\u2019s life continues to be mourned by friends and loved ones throughout Wise County, Texas, and beyond. Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin claims Horner\u00a0confessed<\/a> to the killing, allegedly unfolding within an hour of her abduction Wednesday evening. Continue to pray for the family and all those impacted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The grandfather of a little girl who was abducted and murdered has published a heartbreaking Facebook post offering forgiveness to the purported perpetrator. \u201cA friend just asked me the other day if I believe God speaks to people. I happen to know He does, as He is speaking to me now,\u201d Mark Strand\u00a0wrote. \u201cThis flesh,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":16428,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nGrandfather of Murdered 7-Year-Old Forgives Granddaughter's Killer in Heartwrenching Facebook Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The grandfather of a little girl who was kidnapped and murdered last week wrote an emotional post of Facebook forgiving the killer.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Grandfather of Murdered 7-Year-Old Forgives Granddaughter's Killer in Heartwrenching Facebook Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The grandfather of a little girl who was kidnapped and murdered last week wrote an emotional post of Facebook forgiving the killer.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2022\/12\/grandfather-of-murdered-7-year-old-forgives-granddaughters-killer-in-heartwrenching-facebook-post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-16T15:08:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-16T15:25:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2022\/12\/athena-strand-credit-wise-county-sheriffs-office.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"456\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" 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