"God got her safe."
A pastor in Waynesville, Missouri made the remark after witnessing a newly baptised 12-year-old girl and her two-year-old brother survive a brutal knife attack by their own mother on Sunday.
After stabbing and slashing her two children, their mother, identified as Yvonne Holmes, 37, killed herself with multiple self-inflicted stab wounds. A 38-year-old man believed to be the father of the children also suffered knife wounds as he tried to ward off the attack.
Witnesses said Holmes became delusional as she visited her children at their father's home.
Pastor Jim Minor told local news station KY3 that he saw the horrific attack, saying he believes God saved the young boy and his sister whom he baptised just two weeks ago.
"We had just baptised her little girl about two weeks ago, so maybe God stood in there and got her safe," Minor said, adding that it was a miracle the children survived. "I believe in Jesus Christ and I keep that always in my head. This stuff is the world — and, as a Christian, we deal with it all the time. And so that's just part of the world and so I pray for the father. He lost his girlfriend, or wife, I don't even know which he was, but I pray for him and I pray for her family. That's the kids' mama. It was terrible."
Minor said the children were able to run to his house after they were stabbed by their mother. "The oldest girl, she was stabbed in the back and across the chest, and the little boy was stabbed across the throat a couple times," the pastor said.
He said he transferred to the neighbourhood just a day before the stabbing, adding that he is glad he was there to help.
An unidentified local officer said Holmes was apparently "not in her right mind" when she started her stabbing spree, according to KSPR.
The officer said the children's father helped stopped the attack when he rushed inside his own house to stop it.
"We are fortunate that this man was there at the time, because if he wasn't there to intervene — he saved these kids' lives," the officer said.
