No parent should ever outlive their children, but this is what happened to Pastor Gentry and Hadley Eddings when they lost their two young children in a tragic car accident last May 23. The family was driving home to Charlotte in a caravan when they were hit by a truck.
Forest Hill Church pastor Gentry survived the crashed and so did Hadley, who was eight months pregnant at that time. However, their son Dobbs and unborn son Reed never made it.
It's normal for any couple to be overwhelmed by grief after such a tragedy, but the Christian couple is crediting their deep faith in God for helping them move on as well as forgive the driver who hit them.
"We cry a lot. I don't want people to think we're great, you know God is good, we're great, we're happy. That's not what it's like, you know? God is good and we know that, but we are sad, we're mad, we're scared, we're frustrated. There's a million emotions just all at once sometimes," Hadley told local station WRAL.
Gentry, on the other hand, often thinks about how much his son Dobbs loved life, so he wanted to honour that, and his wife agreed. "Both of our sons died. So, I don't want that to be in vain. If I have an opportunity to share their story and talk about their lives... I want to do that," Hadley said.
The Christian couple also revealed that they have already forgiven the driver who cost them their sons' lives just hours after the accident occurred. "I remember being there in the hospital in the first 24 hours, I didn't even know the driver's name then," Gentry said. "I was trying to figure out all my own emotions. I didn't know if I'd be able to forgive this guy and I asked God for help. I said, 'God, you know how'."
It was not the easiest thing to do, said Gentry, but both of them knew that Jesus Christ forgave the world's sins, so they followed His example. They said the loss of their two boys is as much God's loss as theirs.
"God has our boys in a place of peace, so I am in a place of peace," Gentry said. "God has a plan. The situation is a frustrating one. We don't want to be here. We don't like it. This is not a fun situation. We're mad at the loss. But we know God is good and has a plan and we believe that."
