By MARVIN HAMLETT
Editor
Four years ago, Laura Holmes received the tragic news that all mothers dread: Her 16-year-old son had been killed in a car accident.
Jamie Holmes was killed as he and his 18-year-old brother Drew were returning home to Appomattox when their vehicle crashed in Concord, fatally wounding Jamie while Drew sustained minor injuries.
Over the next four years, Laura Holmes and her husband of 24 years, Chuck, tried to deal with the horrifying emotions of never seeing their son again.
The grief especially tore up Holmes, whose depression worsened to the point of suicide.
But through the family’s Christian faith, Laura has been able to overcome much of her grief. Now she wants to tell her story so that others might benefit from her ordeal.
Last week, Laura was featured in a documentary produced by the Liberty channel, providing the mother with a large venue to tell of her inspirational climb from the pits of grief.
The 60-minute documentary is called “Journey of Champions” and features three recent graduates of Liberty University whose stories “stood out.”
“My message is that you can live with it (tragedy) through the hope of Christ,” Laura said. “My purpose in sharing is not to bring glory to the horror but to bring Glory in Christ, even when tragedy strikes home.”
Laura’s story actually begins a week before her son’s death, when her husband was struck down with a heart attack that revealed a 100-percent blockage.
But Chuck’s surgery went OK, as the Holmes family barely escaped tragedy.
About a week later, Jamie Holmes died in the tragic car accident in Concord.
“I thought my life was over for all of us at that point,” Laura said. “I just didn’t see how you could go on living without your child.”
Laura eventually found her way, enrolling in college and securing a bachelor’s degree. She now hopes to become a Licensed Professional Counselor to help victims deal with depression and grief.
The Holmes family knows firsthand about counseling.
Following the death of Jamie, the Holmes family of Laura, Chuck and Drew started to visit counselors to receive comfort.
“We didn’t know how to go on living,” Laura said. “We didn’t know how to function without him.”
Laura, who is a 1988 graduate of Appomattox County High School, said she was relieved that her sons had strong Christian testimonies, but she was taken aback when some outside family members told “to get over it.”
Others told her, “Since he was a Christian, you should shout hallelujah, but it just doesn’t work that way.”
“Counseling didn’t help, and our family didn’t help either,” Laura said. “The three of us just fell apart,”
Laura’s depression worsened, and she said she spent about a year in bed, totally unable to function.
“Even in bed, I was calling out to the Lord, and I started clinging to the scriptures and promises,” Laura said. “The God I knew all my life was a God of mercy and love, and there was no mercy with us.”
Laura could not shop at the grocery store for three straight years due to her grief.
The Holmes family moved from Oakville in August 2008 and moved to Lynchburg.
Laura eventually stumbled upon Psalm 1:39, which states: “All of our days are numbered.”
“So I started clinging to that,” she said. “I asked the Lord if he knew Jamie only had 16 years and he knew this was gonna happen, then what was his plan with me to deal with all that pain? I prayed that prayer for months while I laid in bed.”
Then Laura said the Lord spoke to her in 1 Thessalonians, which states: “Therefore brethren I would not have you be ignorant concerning those who have fallen asleep that you would not grieve as those who have no hope.”
“I felt like the Lord was giving me permission to grieve, and I had hope of seeing him again,” Laura said. “Don’t stay bitter, don’t stay in bed, don’t give up on life.”
The Thessalonians passage ends with “comfort one another with these words.”
Laura came to the revelation that the Lord was leading her back to college.
“I thought, ‘What’s stopping me from becoming a counselor?’” she said. “I would never tell a grieving mother to get over it, and I would be able to show the compassion of Christ. So I stepped out on faith and took a class three years ago at Liberty University, and at the time, I couldn’t even dress myself.”
Laura, who is the daughter of Cleve and Pat Elliott of Oakville, wound up graduating in May 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a specialization in Christian counseling and a minor in Biblical studies.
“Now I’m working on my master’s degree in professional counseling,” she said. “I’m want to work grief and trauma. I think that’s my calling. The process of being obedient to the Lord has been healing, and before, I could barely help myself.”
Despite how far Laura has come, she said the sadness will never leave her.
In addition to the documentary, she plans on publishing a book about her ordeal and how to deal with it.
“I started by writing my heavenly thoughts about the journey where God is taking me,” Laura said. “I ended with ‘My Hope Endures.’”
When Jamie died, she felt at first that there was no hope.
But then she realized that the Lord was ministering to her.
“The hope is that I could be something more in Christ,” Laura said. “My hope is based in Christ. He is alive in heaven, and Jamie is with me.”
Chuck and Drew have come a long ways, too.
Drew is now married to a fellow college student he met named Bri, and they have a 5-month-old child named Little Jamie.
Chuck has recovered from his heart attack, and Laura credits him as the source that held the family together over the last four years.
“While I certainly understand why many marriages don’t make it through tragedies like this, I’m thankful we didn’t become that statistic,” Laura said. “I feel like there are some things that I could help with other couples, so they will not fall apart.”
Laura added that there are too many details of her grief to do justice to the pain of what a family goes through.
“That’s one reason I hope to write a book, so I can share more details of what is taking place on the inside,” she said.