- She just, she loved being on the ice.

She loved, she made great friends.

She never wanted to miss practice.

And it just really became animportant part of her life.

- [Narrator] Jennifer Thackerput her daughter, Katherine

in skating lessons whenshe was a young girl.

It gave her a way to focusher emotions and energy.

- It was always an outlet for me,

something about being on the ice.

You know, I would havea hard day at school,

and then I could go to the rink,

and you know, work myhardest and achieve my goals,

and be freed emotionally.

- [Narrator] Just under the surface,

Katherine was dealing withhatred and unforgiveness.

When she was just 18 monthsold, her father, Brandon,

a Kentucky law officer,

was shot and killed in the line of duty.

Jennifer remembersgetting the horrible news,

that day in 1998.

- I opened the door and sawthree people standing there.

And that's, you know, whenthey delivered the news,

and said that Brandon hadbeen shot on the Parkway.

And I asked, "Is he alive?"

And he said, "No, he's dead."

You know, it's like beinghit by a Mack truck.

I don't, you know, you just

a blow that you can't even imagine.

- Katherine was leftwith a void in her heart,

and deep questions about God.

- Why did God let my dad die?

If God's good, you know,

why'd he let the man whokilled my dad do this?

I didn't understand why he would,

why God would allow somethinglike that evil to happen.

Watching the relationships

that my friends had with their dads,

I definitely envied that.

- [Narrator] Katherinebuilt up a wall of anger

between herself and God.

- You know, I startedwriting very angry letters

to the man who killed mydad and expressed my hurt.

But not only express my hurt,

expressed, you know what Iwish could happen to him.

And they were really, really hateful.

- [Narrator] Her anger for theman affected her entire life.

And she knew it.

- There's a reason I'm here.

There's a purpose for me.

And if I keep going on this track,

and keep letting anger consume my heart,

then I'm not gonna get to experience that.

I'm gonna miss out on, youknow on what life holds for me.

And so that was kind ofwhen I started realizing

that something needed to change,

I just didn't know what that was.

- [Narrator] Katherine distanced herself

from her mom's Christian faith.

But her junior year in high school,

she went to a Christian summer camp

where she connected with a guest speaker.

- It was apparent thathe had some sort of joy

that I, you know, that I wanted.

He just looked me deadin the eye and said,

"God is your father.

And He desires you and He wants you,

and He's fighting for you,and that's all you need."

Throughout the week, mywall that I had built up

all of these years between God and I,

I started to kind oftake bricks down from it,

and you know, realized like,

"Oh, I assumed that ifI built up this wall,

God would be long gone.

He'd be so far gone."

And I realized that,you know, took it down,

and He's still right there.

Like He didn't leave or walk away.

He was on this other side.

And without me even knowing it,

He was fighting this warfor me and for my heart,

and for my life.

- [Narrator] Katherinebecame a Christian that week.

- Came home from Florida,

really a completely changed person.

God started working inmy heart and saying,

"Okay, you know, is youranger towards him helpful?

Is it helpful to you, oris it helpful to him?"

And the answer was, "No, it's not.

It's consuming me.

It's consuming my thoughts,consuming my heart.

It's blocking out parts of my heart

that God could easily fill up."

And so I ended up,through a lot of prayer,

was able to fully forgivethe man who killed my dad.

I hold no grudge against him.

You know, my prayer went from,

"Oh, I hope these badthings happen to him."

To, "I hope he hope he knows Jesus.

And I hope that he canexperience that forgiveness too,

because he's a sinful human, and so am I."

- [Narrator] The letter writing

that was once so full of hate,

has also transformed andfound a new audience.

While in college, Katherinestarted "Words of Worth"

a Christmastime letter writing campaign

to families of law enforcement

who have lost a lovedone in the line of duty.

- Reaching out to a family and saying,

"Hey, your thought of.

God cares about you, God loves you.

He sees you and we love you.

And we hope you have a good Christmas."

I know for my family,

getting handwritten letters in the mail,

just to say, "Hey, we're thinking of you.

We are thankful for his sacrifice."

Those kinds of lettersmeant the world to me.

- [Narrator] Jennifer says she is thankful

for God's presence in her daughter's life,

and is proud of thecompassion that has risen

out of a broken heart.

- She has opened her heartto listen to the Holy Spirit,

leading her and following.

- Knowing the transformativepower that you know,

walking face-to-face withJesus gives you, is incredible,

and so I hope that otherpeople can experience that too

- To see the goodness that can come,

that can rise out of pain,and out of trauma and tragedy.

It just helps you feelobviously, as a mother,

I feel so proud of her,

but I also know that she'sextending hope to people,

and you know, we all have tohave to maintain that hope.