GIVING. PRAYING. FASTING
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said, ‘I did.’ and she said, ‘Mary, they’re coming to [your] house and she
said if it wasn’t true, they wouldn’t be coming.’ And I just remember
saying, ‘Don’t tell me that.’ And I believe the phone went one way and
my body went another because when I came to myself my supervisor
was holding me and I don’t recall her being around anywhere,” said
Johnson-Roy.
Her memory is a blur after that.
“I don’t remember getting out of the elevator and going down eight
flights. I don’t remember the short walk to the car or the short
ride from downtown Minneapolis to North Minneapolis. I don’t
remember those things. The next thing I remember is walking to my
sister’s door and she was standing there waiting for me to tell me that
the authorities were there,” said Johnson-Roy.
A Spiritual Prison
Israel was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 25
years in prison. Ironically, he wasn’t the only one convicted. JohnsonRoy had begun serving her own spiritual prison sentence - convicted
of bitterness, anger, hatred, and unforgiveness toward the young man
who killed her son. Her sentence was brutal.
Despite the fact that she had spent the majority of her life in church
and had surrendered her life to Christ a year before her son’s murder,
she questioned God demanding answers as to why her only son had
been murdered in cold blood. One day, God spoke to her.
“…. And I remember hearing him say, ‘I’ve done what you asked me
to. You no longer have to worry about your child. He’s with me.’ …,”
said Johnson-Roy.
For a short time, Johnson-Roy felt somewhat consoled but the coming
years would prove challenging. She found that not only was she still
bitterly angry with her son’s killer, she was also furious with God.
“…. And I was like, ‘Well, you know what, you [God] really could
have-couldn’t you have done this another way? And [if] it was his
[Laramiun’s] time to leave, why was it [done] like the way it was?,’ ”
said Johnson-Roy.