In an interview with CNN, the wife of the American teacher recently gunned down while jogging in Libya said that she forgives her husband’s killers. On Dec. 5, Ronnie Smith, who had moved to Libya to teach chemistry and share the “joy of knowing God,” was murdered in broad daylight by shooters who have yet not been caught. In a recent interview, Smith’s widow and mother of their young son, Anita told Anderson Cooper,
I just want them to know that God loves them and can forgive them for this. I just really want them to know that I do love them and I forgive them, and Ronnie would want this, and I hope and pray that our son, Hosea, would believe this.
Following the shooting, Smith wrote an open letter to the Libyan people, telling them that her family had moved their to “partner with you to build a better future.” In addition to his work spreading his Christian faith, Ronnie Smith was also an accomplished chemistry teacher who worked at a local school. Anita added, “We came to bless you, but you have blessed us much more. Thank you.” To her husband’s killers, she wrote, “I love you and I forgive you.” In the letter, she also added, “I want all of you—all of the people of Libya—to know I am praying for the peace and prosperity of Libya. May Ronnie’s blood, shed on Libyan soil, encourage peace and reconciliation between the Libyan people and God” …
