0:20 Hello.
0:20 God bless all of you for coming here from all over the world to
0:27 honor and celebrate my Charlie just a few miles from here.
0:47 Two years ago at America Fest 2023,
0:52 Charlie delivered a speech on stage for our TPUSA faith event.
0:59 Charlie loved speaking off the cuff.
1:02 He was very good at that without a script.
1:06 So I personally didn't know what he was going to say.
1:11 And what he chose to speak about
1:13 that day was his his submission to the will of God.
1:19 He quoted one of his favorite Bible verses, Isaiah 6:8.
1:25 Here I am, Lord.
1:29 Send me.
1:33 After Charlie finished, I met him backstage and I spoke to him.
1:38 And I'll never forget this.
1:39 I said, "Charlie, baby,
1:42 please talk to me next time before you say that statement."
1:48 Because when you say something like that,
1:51 there is so much power in that verse.
1:56 When you say, "Here I am, Lord.
1:59 Use me."
2:03 God will take you up on
2:05 that. than he did with Charlie. 11 days ago,
2:25 God accepted that total surrender from my husband
2:30 and then called him to his side.
2:34 More than anything, Charlie wanted to do not his will, but God's will.
2:39 And over these past 11 days, through all the pain,
2:46 never before have I found
2:48 as much comfort as I now do in the words of our Lord's Prayer,
2:55 "Thy will be done.
3:10 God's love was revealed to me on the very day my husband was murdered.
3:17 On the afternoon of September 10th,
3:20 I arrived at a Utah hospital to do the unthinkable,
3:25 to look directly at my husband's murdered body.
3:31 I saw the wound that ended his life.
3:36 I felt everything you would expect to feel.
3:41 I felt shock.
3:44 I felt horror. and a level of heartache that I didn't even know existed.
3:57 But there was something else, too.
4:01 Even in death, I could see the man that I love.
4:08 I saw the one single gray hair on the side of his head,
4:15 which I never told him about.
4:18 Now he knows.
4:19 Sorry, baby.
4:20 Telling you now, but never told him.
4:23 Didn't want to.
4:27 I also saw this.
4:30 I also saw on his lips the faintest smile
4:37 and that told me something important.
4:42 It revealed to me a great mercy from God in this tragedy.
4:49 When I saw that, it told me Charlie didn't suffer.
4:55 Even the doctor told me it was something
4:59 so instant that even even
5:01 if Charlie had been shot in the operating room it itself,
5:06 nothing could have been done.
5:09 There was no fame.
5:11 There was no fear, no agony.
5:15 One moment, Charlie was doing what he loved, arguing and debating on campus,
5:22 fighting for the gospel and truth in front of a big crowd.
5:31 And then he blinked.
5:34 He blinked and saw his savior in paradise.
5:52 and all the heavenly mysteries were revealed to him.
5:58 God's love continued to be revealed to me in the days that followed.
6:07 The next day on the tarmac in Air Force 2, I confronted Usha Vance.
6:17 Precious woman.
6:20 I held her hand and I told her honestly,
6:23 I do not know how I am going to get through this.
6:30 She told me something.
6:33 She said, "You know
6:37 when you're on an airplane with your kids
6:39 and it's the last 15 minutes of the flight
6:43 and things are crazy,
6:44 kids are not cooperating, toys are flying everywhere,
6:47 and everyone's screaming and you think to yourself,
6:51 I cannot wait for this flight to land."
6:54 And it's 15 minutes before you land.
7:00 And she told me,
7:00 "You will get through these 15 minutes and the next 15 minutes after that."
7:10 Usha, I don't think you realized it then,
7:13 but those words were exactly what I needed to hear.
7:19 But most of all,
7:19 God's mercy and God's love have been re revealed to me these past 10
7:23 days.
7:25 After Charlie's assassination, we didn't see violence.
7:31 We didn't see rioting.
7:47 We didn't see revolution.
7:50 Instead, we saw what my husband always prayed he would see in this country.
7:55 We saw revival.
8:11 This past week, we saw people open a Bible for the first time in
8:14 a decade.
8:16 We saw people pray for the first time since they were children.
8:21 We saw people go to a church service for the first time in their
8:24 entire lives.
8:37 Charlie liked to journal.
8:40 And I say this
8:41 because he did it to remember important moments
8:44 and sayings that affected him.
8:47 And one of the things he wrote in his journal was this.
8:55 Every time you make a decision, it puts a mark on your soul.
9:04 To those of you out there who just made
9:07 that decision and took the first step toward a spiritual life,
9:15 I say thank you and welcome.
9:26 One day, I hope you look back
9:29 and realize it was the most important decision of your life
9:33 because it is.
9:36 All of you, all of you who are already believers,
9:42 it is your job to shepherd these people.
9:46 Do not take that lightly.
9:49 Water the seed of their faith.
9:53 Protect it and help it grow.
9:59 Every day as Charlie rode into the office,
10:04 he would go through his contact list,
10:06 and I know there's many of you who were impacted by this.
10:10 He would go through his contact list in sudden Bible verses for the day.
10:15 He knew that faith was a habit.
10:19 The more you live it, the more it grows.
10:23 But know this, too.
10:27 The seed has only just been planted.
10:31 The enemy will tempt you the most in a time like this one.
10:37 God will always be there for you,
10:39 but you must choose to mark your soul again
10:45 and again in the direction of Christ.
10:57 Pray again.
10:59 Read the Bible again.
11:01 Go to church next Sunday and the Sunday after that.
11:06 And break free from the temptations and shackles of this world.
11:19 Being a follower of Christ is not easy.
11:23 It's not supposed to be.
11:26 Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself,
11:31 take up his cross, and follow me."
11:36 He said he would be persecuted.
11:38 He said we would be persecuted.
11:39 And Charlie knew that
11:41 and happily carried his cross all the way to the end.
11:48 And I want all of you to know while Charlie died far too early,
11:55 he was also ready to die.
11:59 There was nothing nothing he was putting off.
12:03 There was nothing that was too hard
12:05 or too painful or nothing
12:07 that he just felt like he didn't want to do it.
12:12 He left this world without regrets.
12:16 He did 100% of what he could every day.
12:21 But I want you to know something.
12:25 Charlie died with incomplete work, but not with unfinished business.
12:43 But I will miss him.
12:49 I will miss him so much because our marriage and our family were beautiful.
12:54 They still are.
13:04 The greatest cause in Charlie's life was trying to revive the American family.
13:10 When he spoke to young people,
13:11 he was always eager to tell them about God's vision for marriage
13:17 and how if they could just dare to live it out,
13:22 it would enrich every part of their life in the same way
13:25 that it enriched ours.
13:28 And someone once asked me how Charlie
13:31 and I how we kept our marriage
13:35 so strong when he was busy traveling.
13:41 In our little secret, it was love notes.
13:49 Every Saturday, Charlie wrote one for me and he never missed a Saturday.
13:57 And in every single one of them,
13:59 he'd tell me what his highlight was for the week,
14:04 how grateful he was for me and our babies.
14:09 And always at the end,
14:10 he would always end it with asking the most beautiful question.
14:18 He'd always end it by asking,
14:20 "Please let me know how I can better serve you as a husband."
14:26 Charlie perfectly understood God's role for a Christian husband.
14:33 A man who leads so that they can serve.
14:52 To all the men watching around the world,
14:56 accept Charlie's challenge and embrace true manhood.
15:04 Be strong and courageous for your families.
15:11 Love your wives and lead them.
15:16 Love your children and protect them.
15:20 Be the spiritual head of your home.
15:27 But please be a leader worth following.
15:32 Your wife, your wife is not your servant.
15:45 Your wife is not your employee.
15:50 Your wife is not your slave.
15:53 She is your helper.
15:56 You are not rivals.
15:59 You are one flesh working together for the glory of God.
16:16 I was Charlie's confidant.
16:20 I was his vault, his closest and most trusted adviser, his best friend.
16:29 I poured into him and loved him so deeply,
16:33 empowered him because his love for me drove me to be a better wife.
16:40 Every day he honored me
16:41 and I prayed that I could be the wife
16:43 that God needed me to be for my husband.
16:48 Women, I have a challenge for you, too.
16:52 Be virtuous.
16:55 Our strength is found in God's design for our role.
17:01 We are the guardians.
17:03 We are the encouraers.
17:06 We are the preservers.
17:10 Guard your heart.
17:12 Everything you do flows from it.
17:16 And if you're a mother,
17:18 please recognize that is the single most important ministry you have in our home
17:38 cuz Charlie traveled a lot.
17:39 We tried to travel with him where we could,
17:44 but I made sure that when Charlie returned from work,
17:47 it was his sacred landing place, away from the worries of the world.
17:58 I didn't make him feel guilty for being away too long
18:03 or too much or getting home too late.
18:07 I always told him,
18:08 "Home home is here for you and it'll be ready for you."
18:13 And I made it into this place where he wanted to be
18:17 as soon as possible.
18:18 When he was on the road, there was no keeping score between us.
18:28 We were a team working together for the same mission.
18:35 I never wanted to be the one standing between Charlie
18:38 and the task that God prepared for him had set for him.
18:46 And I knew Charlie would always do his best to help me with the
18:49 same.
18:53 My marriage with Charlie was the best thing that ever happened to me.
18:57 And I know it was the best thing
18:58 that ever happened to him
18:59 as well.
19:01 He wanted everyone to experience that joy.
19:05 And that's what's so beautiful about God's design for marriage is that everyone can.
19:15 And I could talk endlessly about it and years to come.
19:17 I will.
19:20 But Charlie's mission above all was aimed directly at those who aren't married.
19:28 He named his organization well.
19:31 He knew things were not right with America
19:33 and especially with young people
19:36 and they needed a new direction.
19:41 Charlie passionately wanted to reach and save the lost boys of the West.
19:48 The young men who feel like they have no direction, no purpose, no faith,
19:53 and no reason to live. the men wasting their lives on distractions
19:59 and the men consumed with resentment,
20:01 anger, and hate.
20:05 Charlie wanted to help them.
20:09 He wanted them to have a home with Turning Point USA.
20:13 And when he went onto campus,
20:15 he was looking to show them a better path
20:19 and a better life
20:21 that was right there for the taking.
20:24 He wanted to show them that my husband Charlie,
20:36 he wanted to save young men just like the one who took his life.
21:02 that young man,
21:06 that young man on the cross, our savior said, "Father,
21:15 forgive them for they not know what they do.
21:22 That man, that young man, I forgive him.
22:18 Heat.
22:18 Heat.
22:18 I forgive him because it was what Christ did
22:23 and is what Charlie would do.
22:27 The answer to hate is not hate.
22:31 The answer we know from the gospel is love
22:34 and always love. love for our enemies
22:39 and love for those who persecute us.
22:46 The world needs Turning Point USA.
22:49 It needs a group
22:50 that will point young people away from the path of misery
22:54 and sin.
22:57 It needs something that will lead people away from hell in this world
23:00 and in the next.
23:03 that needs young people pointed in the direction of truth
23:06 and beauty.
23:10 And so I promise you today, every part of our work will become greater.
23:15 I am tremendously honored to be the new CEO of Turning Point USA.
23:40 I do not take that lightly.
23:43 Charlie and I were united in purpose.
23:45 His passion was my passion and now his mission is my mission.
23:51 Everything that Turning Point USA built through Charlie's vision and hard work,
23:56 we will make 10 times greater through the power of his memory.
24:01 Chapters will grow.
24:04 Thousands of new ones will be created.
24:08 TPUSA faith will add thousands of new pastors and congregations.
24:22 And yes, campus events will continue
24:25 and we will continue to hold debates
24:27 and dialogue.
24:37 The first amendment of our constitution is the most human amendment.
24:44 We are naturally talking beings, naturally believing beings,
24:51 and the First Amendment protects our right to do both.
24:56 No assassin will ever stop us for standing up to defend those rights ever.
25:10 Because when you stop the conversation, when you stop the dialogue,
25:19 this is what happens.
25:22 When we lose the ability and the willingness to communicate, we get violence.
25:34 And as I stand here now
25:37 and I look at this beautiful photo of my husband in front of me
25:43 hanging in the stadium.
25:46 I think of my husband 13 years ago.
25:49 I hadn't met him yet.
25:52 He was 18 years old. man barely out of high school,
25:59 running around the halls of the RNC without a dollar in his pocket
26:03 and a single contact in his phone.
26:08 People who saw him said that he didn't know what he was doing,
26:12 but he did.
26:15 He did know what he was doing.
26:18 He knew exactly what he was doing.
26:24 He was going to change the world. and he did.
26:29 Charlie's life was a turning point for this country.
26:32 It was a miracle.
26:36 Let that miracle that was Charlie's life be your turning point as well.
26:43 Choose prayer.
26:46 Choose courage.
26:50 Choose beauty.
26:53 Choose adventure.
26:56 Choose family.
26:59 Choose a life of faith.
27:03 Most importantly, choose Christ.
27:22 I love you, Charlie, baby. and I will make you proud.
27:31 God bless you all and God bless America.
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