The mother of one of Bryan Kohberger’s victims understands that vengeance is God’s alone.

Cara Kernodle’s daughter Xana was killed by Kohberger in November 2022, along with three other University of Idaho students in the town of Moscow, Idaho. In July, he was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences.

Kernodle was struggling with a 30-year-long drug addiction at the time of her daughter’s murder. After spending 10 months in jail following a probation violation, People magazine said sobriety came with a rediscovery of her faith.

Last Saturday, Kernodle shared her story during the “Journey of Forgiveness” event held at Altar Church in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. She was joined on a panel with other people who had gone through their own tragedies, like Sara Weaver, whose brother and mother were killed during the federal government’s siege of Ruby Ridge in 1992.

On Kohberger, Kernodle told the event attendees that he was “still made in God’s image,” and that she doesn’t “hate” him despite taking her daughter’s life.

CDA Press noted Kernodle’s motivations for going public with her story and her path toward Jesus Christ.

She wants others to go the same direction and find forgiveness in their hearts as well.

She commented, “This is a good starting point.”

People noted the horrid scene and the last moments Xana had to endure before Kohberger took her life. She was stabbed 50 times while trying to put up a fight against the physically stronger Kohberger.

This is the man to whom Kernodle now extends forgiveness.

It is one thing to speak of forgiveness. It is another to live it.

The strength and faith in Christ Kernodle found to make this decision about her daughter’s murder should inspire Christians everywhere to look at their own lives.

We all hold a grudge; we all want vengeance.

As Mark 11:25 reads: “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

If this woman can forgive someone like Kohberger, who can we forgive?

Mark reminds us of our own sins in reaching forgiveness.

For as evil as the act was in 2022 that now leaves four families without their son and daughters, it was committed by a man, as Kernodle noted, made in God’s image.

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