“It’s taken me 3 years to not let these comments hurt me, but I forgive them,” Amber Smith said of those who make negative remarks about her son’s death
Amber Smith is addressing messages she receives about her son’s death over three years after losing him.
On Tuesday, the wife of country star Granger Smith opened up about a comment made on social media. In the exchange — which was shared to her Instagram Story — Amber, 40, comments on a previous post, sharing encouraging words to a family who appears to have also lost a child.
Granger and Amber’s 3-year-old son River Kelly died in a tragic drowning accident in June 2019.
“All of us mamas who know this pain have been praying so hard for your family,” she wrote. “We are all rallying around you and are here for you. Light will come from the dark. He is working. Bless you for blessing others in your deepest hurt. Sending all our love.”
An Instagram user then replied to Amber, “This makes me soooooo mad! Why would you be such irresponsible parents?!? Teach babies to swim, fence the pool, PROTECT your children! This is your fault, you KILLED your win [sic] kid. Truly disgusting.”
Over the screenshot on her Instagram, Amber posted a scripture: “James 3:6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”
She then wrote, “I can’t fault these people. We live in a fallen world. It’s taken me 3 years to not let these comments hurt me, but I forgive them. I am rooted in Jesus.”
Last month, Amber opened up about telling son Lincoln Monarch, 8, and daughter London, 10, that their brother had died after the accident, which they had witnessed. Lincoln was 5 and London was 7 at the time of the tragedy.
“We had to be very honest from the very beginning,” Amber said in a conversation with Hayley Hubbard and Jessica Diamond of Dear Media’s Meaning Full Living podcast. “We went home with that intention of being very honest … We said, ‘River was without oxygen for too long. They did everything that they could but Bubbie died.’ ”
Amber said she and Granger allowed the kids to see them grieving as well. The couple also made the brave decision to share a lot of that experience on social media.
“So many times, it was not pretty … sobbing tears, screaming in my car, punching my steering wheel, sitting by his bed, holding his blanket crying until nothing came out. That’s where I was and that’s what’s real and I think people don’t talk about [it],” she said.
“I was just trying to show the realness of pain and grief and it’s not easy. It’s OK to feel those emotions … but you can’t stay there, you can’t stay stuck in that place.”
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