April 2022

JESUS HAS OUR BACK BEFORE WE THINK WE NEED HIM

“It was a normal morning. The kids were jumping on our bed,” Tammy Hebert recalls, “so when I walked into Kienan’s bedroom and couldn’t find him, I checked every place in the house I thought a three-year-old would hide. My heart started racing; we couldn’t find him anywhere.”

“Within a few hours, thousands of people were involved; police dogs, helicopters, and experts in child kidnapping cases admitted to us the brutal reality that it is virtually unheard of for a child to be returned to his parents unharmed,” Paul Hebert remembered. “So, we prayed and watched God do the impossible.”

Tammy confessed, “Although I was filled with lots of emotions, I hoped for a miracle.”

Three-year-old Kienan, one of Paul and Tammy Hebert’s eight children, was abducted from their home in Sparwood, BC, and on the fourth day after the kidnapping, when his father went on national television requesting the kidnapper return their son to a safe place, within hours they found Kienan in their house, curled up in his blanket on the living room floor—calm, unharmed, and happy to be home.

Later, Paul Hebert sat down with the kidnapper and forgave him.

What was that conversation like, and how had God been preparing Paul and Tammy to deal with this crime in a way that caught the attention of people around the world?

Looking back to the years prior to the kidnapping, Paul remembers, “I was a tough guy, in the Canadian Armed Forces, and I didn’t need anybody, but when Tammy and I separated, I was in a pretty dark place. I was addicted to alcohol and pain medication. My family and friends were upset with me, but I found that when there was nobody there, God was there for me. I knew He loved me regardless of who I was; it was either Him or suicide. I had nothing to live for: the world never gave me anything; it just took everything away. In the meantime, Tammy found God, and she was baptized and was praying for me during our separation. I’m a stubborn man, so it took a long time for God to chisel through the rock to get to a soft heart.”

“Caleb, Kienan’s older brother, was born with half a heart, and we saw God perform a miracle at that time,” Tammy expounds, “so our faith grew, and that prepared us to depend on God when Kienan was kidnapped. We surrendered everything, trusting God to work another miracle if that was His will.”

“So, we prayed for the search and rescue teams, that Kienan would be found unharmed, and for the kidnapper to be convicted that what he was doing was wrong.” Paul recalled.

“When we found Kienan alive and unharmed in the house, we just melted.” Tammy wept, “My legs were like Jell-O, and I grabbed Kienan and wouldn’t let him go.”

“My heart was racing when I went to meet with the kidnapper,” Paul acknowledged, “so I prayed with an RCMP officer, and when I walked into that tiny interrogation room, a calm came over me, and I was able to forgive him. Our questions and prayers were answered. All the officers were choking back tears as they sensed the divine presence. It was so beautiful!”

Thanks to your generous contributions, It Is Written Canada’s film crew was able to visit the Hebert family and capture their story.

You can watch Paul, Tammy and Kienan’s entire story, and how their “Servant’s Heart Initiative” is giving hope to hundreds. Their experience will be televised on CTV, 3ABN, Hope Channel, Yes-TV, Miracle Channel and many other networks across Canada and around the world this month. Or you can simply go to itiswrittencanada.ca or It Is Written Canada’s YouTube or Facebook videos and click on the program entitled: “Jesus Has Our Back before We Think We Need Him.”

~ Mike Lemon