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