Grand Prize Winners Spring 2013
1st Place Winner
Farewell, My Free Bird
- Carol Noe
"We have a homicide. We've fingerprinted the victim and identified her as your daughter, Angela Noe." These are the words that changed a mother's life forever. "How can you be sure it's her? " "She has a tattoo on her left shoulder that says, 'Free Bird.'" Carol Noe's safe denial was smashed to pieces. Carol remembered how excited Angela was the day she got the Free Bird tattoo that represented her continual search for freedom. But Angela's desire to be free had a dark side. At about age 14, she began to resist authority; she stayed out late or didn't come home at all; and, soon, she was spiraling down a path of addiction. Despite family, friends, clergy, and therapists reaching out to help Angela, she continued her desperate slide into alcohol, drugs, and eventually a life of prostitution that ended with her tragic murder at the age of nineteen.
Farewell, My Free Bird is a mother's story of her daughter, Angela, and her life that was filled with turmoil before she was brutally murdered. However, it is not only a story of tragedy and loss. More importantly, it is a story of forgiveness: forgiveness made possible only by God's faithfulness to Angela and her family. It is a testimony of how God can bring freedom for the captives; how He can heal the broken-hearted; and how He brings new life out of death. It is natural to wonder, Is God real? Does He answer prayer? Can He be trusted? Does He care about each of us and what we're going through? All these questions are answered with a resounding "Yes!" in the pages of Farewell, My Free Bird.
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